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24.892 Classification, Natural Kinds, and Conceptual Change: Race as a Case Study

As taught in: Spring 2004

Level:

Graduate

Instructors:

Prof. Sally Haslanger

Prof. Koffi Maglo

Course Highlights

Course Description

A caricature of racial intermarriage in the United States, 1864.

A political caricature of racial intermarriage in the United States, 1864. (Image courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division [reproduction number: LC-USZ62-8840 (b&w film copy neg.)].)

Course Highlights

This course features an extensive list of readings with corresponding reading questions.

Course Description

This course will consider the claim that there is no such thing as race, with a particular emphasis on the question whether races should be thought of as natural kinds: is our concept of race a natural kind concept? Is the term 'race' a natural kind term? If so, is Appiah right to conclude that there are no races? How should one go about "analyzing" the concept of race?