First, it doesn't say whether they deny existence of races in general or of human races, second I never heard about biologists claiming there are no human races in usual population generic meaning of 'race' (some opposed pure-racial meaning, but that's completely different story, having little to do with humans), and third, population genetics characteristics (major jumps in distribution of genes between populations) are very clear and aren't questioned nowadays. So my opinion is to remove this sentence.
Those were my questions. If you remove them, then it would be appropriate to move the following remark as well:
Isn't it true that, excepting identical twins, every individual of a sexually-reproducing species differs genetically from every other?
Have a look at [1] and [2]. --LMS
You're right that I'm overweighting its connection with nationalism a bit; I learned about the history of race in a class on the history of nationalism. However, the connection is very close. See Johann Gottfried von Herder and the concept of the Volk?. I figure that it's better to contribute partial understanding than to delete it.
Race theory, according to the work above, began with [Carl Gustav Carus]?.
I would differ strongly that "the equation of race with nationality is at present an ancillary notion of what race is, at best" (and what's with that "at best" comment? What would the worst-case scenario be? Less than ancillary?). However, I believe you're right that even historically racial theorists emphasized the widest distinctions (Caucasoid, Mongoloid, and Negroid races).
The concept of race is inherently political, even (or more so) today--see the whole UN Race conference. The average American has an understanding of race which is ancillary to its full implications, which is one of the reasons it causes so many problems.
I tried to sketch out some of the nuances, but I felt it was important to start with the definition that gets at the root of the concept of race, not to start with a description of most people's vague understanding of it.
There's definitely a lot more work to be done. Thanks for not simply deleting my work but adding info back to the page and commenting in Talk. It's miles more helpful. Gah. This is a horrid mess. (I just noticed the field of "Critical race theory", whatever that is, while searching on Google.) I hate the social sciences.--TheCunctator
The tie between race and nationalism is there, but I think that you can't omit the biological (sometimes used by nationalists...) and anthropological facts. When i first took an Intro to Anthropology, I learned that physical anthropologists claimed there were three main racial groups, Mongoloid, Negroid, and Caucasoid. I'm also pretty certain that there have been developments in the field in the last 20 or so years. Still, it's important to make sure to present this side, because it is a neutrtal approach to race. JHK
I really hate the word "neutral" as it's used here in Wikipedia. WTF does "it is a neutral approach to race" mean? (This is a Socratic question.) --TheCunctator
First, I give little weight to the notion of "mainstream opinion" in general. Scientific arguments should be judged by their evidence and by the reasoning behind the interpretation of the evidence. It doesn't matter what "authority" or reputation the scientist has. Even the most brilliant scientists have made mistakes. (this indeed is one of the main points of Gould's book -- scientists wh were clearly "mainstream," even "authoritative" in the 19th century made claims that are clearly racist AND wrong by any scientific standard today. Since this happened in the past, there is no reason not to think it might not happen in the present.) Anyway, I think the last thing an good scientist would want is for their word to be taken at face value.
Second, I think in the issue of "intelligence science" it is especially difficult to identify a "mainstream." The issue is so politicized I personally cannot imagine scientists reaching any consensus (and thus constituting a mainstream) about race and IQ in the same way that scientists can reach a consensus about, say, gravity and acceleration, or the behavior of gases. Gould is certainly a credible, respected scientist. But, as I try to make clear in my following point, that is not why I find his point worth discussing at length.
Third, and more specifically, I think it is especially important in summaries of contentious issues to distinguish between one's conclusions and the reasons behind one's conclusions. In my summary of Gould, I tried not to simply assert Gould's "opinion" (the argument that race determines IQ is BS), rather, I tried to list a few of his reasons. These reasons may be compelling or non-compelling or even wrong, but one must explain why they would reject these points or what the counter-argument is. I gave the websight an only cursury glance, but it seemed to me to be more a set of asertions of facts -- facts that have been questioned -- rather than evidence for the facts or the logic between how certain conclusions have been drawn from facts.
Fourth, the websight is signed by one person that Gould has argued against (in a carefully reasoned way), namely, Jensen, and another person, Rushton, who has argued forcefully for the relationship between race and IQ. No one I know accepts their work, Rushton is an unabashed racist. But don't take my word for it -- read their work, and the various critiques. -- SR
Also, removed the statement that not much of the research is published since there is a huge amount of literature about group differences in academic performance. Strongly objected on NPOV grounds to the statement that the lack of publication was due to ideological reasons. Most people in the field don't think to think so, and would argue that the studies aren't published because they aren't interesting or are methodologically suspect.
-- Chenyu
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