2026 Connor Lecture Series

Public Talk: When Population Genetics Meets the Metaphysics of Race

The Human Genome Diversity Project (HGDP)—which was distinct from the Human Genome Project—obtained the largest and most diverse sample of human genomes in the history of genetics up to that point. The results of the first study of HGDP genomes appeared in a now landmark paper in Science in 2002. The most famous and controversial result from this paper—and that we now know is robust—is that the human species naturally subdivides into five groups based on genomic similarity: Sub-Saharan Africans, East Asians, Caucasians, Native Americans, and Oceanians. However, it didn’t take long before population geneticists started asking what else are these groups?  A consensus quickly arose that these groups are biological populations.  However, population geneticists are still split on whether these groups are races. In this talk, I argue that these five human populations are races because they are, in fact, identical to the US government’s official racial scheme from 1997 to 2023, which is still widely used in ordinary American life. After defending my argument, I use this metaphysical theory to show how it can be used to reduce racial health disparities, and even in Trump’s second administration where “DEI” focused scientific research is being systematically targeted for federal defunding.

Academic Talk: A Pluralist Solution to the Race Problem

In this talk, I use the results of the first lecture to develop and defend a novel theory of race in the US race debate—the metaphysical debate about the nature and reality of race according to US race talk. Since its inception, the US race debate has been completely dominated by monist race theories insofar as philosophers have always argued that there is a single, correct way to characterize what, essentially, race is and what its reality status is. For example, the social constructionists have argued that race is a non-biological social construct that’s socially real. However, using my previous results, I show that all monist US race theories are incorrect.  Instead, I show that the correct race theory for the USA is one that has pluralist metaphysical content, either in terms of the essence or reality status of race. After this, I show how racial pluralism as a metaphysical background assumption in health science research can be used to solve racial health disparities problems across the globe.

Speaker biography

Quayshawn Spencer is the Robert S. Blank Presidential Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania.  He holds a Ph.D. in philosophy and an M.S. in biology from Stanford University, as well as a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and philosophy from Cornell University.  He specializes in metaphysical problems in philosophy of science, philosophy of biology, and philosophy of race. He has published 11 journal articles on metaphysical issues related to race & biology, frequently in either Philosophy of Science or Philosophical Studies. Spencer has published one book, What is Race? Four Philosophical Views (co-authored with Sally Haslanger, Joshua Glasgow, and Chike Jeffers), which was published in 2019 by Oxford University Press. He has three books under contract with the same publisher: A Pluralist Solution to the Race Problem, The Race Debates from Metaphysics to Medicine, and Philosophy of Race: A Very Short Introduction. In 2021, Spencer was named a Hastings Center Fellow for contributing “scholarship and public understanding of complex ethical issues in health, health care, science, and technology.” In 2023, Spencer’s article “A Radical Solution to the Race Problem” was selected alongside 29 other articles for re-publication in the 90th Anniversary Issue of Philosophy of Science in order to represent “the best and most significant work the journal has published over the years.” 

Sponsors

The Connor Lecture Series is sponsored by the Faculty of Arts, the Faculty of Science and the Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics at the University of Manitoba.