Structurally-Constituted Human Kinds

結構構成的人之類

榮恩．麥隆(Ron Mallon) ； 陳湘韻(Hsiang-Yun Chen)

《歐美研究》 50卷4期 (2020/12) Pp. 709-737

https://doi.org/10.7015/JEAS.202012_50(4).0003

摘要

Some kinds of human or person seem to be intimately involved in the extra-human or extra-personal world; this involvement can take a variety of forms. Social constructionists have suggested that various human kinds may exhibit surprising dependence upon socially caused or constituted aspects of the world, and some have appealed to externalist, causal historical accounts of the semantics of kind terms for a model of how to reconcile such unappreciated sociality with successful reference of the terms. Focusing on the case of race in the U.S., I suggest that following this appeal to externalist semantics may lead, in some cases, to the embrace of human kinds that are constituted by the causal and material effects of past social practices. I also suggest that such structural dependence has counterintuitive consequences.

關鍵字

social construction ； semantic externalism ； human kinds ； race

並列摘要

某些類別的人似乎與人之外的世界有緊密的關聯，這些關聯可呈現為數種不同的形式。社會建構論者認為，某些人之類的形成，以令人驚訝的程度依賴於社會所造成或構成的面相；有些社會建構論者並以關於類別詞的外在論式的因果歷史語意論，來說明如何調和此一未受到足夠重視的社會性，以及我們對這些類詞的成功指涉。聚焦於美國脈絡下的種族，我認為遵循這種語意外在論，在某些情況下，會導致由過往社會習俗的因果效應所構造而成的人之類。我也主張，這種結構性的依賴會引發違反直覺的後果，並支持人之類的語意多元主義。

並列關鍵字

社會建構 ； 語意外在論 ； 人之類 ； 種族

參考文獻

Barnes, E. (2020). Gender and gender terms. Noûs, 54, 3: 704-730. https://doi.org/10.1111/nous.12279

Boyd, R. (1992). Constructivism, realism, and philosophical method. In J. Earman (Ed.), Inference, explanation, and other frustrations: Essays in the philosophy of science (pp. 131-198). University of California Press. https://doi.org/10.1525/ 9780520309876-008

Churchland, P. M. (1981). Eliminative materialism and the propositional attitudes. Journal of Philosophy, 78, 2: 67-90. https://doi.org/10.2307/2025900

Craver, C. F. (2009). Mechanisms and natural kinds. Philosophical Psychology, 22, 5: 575-594. https://doi.org/10.1080/09515 080903238930

Davidson, A. I. (2001). The emergence of sexuality: Historical epistemology and the formation of concepts. Harvard University Press.