結構構成的人之類

Structurally-Constituted Human Kinds

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。

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.