The Construction of Human Kinds

Ron Mallon

A fascinating investigation of the status of categories like race and gender
Mallon argues that they are the products of our representational practices, but real none the less
Draws together philosophy, social psychology, and social science

The Construction of Human Kinds

Ron Mallon

Description

Ron Mallon explores how thinking and talking about kinds of person can bring those kinds into being. Social constructionist explanations of human kinds like race, gender, and homosexuality are commonplace in the social sciences and humanities, but what do they mean and what are their implications?

This book synthesizes recent work in evolutionary, cognitive, and social psychology as well as social theory and the philosophy of science, in order to offer a naturalistic account of the social construction of human kinds. Mallon begins by qualifying social constructionist accounts of representations of human kinds by appealing to evidence suggesting canalized dispositions towards certain ways of representing human groups, using race as a case study. He then turns to interpret constructionist accounts of categories as attempts to explain causally powerful human kinds by appealling to our practices of representing them, and he articulates a view in which widespread representations produce entrenched social roles that could vindicate such attempts.

Mallon goes on to explore constructionist concerns with the social consequences of our representations, focusing especially on the way human kind representations can alter our behaviour and undermine our self understandings and our agency. Mallon understands socially constructed kinds as the real, sometimes stable products of our cognitive and representational practices, and he suggests that reference to such kinds can figure in our everyday and scientific practices of representing the social world. The result is a realistic, naturalistic account of how human representations might contribute to making up the parts of the social world that they represent.

The Construction of Human Kinds

Ron Mallon

Introduction
Part I: Constructing Human Kinds
1. Constructing and Constraining Representations: Was Race Thinking Invented in the Modern West?
2. Constructing Categories: Concepts, Actions and Social Roles
3. Social Roles that Matter
4. Natural Permission and the Naturalistic Fallacy
5. Performed Categories, Self-Explanation, and Agency
Part II: Realizing Social Construction
6. Social Construction and Reality
7. Achieving Stability
8. Achieving Reference
9. Conclusion: Alternatives and Implications
Acknowledgements
Bibliography

The Construction of Human Kinds

Ron Mallon

Author Information

Ron Mallon, Associate Professor & Director of the Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology Program, Washington University, Saint Louis

Ron Mallon (Ph.D. Rutgers) is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Director of the PNP Program at Washington University in St. Louis. His work is at the intersection of the philosophy of psychology and social theory.

The Construction of Human Kinds

Ron Mallon

Reviews and Awards

"Mallon's The Construction of Human Kinds stands out from other work in social metaphysics by using recent research in evolutionary psychology and cognitive science to defend particular views and more generally a naturalistic account of social construction. In addition to focusing on metaphysics, Mallon also discusses issues in areas including ethics, philosophy of science, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of language. The dialogue between research in different disciplines and across philosophy is welcome and enlightening. ... The Construction of Human Kinds also draws out issues and questions about the connections between explanation and justice and between representation and the social world that are ripe for further inquiry. The book will be of interest to many working in social metaphysics and social philosophy."--Katherine Ritchie, Ethics

"Mallon's book is a useful guide for readers with an interest in metaphysics and little familiarity with recent writing on race." -- Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

"His book has much to recommend it. It is careful, scholarly, clear and tackles important issues...To sum up, The Construction of Human Kinds is a valuable addition to the literature. The book will be accessible to readers with a good undergraduate background in philosophy, and should be read by philosophers who want to understand the metaphysics and semantics of socially constructed kinds." --Metapsychology Online Reviews