Department of History and Philosophy of Science and Medicine

This version of X632 is about scientific understandings of human differences and processes of differentiation, especially differences between the sexes and the races, from the late eighteenth century to the present. A central question in many of these debates was how (or whether) unity could be found amid the diversity: Was there a common origin in heredity, embryology, or evolution, from which all humans diverged to varying degrees? And if so, what caused the divergence—environment, culture, nutrition, disease, natural selection? Or contrarily, were the sexes and races fixed and incommensurable categories?

As we look at the historical ideas and debates, we will consider the interplay between science and culture, in other words, how scientific theorizing often reflects cultural assumptions about sex and race, but can also influence and change them. Attention will be given to minority, feminist, and other dissenting viewpoints in addition to the better-known theoreticians. Comparisons of historical cases to present-day problems will also be drawn.

Topics will include the monogeneist-polygenist debate; Darwin’s theory of sexual selection and race formation; theories of sex determination; eugenics and racial ideology; the discovery of the sex hormones and some of their first medical uses; Alfred Kinsey’s studies of the diversity of human sexual behaviors; and current issues such as race-based medical treatments or transgender participation in sports.