• Essays on ‘Racial’ Classifications as Pseudo-Science by Penelope J. Corfield

4.1 ‘Racial’ Classifications as Pseudo-Science

4.4.1 Talking of Language, It’s Time to Update the Language of Race (BLOG/ 36, Dec. 2013) All people are entitled to be proud of their personal genetic inheritance and never to be disadvantaged by it. Lots of things need to change in the world to make that claim come true. This essay argues that one helpful step would be to cease talking of separate ‘races’, when all are members of one human race. [Associated points are discussed in 4.4.1, 4.4.2, 4.4.3, 4.4.4, 4.4.5 and 4.4.6]

4.4.2 Ideas Taking a Wrong Turn (BLOG/ 77, May 2017)
This brief commentary looks at ideas which are long held to be true (such as the scientific concept of ‘phlogiston’ or the essence of fire) and are then quietly abandoned – asking what the tenacity of such ideas indicates about patterns of human thought

4.4.3 How Do People Respond to Eliminating the Language of ‘Race’? (BLOG/ 37, Jan. 2014) Different responses to giving up the idea of separate ‘races’ are here examined, in the light of the argument in 4.4.1

4.4.4 Why is the Language of ‘Race’ Holding On for So Long, when It’s Based on a Pseudo-Science? (BLOG/ 38, Feb. 2014) This essay considers why the language of separate ‘races’ is proving slow to disappear, despite repeated scientific proof that all humans are genetically members of the one human race. [See also essays 4.4.1, 4.4.2, 4.4.3, 4.4.5 and 4.4.6]

4.4.5 As the Language of ‘Race’ Disappears, where does that Leave the Assault upon Racism? (BLOG/ 89, May 2018) Giving up the language and concept of separate ‘races’ does not weaken the just assault upon ‘racist’ ideas. On the contrary, it strengthens anti-racism. [See sequence of essays 4.4.1, 4.4.2, 4.4.3, 4.4.4, 4.4.5 and 4.4.6]

4.4.6 Celebrating Human Diversity within Human Unity (BLOG/ 90, June 2018) Humans are all members of one human race, with, within that, a range of highly complex and overlapping genetic groupings, resulting from millennia of migration and intermarriage. It’s a diversity within unity to be enjoyed and celebrated. [See essays 4.4.1, 4.4.2, 4.4.3, 4.4.4, 4.4.5 and 4.4.6]