On InhumanityPub Date : 2020-09-01DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780190923006.003.0016
D. Smith
{"title":"The Politics of the Human","authors":"D. Smith","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780190923006.003.0016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190923006.003.0016","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter explores the view that, far from being an objective biological category, the category of the human is an ideological construction that is basic to ways that human societies exercise power. In short, the category of the human is a social construction. The chapter points out that when a group of people essentializes itself—sees itself as fundamentally and ineradicably distinct from all other people—the concept of the human becomes indistinguishable from the concept of “our kind.” In ethnically homogenous societies, this means members of the society are human, and everyone else is not. In heterogenous societies where there is “racial” or ethnic diversity—that is, most modern societies—the situation is more complex. In such societies, the concept of the human is an ideological structure. It is a concept that is used to legitimate and regulate relations of domination. If, as is often the case, the dominant group essentializes itself, that becomes the paradigm of the human and all others are either lesser humans or, at the extreme, subhumans. This view of what it means to be human has some important implications for the struggle against dehumanization.","PeriodicalId":332690,"journal":{"name":"On Inhumanity","volume":"109 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129805222","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
On InhumanityPub Date : 2020-09-01DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780190923006.003.0020
D. Smith
{"title":"Contradiction","authors":"D. Smith","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780190923006.003.0020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190923006.003.0020","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter examines the tendency of those who dehumanize others to make contradictions and be inconsistent. Some people think that these are evidence that dehumanization is not real. They interpret them as showing that when people refer to others as vermin or animals, they are expressing contempt and disgust, or trying to humiliate and degrade them, but they do not mean to say that these others are literally subhuman animals. The chapter asserts that these criticisms are important, and they deserve to be taken seriously. But taking them seriously does not mean that we must embrace the conclusion that dehumanization is not real. It simply moves us toward a more subtle and sophisticated understanding of the dynamics of dehumanization.","PeriodicalId":332690,"journal":{"name":"On Inhumanity","volume":"38 12 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130479267","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
On InhumanityPub Date : 2020-09-01DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780190923006.003.0006
D. Smith
{"title":"How We Do Race","authors":"D. Smith","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780190923006.003.0006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190923006.003.0006","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter teases out the core elements of the ordinary conception of “race.” This does not include a scientific or philosophical definition of race. Rather, the chapter talks about the view of race that most people just slip into when going about the everyday business of life. It is a conception that has been taken so thoroughly for granted that many do not even question it. The chapter argues that understanding the conception of race is key to understanding dehumanization, because beliefs about race lie at the heart of the dehumanizing process. It shows that dividing human beings into races—into “our kind” and “their kind”—is the first step on the road to dehumanizing them.","PeriodicalId":332690,"journal":{"name":"On Inhumanity","volume":"8 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131072981","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
On InhumanityPub Date : 2020-09-01DOI: 10.4135/9781446212172.n255
D. Smith
{"title":"Race Science","authors":"D. Smith","doi":"10.4135/9781446212172.n255","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446212172.n255","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter explains why science cannot underwrite ideas about race. It argues that old, prescientific beliefs about the fabric of reality often evolve into newer, scientific ones. The chapter first suggests a “reconstructionist” view on race, in which one could argue that although naïve ideas about race are coarsely hewn, crude, and deeply flawed, they could be refined into a scientifically acceptable conception. It also considers if race could be thought similar to the four elements of antiquity, destined to be abandoned and replaced with something closer to the truth. This latter view is called “eliminativist.” As this chapter shows, reconstructionism is a nonstarter. The ordinary notion of race cannot be patched up so that it fits into a scientific picture of human diversity. Consequently, eliminativism is the better argument.","PeriodicalId":332690,"journal":{"name":"On Inhumanity","volume":"34 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128112224","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
京公网安备 11010802042870号
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：