Article
ID: CBB001213345

Theodosius Dobzhansky and the Genetic Race Concept (2013)

unapi
Proxy measurement; proxy data Genetics Race Science and race Terminology and nomenclature Fundamental concepts Population genetics 20th century Dobzhansky, Theodosius

The use of `race' as a proxy for population structure in the genetic mapping of complex traits has provoked controversy about its legitimacy as a category for biomedical research, given its social and political connotations. The controversy has reignited debates among scientists and philosophers of science about whether there is a legitimate biological concept of race. This paper examines the genetic race concept as it developed historically in the work of Theodosius Dobzhansky from the 1930s to 1950s. Dobzhansky's definitions of race changed over this time from races as `arrays of forms' or `clusters' in 1933--1939, to races as genetically distinct geographical populations in 1940--1946, to races as genetically distinct `Mendelian populations' in 1947--1955. Dobzhansky responded to nominalist challenges by appealing to the biological reality of race as a process. This response came into tension with the object ontology of race that was implied by Dobzhansky's increasingly holistic treatment of Mendelian populations, a tension, the paper argues, he failed to appreciate or resolve.

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Authors & Contributors
Konashev, Mikhail B.
Pereira Martins, Lilian Al-Chueyr
Brush, Stephen G.
Cassata, Francesco
Delisle, Richard G.
Farber, Paul Lawrence
Journals
Journal of the History of Biology
Perspectives on Science
American Journal of Physical Anthropology
Biology and Philosophy
Cultural Anthropology
Current Anthropology
Publishers
American Philosophical Society
Central European University Press
Nauka
University of Maryland, College Park
Concepts
Genetics
Evolution
Race
Science and race
Biology
Population genetics
People
Dobzhansky, Theodosius
Mayr, Ernst
Allen, Garland E.
Darwin, Charles Robert
Dunn, Leslie Clarence
Haldane, John Burdon Sanderson
Time Periods
20th century
19th century
20th century, late
21st century
Places
United States
Great Britain
Soviet Union
Germany
São Paulo (Brazil)
Brazil
Institutions
University of São Paolo
Genetics Society of America
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