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Against the New Metaphysics of Race

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

David Ludwig
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Abstract

The aim of this article is to develop an argument against metaphysical debates about the existence of human races. I argue that the ontology of race is underdetermined by both empirical and nonempirical evidence owing to a plurality of equally permissible candidate meanings of “race.” Furthermore, I argue that this underdetermination leads to a deflationist diagnosis according to which disputes about the existence of human races are nonsubstantive verbal disputes. While this diagnosis resembles general deflationist strategies in contemporary metaphysics, I show that my argument does not presuppose controversial metametaphysical assumptions.

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Type
Research Article
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Philosophy of Science , Volume 82 , Issue 2 , April 2015 , pp. 244 - 265
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

†

I would like to thank the participants of “GRSelona2—Second Barcelona Conference on Gender, Race, and Sexuality: Issues in Metaphysics” and three anonymous reviewers for helpful comments.

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