Philomathean Society hosts panel on the issue of race

The Philomathean Society’s discussion on the hotly debated issue of race drew in a large crowd that required last-minute extra seating.

Philo began its well-attended discussion Thursday night with the question of whether there is a biological base to race. A panel of professors offered a multidisciplinary approach to the issue, with Anthropology professor Janet Monge, School of Medicine professor Sarah Tishkoff and Philosophy professor Michael Weisberg.

Most students came in wanting to supplement their existing knowledge on the topic. College sophomore Dee Dee Tardif thought “the discussion of race and biology presents a very interesting construct. I want to hear additional opinions and information.”

College freshman Sam Cordero, a student in Penn’s Integrated Studies Program, had a little bit of background on race from a “biological perspective and an anthropology perspective and a classics perspective … and I hadn’t heard it from the philosophy perspective.”

The panelists discussed how their respective fields came into the discussion of race. Monge, a biological anthropologist, noted how anthropology is one of the most influential fields in defining race as well as “abusing the concept.” She shed light on the history of the topic in Philadelphia, referencing Samuel Morton — one of the first scholars to start the discussion of race in Philadelphia in the 1800s, who ranked humans by race in terms of their cranial capacity.

Tishkoff tackled the issue through a biological perspective. Through biology, genetic variations of humans can be traced from different regions of the world and from millions of years ago. Tishkoff, who has worked extensively in the genetics of human migration, said she feels there is not one site in the human genetic code that distinguishes between races.

Weisberg said he views race as a natural occurrence — in the field of philosophy, he explained, people are sorted into very distinct groups with no one in between. He drew an example from the U.S. Census that has a box for Hispanics, a race that is very distinct from any other group of people, he said.

In the end, questions regarding race are “inconclusive,” according to Tishkoff. The panelists agreed that there are too many levels to dissect in the exploration of human races. “Race can’t be identified by just looking at people,” Monge said.

Weisberg believes race discussion is relevant because “it’s a very politically charged topic, and we need to look at what our practices of classification are in general.”

Monge and Weisberg are working on an exhibit for the Penn Museum in the upcoming year on human race and evolution through an anthropological viewpoint, looking at the skulls Morton originally studied.

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