Appiah on Racialism and Racial Skepticism

2024-2 Social Ontology Segment 2

 

Q) What is racialism, according to Appiah?

Appiah characterizes racialism as the doctrine that human beings are divided into a small number of groups called ‘races,’ whose members share certain fundamental, heritable, physical, moral, intellectual, and cultural characteristics. It is assumed that these characteristics of distinct races are mutually exclusive.

He further argues that individuals such as those who are mute, mentally disabled, or blind should not be considered exceptions to the general laws governing racial types. Moreover, apparent counterexamples to racial stereotypes are explained in terms of the peculiar characteristics of individuals rather than the natural tendencies of groups.

 

Q) Describe the main features of Appiah’s argument for racial skepticism.

Appiah holds an eliminativist view on races. Unlike racial naturalism, he argues that the term “race” does not refer to any biological essence, because there is no such thing. Therefore, the term cannot refer to anything real in the world. However, this fact does not mean that we should not examine “how people think about race.” Even though witchcraft does not exist, investigating the historical concept of witchcraft can be helpful for understanding systems of thought. Likewise, understanding the history of the conception of races is crucial for addressing social problems, such as racism.