Racialism Essay Example

According to Mallon’s “Sources of Racialism,” the central claim is the racial or social constructionism (272). The author argues that an individual must embrace a non-existing race in its natural kind so as to be a constructionist. Racialism is founded on the perception that human beings are divided into groups consisting of members with similar characteristics. One of the objections that Mallon advances is the fact that history only gives a partial explanation on the biologicization of the race. Under this objection, Mallon considers important historical moment between the 19th and 20th century where there was a shift in the scientific racialism. In addition, he considered the folk racialism and folk biology, which were underwritten by a universal cognitive strategy of essentialism in making his argument. The commonality in the topic of racialism is that it expounds on the essence of race making it easier to understand its vital nature (Mallon 285). The response of Mallon on this objection is satisfactory. This satisfaction derives from the author's explanation under which he explained the essence of biological inheritance in the species and racial kinds. The tandem shift in the race and biology, which is offered by the evolutionary cognitive program under this objection, further supports the author’s objection.

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Psychology is required in addressing specific and culturally local concerns. This requirement forms a standard objection to Mallon’s original position. Vision is another cognitive capacity that is of cultural relevance as pointed out by Mallon. Human perception is a critical determinat in defining the life, history, and culture of a person. The study on culture both; evolutionary cognitive and humanistic has been done independent of the inquiries into the visual system. Thus, it is positive to say that there is an efficient division of labour. Also, when giving evidence of evolutionary cognitive influences on racial cognition, the theorists might ignore and treat the influence as a background of their work under circumstances where the features of the cognition are not relevant to their interests (Mallon 284).

Work Cited

Mallon, Ron. "Sources of Racialism." Journal of Social Philosophy 41.3 (2010): 272-292.