Balder Ex-Libris

Author : Rushton John Philippe
Title : Is race a valid taxonomic construct ?
Year : 2001

Link download : Rushton_John_Philippe_-_Is_race_a_valid_taxonomic_construct.zip

The answer to the question posed in the title of this paper is “yes.” If the concept of race didn’t exist, science would have to invent it (and did)! Race is a valid taxonomic construct because it allows us to make predictions about people’s behavior, especially at the group level. In science, a concept is useful if it groups facts so that general laws and conclusions can be drawn from them. Predictions can be made using the taxonomic category of race because, on average, the Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans are similar to each other and different from White Americans, Germans, and Russians, who are similar to each other and different from Black Americans, Haitians, and sub-Saharan Africans. Predictability is the criterion by which the value of a hypothetical construct like race is evaluated. As I will show, race is highly predictive. For the past 20 years my research has focused on differences between the three major races, commonly termed Orientals (East Asians, Mongoloids), Whites (Europeans, Caucasoids), and Blacks (Africans, Negroids). Roughly speaking, Orientals are those who have most of their ancestors from East Asia. Whites have most of their ancestors from Europe. And Blacks have most of their ancestors from sub-Saharan Africa. In the main, I have not addressed the many other groups outside of these three major races, or sub-groups within the three major races, though they are of interest as well. What I've found is that in brain size, intelligence, temperament, sexual behavior, fertility, growth rate, life span, crime, and family stability, Orientals, as a group, consistently fall at one end of the spectrum, Blacks fall at the other end, and Whites fall in between. On average, Orientals are slower to mature, less fertile, and less sexually active, and have larger brains and higher IQ scores. Blacks are at the opposite end in each of these areas. Whites fall in the middle, often close to Orientals (see Chart 1). ...