ipl-logo

Analysis Of 'Are Humans One Race Or Many?' By Alfred Russell Wallace

779 Words4 Pages

Alfred Russell Wallace’s “Are Humans One Race or Many?” – Environmentally Shaped Racial Supremacy
Wallace, Alfred. “Are Humans One Race or Many?” Backgrounds and Contexts, edited by Paul B. Armstrong, W.W. Norton and Company INC, 1991, pp. 218 – 224.

Alfred Russell Wallace’s “Are Humans One Race or Many” powerfully asserts that human races differ in superiority due to the unique environments each group resides in. Through real-world examples, Wallace states that an environment’s “physical peculiarities” are the underlying factors behind both the separation of humans from animals and the superiority of certain races over others (Wallace 218).
A critical element of this piece is Wallace’s elaboration on why humans are immune to the effects of natural selection. The example he uses is subtle but powerful. Wallace proclaims that although animals are left for dead by the herd after sustaining an injury, humans do not suffer from this “extreme penalty” (219). This contrast arises from the differing empathy in humans …show more content…

Again, Wallace advocates that European superiority arises from their environment: it is the centuries of surviving in comparably abominable conditions that grant Europeans an intellectual, moral, and physical superiority “in the struggle for existence” with the “savage man” (222).
Derived from Wallace’s comparisons and deductions is this passage’s overarching claim: it is the “advance in mind” that institutes the natural supremacy of certain human races over others (223). Wallace acknowledges that all humans once paralleled each other, and animals alike, in aptitude. However, this was before humans “acquired that wonderfully developed brain” crucial in “keeping us in harmony with the slowly changing universe”

Show More
Related

  • Dorothy Roberts Fatal Invention Analysis

    435 Words  | 2 Pages

    Professor Dorothy Roberts discussed her latest book Fatal Invention where she made references to how science, politics, and big business recreate race in the 21st Century. She discussed with Tavis Smiley the different incentives that are used in science, business as well as the Government to categorized race. Despite research that showed that the black race and the white race is only .1% genetically different from each other many are still making an argument that the races are very different and merit ongoing discussions In terms of commercial incentives, Professor Roberts believed that many products are produced based on the assumptions that you can divide the human species into biological groups call race. This was evident in the labeling

    Read More

  • Jeremy Rifkin A Change Of Heart About Animals Analysis

    205 Words  | 1 Pages

    Jeremy Rifkin, the president of the Foundation on Economic Trends in Washington D.C and author of “A Change of Heart About Animals” (2003), argues in this article that animals are much more like humans than we thought and that we should expand our empathy to our fellow creatures. Rifkin develops his thesis by comparing the similarities between humans and animals. An example of this is in paragraph 11 when he claims that animals show a sense of their own mortality and the mortality of their kin just like humans do. He supports this claim by giving an example of elephants standing next to their dead children for days after they have passed. The author gives that example of the elephants in order to make the reader understands just how aware these

    Read More

  • Social Darwinism Dbq Essay

    978 Words  | 4 Pages

    During early colonization Europeans felt that non-Europeans lacked knowledge but were still worthy of respect, later we see a shift to imperialism and a more strengthened view of European superiority. Europeans discovered new lands and created several instances of interaction between Europeans and non-Europeans lasting from the mid 1700s to early 1900s. Early interactions were widely influenced by Enlightenment ideals that created an attitude of respect from the Europeans to non-Europeans. However, European attitudes towards non-Europeans shifted from cautious regard to extreme feelings of superiority. This change was also brought on by ideas such as social Darwinism.

    Read More

  • Humanity In The Veldt And The Lottery

    1067 Words  | 5 Pages

    Some people see humans as a bright and inspiring species while some see the human race as an inexplicably evil and self absorbed group of primates. The Veldt by Ray Bradbury, The Cask Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe and The Lottery by Shirley Jackson highlight these inexplicable acts of murder and inhumanity. For example, in The Veldt, two children allow their parents to be mauled by lions to enable the prolonged use of the nursery. In The Lottery, people are being killed for no reason only to abide by the ways of the society, and in The Cask Amontillado, a man is left to suffer and die in a catacomb as an act of revenge for a minor slight.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Michael Omi And Howard Winant Racial Formation

    864 Words  | 4 Pages

    Critical Summary “Racial Formations” by Michael Omi and Howard Winant discusses the definition of race, race as a social construct, racial ideology and identity, the historical development of race, and unresolved questions regarding race. The article opens with The Phipps case, which ruled that a law which “quantified racial identity” would be upheld (Omi and Winant, 1986, 12). The article describes how race is viewed from both scientific and religious standpoints. Race was used to determine the characteristics and treatment of those who did not look like the European standard.

    Read More

  • How Race Becomes Biology: Embodiment Of Social Inequality

    879 Words  | 4 Pages

    First, Gravlee explains the cultural perception of race in the United States and how

    Read More

  • Summary Of Jeremy Rifkin A Change Of Heart About Animals

    248 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the op-ed piece “A Change of Heart about Animals”, Jeremy Rifkin emphasizes the similarities between humans and animals by providing results on scientific research studies to illustrate that humans should be more empathetic towards animals. In addition, he further explains how research results have changed the ways humans perceived animals and indicates solutions that were taken by other countries and organizations to help improve and protect animal rights. Rifkin provides examples that demonstrate animals have emotions, conceptual abilities, self awareness, and a sense of individualism just like humans. For example, Pigs crave for affection and get depressed easily when isolated, two birds Betty and Abel have tool making skills, Koko

    Read More

  • Harman's Arguments Against Killing Animals

    497 Words  | 2 Pages

    According to Elizabeth Harman, an action that kills an animal even painlessly, is an action that harms the animal. If we indeed have strong moral reasons against causing pain to animals, Harman argues we must also have strong moral reasons against killing animals. This raises an objection to the Surprising Claim, which states that we have strong reasons against causing intense pain to animals, but only weak reasons against killing animals. The First View claims that killing an animal deprives it of a positive benefit (future life) but does not harm the animal.

    Read More

  • Deconstructing America Rhetorical Analysis

    1146 Words  | 5 Pages

    Coupled with these distorted examples, Buchanan uses strong and impassioned examples explaining how diversity has formerly failed Americans. At one point, Buchanan listed atrocities committed by Americans through the years attempting to channel an emotional response from the reader. Buchanan lists “The war between the States was about race. Reconstruction was about race. Segregation was about race” (600).

    Read More

  • Biological Basis Of Race Essay

    499 Words  | 2 Pages

    Among anthropologists it has become increasingly clear that the concept of race having a biological basis is fundamentally flawed. There a number of flaws with this concept of race. One issue is that features attributed to race, such as skin color, very across the globe in a clinal fashion rather than in uniform groups. Another issue is that there is more in-group variation within races than there is variation between races. Finally, human variation is non-concordant.

    Read More

  • SOC 100 Midterm Essay

    624 Words  | 3 Pages

    SOC 100 - Midterm Essay In the U.S., we were taught to categorize people into different “racial groups” such as White, Black, Asian, and so on, based on physical features, including skin color, hair texture, shapes of lips, and more. However, race is socially and not biologically constructed. According to the textbook, sociologists described race as a human invention which was shaped by social forces present in a time and place of its creation. There are three main arguments for why race is created and designed by society.

    Read More

  • Coats 'What We Mean When We Say Race Is A Social Construct'

    158 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the article “What We Mean When We Say ‘Race Is a Social Construct’,’’ Ta-Nehisi Coates asserts that the idea of race is not based on someone’s intelligence. People will always have a different opinion on intelligence. It is wrong to make the assumption that “blacks” are not as intelligent as “whites”. Coats says “There is no fixed sense of ‘whiteness’ or ‘blackness’.” He also explains how race is a social construct.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Critical Race Theory

    1747 Words  | 7 Pages

    In this paper, I will be critiquing these articles and films in order to evaluate the purpose of these readings and how they have helped further develop race in America. But most importantly, whether the author has achieved its purpose to inform readers about CRT, whiteness, and racial inequality. First article, I will be analyzing is Critical Race Theory: An Introduction by Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic. Both authors explore Critical Race Theory in detail. As I previously mentioned, CRT is one of the most important developments mainly in the legal studies department.

    Read More

  • Peter Singer's Argument Against Animal Rights

    2076 Words  | 9 Pages

    As humans our focus is to achieve the maximum amount of pleasure and minimum amount of pain, Singer relates this to the principle of equality and how this principle can be extended to all species not just humans. Singer explains the argument by stating that “If a being is not capable of suffering, or of experiencing enjoyment or happiness, there is nothing to be taken into account,”(4). Singer explains that just because a species can experience enjoyment or happiness does not make it right to make other species suffer. Singer describes that it is not acceptable to eat other species, and that one should consider the suffering the animal endured beforehand. Singer provides two examples that show that there is a disconnect in equality between humans and other species.

    Read More

  • Race Social Construction

    1428 Words  | 6 Pages

    Throughout history social scientists have been trying to examine the different parameters of race in terms of phenotypic characteristics, and cultural behaviors regarding the different groups that society construct’s. legally judges have had different rulings regarding the categorization of different ethnicities and groups within the United States. Many philosophers such as Kwame Appiah, and Scientists such as Dr. James Watson have had opposing arguments on the topic of race and whether it exists or not. In order to do so we need to examine the different definitions of race, and analyze them in order to see how race is a social construct, where people’s notions of race and their interactions with different races determine the way they perceive

    Read More

More about Analysis Of 'Are Humans One Race Or Many?' By Alfred Russell Wallace

Open Document