The Non-Existence of Race Courtney Weeks Bethune-Cookman...

According to the American Heritage College Dictionary, race is â€Å"A group of people identified as distinct from other groups because of supposed physical or genetic traits shared by the group. Appiah says that there are various aspects of racism which include racialism, intrinsic racism and extrinsic racism. â€Å"Racialism is the view that there are inherent traits and tendencies of each race that are not shared with members of other races, and that allow us to divide people into distinct races† (Appiah 393). Extrinsic racism is view that the races inherently have different essences that entail different morally relative traits (Appiah 393). Intrinsic racism is the view that moral differentiation between races is justified because each race has†¦show more content†¦In the nineteenth century biologist attempted to create a science of racial differences that would support the view of racialism. â€Å"These traits and tendencies characteristic of a race constitute, on the racialist view, a sort of racial essence; and it is part of the content of racialism that the essential heritable characteristics of what the nineteenth century called the â€Å"Races of Man† account for more than the visible morphological characteristics—skin color, hair type, facial features—on the basis of which we make our informal classification (Appiah 394). As of today, most scientists working in these fields continue to reject racialism. The claims of racialism are not supported by science. Plausibly, Appiah states that racialism doesn’t necessarily have to be an ethical issue. An individual may possibly acknowledge racialism but still believe that constructive moral characteristics are equally disseminated across the different races. But, what is logically possible and what usually occurs are two different things. â€Å"I believe—and I have argued elsewhere—that racialism is false; but by itself it seems to be a cognitive rather than a moral problem† (Appiah 394). Extrinsic racism is the view that the races inherently have different essences that entail different morally relative traits (Appiah 393). â€Å"Extrensic racist make moral distinctions between members of different races because they believe that the racial essence entails certain morally