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[–][deleted] 5 insightful - 2 fun5 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 2 fun -  (4 children)

Words are a way of defing and categorising our understanding of things in a short and simple way. We use the word race so that we don't have to write an essay every time we have a simple conversation to explain the scientific meaning behind the categorisation we are referring to.

[–]ActuallyNot 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Race already has a scientific meaning. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_(biology)

There's not enough genetic diversity in humans to claim that there are any different races left. When we had Neaderthals and Denisovans, sure. But they've been absorbed now.

[–][deleted] 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (2 children)

Yes. We often make use of words that don't fit their scientific term appropriately, but due to the word being used, it's meaning is understood and has become commonplace. This is the nature of language.

An example would be "fossil fuels", which don't technically come from fossils but we accept the use the term nevertheless and it is rarely questioned as the word race is here.

Even so, the scientific term loosely refers to an informal rank of subspecies that are typically unable to interbreed, and may be defined as being physiologically or geographically distinct. That's not to say it is correct to use the word scientifically to define different ethnicity. I would say, that we use the word race informally as opposed to formally. We recognise the difference in the animal kingdom such as in dogs as being different but not genetically distinct.

[–]ActuallyNot 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

An example would be "fossil fuels", which don't technically come from fossils

I think that's not the correct etymology.

The phrases came the other way around. The etymology of "fossil" is from the Latin meaning "dug up" from the ground. The term fossil fuel predates the use of the word "fossil" to mean "the remains or impression of a prehistoric organism preserved in petrified form or as a mold or cast in rock." It just means fuel that's been dug up from the ground.

I would say, that we use the word race informally as opposed to formally.

Sure. And i know what i expect "Asian" to look like compared to "Caucasian". None the less it is a social concept rather than a scientific reality.

[–][deleted] 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

You are correct, fossil fuel perhaps being a poor example on my part. Although my point stands that when a word is used interchangeably, in this case with ethnicity, it becomes the commonly accepted term socially.

That said, the word fossil for use to refer to geological remains of plants and animals may indeed have predated the use of the term fossil fuel. I wonder how reliable Wikipedia is as a source of historical references when it is only as concise as the information added to it publicly. Both terms would have originated in a similar time period.