Genetika, filozofija i politika
Genetics, Philosophy, and Politics

Summary/Abstract: In his version of philosophy of biology Neven Sesardić infers far-reaching moral and political consequences of certain research in genetics. He assumes that detected differences in IQ between white and black students are inherited and that they cannot be explained or changed by any kind of influence from environment. On such basis he develops a theory of genetically determined inferiority of black race. That theory states that all data about social and economic failures of Afro-Americans are the result of their poor biological inheritance and not of social segregation or racial discrimination. Therefore, any policy intended to diminish or to eliminate social and economic differences between poor and rich people, such as affirmative action policy, is doomed to fail. In this paper I oppose to Sesardić’s philosophical interpretation of genetics and his inferring to politics and society. I argue that many relevant geneticists do not accept such philosophical interpretation and its political consequences. Counter to Sesardić’s strong statement that all environmentalists are infected by leftist political ideology, the claim is that their scientific research, and not their a priori political convictions, lead them to abandon one-sided hereditaristic philosophical interpretation and its political implementation. I specially focus on the history of slavery in America and current records of race discrimination as important elements of social environment which cannot be denied in any serious attempt to explain class and race relations in contemporary America.

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