Written by Bo Winegard.
Since at least the beginning of written history, people have understood that humans are a diverse species. Although some modern scholars contend that race is a relatively recent invention, the documentary record suggests that ancient Greeks and Egyptians recognized that human populations are different from each other in predictable and patterned ways. Natural philosophers have long wrestled with human diversity, trying to understand its causes, its organization, and its consequences.
During the Enlightenment, they elaborated and systematized once vague and inchoate ideas, giving birth to the modern concept of race. Since then, race has been a contentious idea, inspiring furious debate and morally charged dissent. Indeed, most modern intellectuals argue that race is unreal, a classificatory relic from a blinkered past that persists chiefly because it allows privileged groups to protect their unearned advantages. Race exists because racism exists.
Paradoxically, many of these same intellectuals argue that racially conscious policies and analysis are the only way to confront pervasive racial injustice. Race may be illusory, but it has bewitched so many people that breaking its spell requires promoting more racial awareness.