Racism and Its Societal Repercussions

Racism, especially scientific racism, did not begin with Darwin. Since the very first writings about “other people,” there have been racist assertions and ideas. I have provided a detailed account of the history of racist just-so-stories in my last book Meaning of Life, Human Nature, and Delusions. As noted in that book, such stories are often related to the notion of a scala naturae or a “chain of being”, which is, in turn, deeply related to our quest to understand humankind and its place in nature, including its “subgroups” or imaginary “races.”