Rasmus Grønfeldt Winther
Biographic Data
| ID | 460481 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Rasmus Grønfeldt Winther |
| GIVEN NAMES | Rasmus Grønfeldt |
| FAMILY NAME | Winther |
| SIGNATURE | WINTHER R G |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of California, Santa Cruz |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8976-3052 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 13 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 35 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 13 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Troubling Populations
Richard Lewontin's 1972 paper, "The Apportionment of Human Diversity," troubled the concept of race by showing that only a small proportion of the overall genetic variance across human groups is accounted for by the racial categories inherited from early twentieth-century physical anthropology. Since Lewontin's landmark paper, critics of the biological race concept have continued appealing to this and other studies of the apportionment of genetic…
Our Genes
Situated at the intersection of natural science and philosophy, Our Genes explores historical practices, investigates current trends, and imagines future work in genetic research to answer persistent, political questions about human diversity. Readers are guided through fascinating thought experiments, complex measures and metrics, fundamental evolutionary patterns, and in-depth treatment of exciting case studies. The work culminates in a philoso…
Evo-devo as a Trading Zone
Introduction
The mind, the lab, and the field
Realism, Antirealism, and Conventionalism about Race
This paper distinguishes three concepts of “race”: bio-genomic cluster/race, biological race, and social race. We map out realism, antirealism, and conventionalism about each of these, in three important historical episodes: Frank Livingstone and Theodosius Dobzhansky in 1962, A. W. F. Edwards’s 2003 response to Lewontin’s 1972 paper, and contemporary discourse. Semantics is especially crucial to the first episode, while normativity is central to…
Race, Genomics, and Philosophy of Science
Keywords: race; racism; ignorance; epistemology; IQ; hereditarian; JensenismMost White Americans are startlingly ignorant about the prevalence and significance of racism in the United States (see, e.g., Norton and Sommers 2011, Adams and Salter 2012; see also Sullivan and Tuana, eds. 2007). This ignorance has structural causes, and serves to prevent meaningful social and political action that might address some of the causes and effects of racism…
Ontologies and Politics of Biogenomic 'Race
All eyes are turned towards genomic data and models as the source of knowledge about whether human races exist or not. Will genomic science make the final decision about whether racial realism (e.g. racial population naturalism) or anti-realism (e.g. racial scepticism) is correct? We think not. The results of even our best and most impressive genomic technologies under-determine whether biogenomic races exist, or not. First, different sub-discipl…
Interweaving categories
Part-whole science
Grasping At Realist Straws
Prediction in Selectionist Evolutionary Theory
Selectionist evolutionary theory has often been faulted for not making novel predictions that are surprising, risky, and correct. I argue that it in fact exhibits the theoretical virtue of predictive capacity in addition to two other virtues: explanatory unification and model fitting. Two case studies show the predictive capacity of selectionist evolutionary theory: parallel evolutionary change in E. coli and the origin of eukaryotic cells throug…
Schaffner's Model of Theory Reduction
Schaffner's model of theory reduction has played an important role in philosophy of science and philosophy of biology. Here, the model is found to be problematic because of an internal tension. Indeed, standard antireductionist external criticisms concerning reduction functions and laws in biology do not provide a full picture of the limits of Schaffner's model. However, despite the internal tension, his model usefully highlights the importance o…
The mind, the lab, and the field
Ontologies and Politics of Biogenomic 'Race
All eyes are turned towards genomic data and models as the source of knowledge about whether human races exist or not. Will genomic science make the final decision about whether racial realism (e.g. racial population naturalism) or anti-realism (e.g. racial scepticism) is correct? We think not. The results of even our best and most impressive genomic technologies under-determine whether biogenomic races exist, or not. First, different sub-discipl…
Part-whole science
Realism, Antirealism, and Conventionalism about Race
This paper distinguishes three concepts of “race”: bio-genomic cluster/race, biological race, and social race. We map out realism, antirealism, and conventionalism about each of these, in three important historical episodes: Frank Livingstone and Theodosius Dobzhansky in 1962, A. W. F. Edwards’s 2003 response to Lewontin’s 1972 paper, and contemporary discourse. Semantics is especially crucial to the first episode, while normativity is central to…
Schaffner's Model of Theory Reduction
Schaffner's model of theory reduction has played an important role in philosophy of science and philosophy of biology. Here, the model is found to be problematic because of an internal tension. Indeed, standard antireductionist external criticisms concerning reduction functions and laws in biology do not provide a full picture of the limits of Schaffner's model. However, despite the internal tension, his model usefully highlights the importance o…
Prediction in Selectionist Evolutionary Theory
Selectionist evolutionary theory has often been faulted for not making novel predictions that are surprising, risky, and correct. I argue that it in fact exhibits the theoretical virtue of predictive capacity in addition to two other virtues: explanatory unification and model fitting. Two case studies show the predictive capacity of selectionist evolutionary theory: parallel evolutionary change in E. coli and the origin of eukaryotic cells throug…
Race, Genomics, and Philosophy of Science
Keywords: race; racism; ignorance; epistemology; IQ; hereditarian; JensenismMost White Americans are startlingly ignorant about the prevalence and significance of racism in the United States (see, e.g., Norton and Sommers 2011, Adams and Salter 2012; see also Sullivan and Tuana, eds. 2007). This ignorance has structural causes, and serves to prevent meaningful social and political action that might address some of the causes and effects of racism…
Interweaving categories
Introduction
Grasping At Realist Straws
Prediction in Selectionist Evolutionary Theory
Selectionist evolutionary theory has often been faulted for not making novel predictions that are surprising, risky, and correct. I argue that it in fact exhibits the theoretical virtue of predictive capacity in addition to two other virtues: explanatory unification and model fitting. Two case studies show the predictive capacity of selectionist evolutionary theory: parallel evolutionary change in E. coli and the origin of eukaryotic cells throug…
Schaffner's Model of Theory Reduction
Schaffner's model of theory reduction has played an important role in philosophy of science and philosophy of biology. Here, the model is found to be problematic because of an internal tension. Indeed, standard antireductionist external criticisms concerning reduction functions and laws in biology do not provide a full picture of the limits of Schaffner's model. However, despite the internal tension, his model usefully highlights the importance o…
Part-whole science
Interweaving categories
Ontologies and Politics of Biogenomic 'Race
All eyes are turned towards genomic data and models as the source of knowledge about whether human races exist or not. Will genomic science make the final decision about whether racial realism (e.g. racial population naturalism) or anti-realism (e.g. racial scepticism) is correct? We think not. The results of even our best and most impressive genomic technologies under-determine whether biogenomic races exist, or not. First, different sub-discipl…
Realism, Antirealism, and Conventionalism about Race
This paper distinguishes three concepts of “race”: bio-genomic cluster/race, biological race, and social race. We map out realism, antirealism, and conventionalism about each of these, in three important historical episodes: Frank Livingstone and Theodosius Dobzhansky in 1962, A. W. F. Edwards’s 2003 response to Lewontin’s 1972 paper, and contemporary discourse. Semantics is especially crucial to the first episode, while normativity is central to…
Race, Genomics, and Philosophy of Science
Keywords: race; racism; ignorance; epistemology; IQ; hereditarian; JensenismMost White Americans are startlingly ignorant about the prevalence and significance of racism in the United States (see, e.g., Norton and Sommers 2011, Adams and Salter 2012; see also Sullivan and Tuana, eds. 2007). This ignorance has structural causes, and serves to prevent meaningful social and political action that might address some of the causes and effects of racism…
Evo-devo as a Trading Zone
Introduction
The mind, the lab, and the field
Our Genes
Situated at the intersection of natural science and philosophy, Our Genes explores historical practices, investigates current trends, and imagines future work in genetic research to answer persistent, political questions about human diversity. Readers are guided through fascinating thought experiments, complex measures and metrics, fundamental evolutionary patterns, and in-depth treatment of exciting case studies. The work culminates in a philoso…
Troubling Populations
Richard Lewontin's 1972 paper, "The Apportionment of Human Diversity," troubled the concept of race by showing that only a small proportion of the overall genetic variance across human groups is accounted for by the racial categories inherited from early twentieth-century physical anthropology. Since Lewontin's landmark paper, critics of the biological race concept have continued appealing to this and other studies of the apportionment of genetic…
Philosophy and History of Science (11 works) · Epistemology (9 works) · Philosophy (9 works) · Race, Genetics, and Society (6 works) · Computer Science (5 works) · Sociology (5 works) · Biology (4 works) · Gender Studies (4 works) · Philosophy of science (4 works) · Biomedical Text Mining and Ontologies (3 works)