Favored Races in the Struggle for Life: Racism and the Speciation Concept

Abstract

Evolutionary speciation, whether it be cladistic or phyletic, has always been associated with race concepts. Biological races are conceived as definable stages of divergence from a common ancestor. However, the species concept in Western science began within a special creationist framework. The sixteenth century European voyages of discovery resulted in special creationist schemes explaining the origin of the new peoples encountered. These were designed to provide the moral justification for their colonization and enslavement. By the seventeenth century, European naturalists were beginning to seriously question the meaning of the variation within the animals and plants they observed within the context of God's role in creation. By the middle of the nineteenth century, "the species question" was the most important intellectual enterprise within biology. Here I discuss how notions of speciation influenced and were influenced by conceptions of race within Homo sapiens.

The use of race terms in epigenetics research: considerations moving forward

“…The concept of biological races would indicate that humans are biologically distinct from one another but share a common ancestor. Humans do not have biological races, as human biological diversity does not align with racial populations ( Graves, 2023 ). Modern use of the term “race” relies on social definitions that vary across cultures and over time rather than the identification of distinct biological groups ( Roberts, 2011 ; Fuentes et al, 2019 ).…”