Re: What Are the Race Deniers Denying?

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geroldf@sdd.hp.com (Gerold Firl) wrote:
scientific grounds.
>
> So, you asked why every individual on earth is classified as h. sap.
> sapiens, if in fact we have separate races. I guess the best answer is
> that since we have no consensus judgement of just exactly *how* the
> family tree should be labeled, it's best, for now, not to label it at
> all.

Is it in fact a "fact" that we have "separate races"? Given the
difficulty of getting a consensus about how the taxonomy "should" be
labeled, isn't it possible that Mother Nature is telling us something?
Like maybe, it "shouldn't" be labeled?

Isn't it also true that there is no clear consensus on the question of
whether or not is even worthwhile to construct a racial taxonomy for
contemporary H. sapiens at all? My impression (as linguist, I admit,
not as physical anthropologist) is that the consensus is that the
variation which exists among H. sapiens is interesting and worth
understanding, but it does not lead to a clear "racial" taxonomy. Nor
does it have to. Maybe we have to admit that Mother Nature is just
too messy, and things, including ourselves, do not exist in the neat
packages that our hyper-organizational minds would prefer.

Ron Kephart
University of North Florida

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