"Rasse, Religion und Vererbung" - Diskussionen an der Universität Durham

Im letzten Beitrag wurde ein Artikel über das "Institute of Advanced Study" an der Universität Durham gebracht, das ein Gespräch am Runden Tisch zum Thema "Rasse, Religion and Vererbung" offenbar auf dem neuesten Stand der Forschung und der Forschungs-Diskussion organisiert hat. Da auch der von mir sehr geschätzte Soziobiologe Robin Dunbar an ihm beteiligt war, kann man sich nur das Allerbeste von dieser Diskussion erwarten. Hier ist nun der offizielle Kurzbericht auf ihrer Netzseite:

On 26th April 2007 Durham University publically launched its Institute of Advanced Study by hosting a debate on Race, Religion and Inheritance at Durham Castle.

One topic that has emerged from the Institute's inaugural theme, 'The Legacy of Charles Darwin' concerns the relationship between classification and responsible knowing. Is it possible to develop means of classifying that are not divisive, harmful, or exclusionary, and especially among the human races and faith systems?

In the April 26 round-table debate, the Institute's interest in classification turned to the question of whether classes are pre-given, whether human taxonomy is hard-wired. This was a question of fundamental public interest, in the context of current controversies relating to the origins of racial and religious beliefs. We are seeing the resurgence of biological readings of race and racial difference, the rise and rise of religious fundamentalism, and growing bi-centennial public interest in the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade. These controversies – and possible solutions relating to religious and racial tolerance and understanding – hinge around the unresolved problem of whether differences of behaviour, disposition, and affect are inherited, and if they are, through what kind of evolutionary mechanism.

The panel of distinguished speakers included:

John Hedley Brooke (IAS Fellow, Professor of History of Science at the Ian Ramsey Centre, Oxford University, and author of the prize-winning book Science and Religion: Some Historical Perspectives);

Madeleine Bunting (Author, Guardian columnist, and recipient of the Race in Media award by the Commission for Racial Equality in 2005);

Robin Dunbar (Professor of Evolutionary Psychology at the University of Liverpool, Fellow of the British Academy and author of The Human Story);

John Dupré (IAS Fellow, Philosopher of Science at Exeter University, Director of the ESRC Centre for Genomics in Society, and author of the celebrated book The Disorder of Things);

Anthony P Monaco (Professor of Human Genetics and Director of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, Oxford University)

The debate was chaired by Durham University's new Vice-Chancellor, Professor Christopher Higgins.

A full transcript and video recording of this event will be available in due course.

Last modified: 17th May 2007

Es wäre von großem Interesse, über die Inhalte dieser Diskussionen mehr zu erfahren.