Naturalism and Race

Massachusetts just outlawed marriage for out of staters that are denied marriage. They imposed it on gays and interracial marriages as well. Those interracial married couples living in Massachusetts are now living against the laws of the state, and will lose their status on their state income tax returns.

That's idiotic, C.I.--do you contend that there are any states in which interracial marriages are illegal? If so, i think you have the burden of proving it, because that sure as hell sounds like an extraordinary claim to me.

I suggest you do a web search of Loving v. Virginia on the topic of interractial marriage.

Set, You're right. I found the following:


Mr. and Mrs. Richard P. Loving, she black and he white, in marrying in another state and returning to their home state of Virginia to live, challenged the anti miscegenation law of the state and won.

The Loving vs. Virginia case in 1967 virtually nullified the anti miscegenation laws, most of which remain in Southern state constitutions and legal codes. The case evolved around a white man and a black woman, both of whom were residents of Virginia, who married in Washington, D.C. The state of Virginia indicted and convicted them of violating its laws against racial intermarriage, when the couple returned to Virginia and attempted to take up residence there, but released them when the couple agreed not to live in the state for 25 years. The Lovings, however, decided to challenge the agreement and the law. After their appeal was rejected by the Virginia courts, they appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled the Virginia law was unconstitutional. Shortly thereafter, the federal district courts in other states which forbade intermarriages, were ordering local officials to issue marriage licenses to interracial couples applying for them. In a poll taken recently it was estimated that there are approximately 100,000 white men married to black women in spite of a state of worsening race relations in the country. Footnotes on miscegenation, etc. "Marriage or interbreeding between members of a different race, especially, in the United States, between whites and negroes". A few current famous progenies from mixed race parents in the entertainment and sports world are: Halle Berry, Mariah Carey and all American running back Franco Harris of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Also Reggie Jackson former New York Yankees great and Tiger Woods, Masters golfing champion to name a few.

My sloppy reading habits got my foot in mouth again! Sorry, boss, but thanks for the head's up.

I think CI is referring to the legal basis on which Massachusetts just denied marriage licenses to gay couples from outside the state. I gather from the press reports that it's a law from the early 1900s; it generally denies marriage licenses to any out-of-state-couple whose marriage would not be recognized by that couple's home state. Logically, this would imply that before Loving v. Virginia, the Lovings could not have married in Massachusetts. But admittedly, I cannot cite a case in which Massacusetts refused marriage licenses to couples of mixed race from states with anti-miscegenagion laws. And Massachusetts certainly did not deny any interracial marriage on those grounds after Loving.

Yep.

I understood that, Thomas, i was just pointing out to C.I., that, in view of Loving v. Virgnia, no such penalty now exists in Massachusetts.

As I understand it, evolution is about the mechanism (i.e., natural selecdtion) for CHANGE primarily within species and COMPETITION for niches with other species.... It has no teleological point, The vulgar "evolutionists" (including nineteenth-century anthropologists) who think in terms of the movement from simple to complex, small to big, globally inferior to globally superior, miss its point. We should consult with Farmerman on this matter.

By the way, teleology has to do with purpose. The notion that nature has purpose is tantamount to a theological perspective, since, as far as we know, purpose is a decidely human trait, teleology amounts to the kind of projection of human traits onto nature that characterizes man's projection of himself into his god creation.

By the way, kudos to Ray for this point about teology and to Setanta for his acknowledgement of the biological meaninglessness of "race."

JLN,

I am just wondering whether "teleology" can be resolved by a deconstruction of "time" argument.
I am uneasy about the theistic angle but would go along with "spirituality" to a point.

Fresco, I like to assume that a truly "spiritual" perspective involves both the Eternal and the Absolute, but with an emphasis on transcendence. This means beyond time (Eternal) and beyond all categories, including those of "spirituality" and "transcendence". It is, IN A SENSE, a form of nihilism, i.e., it transcends all "earthly" meaningfulness--yet it is not otherworldly. It reflects, of course, a minor madness from the dualistic perspective of naive realism.
I like to think, with regard to teleology, that each moment or condition is complete and perfect as it is. Nothing, not even a seed, has its "justification" in the future.
I'm wondering if the "deconstruction of time" suggests to you a collapse of the ontological difference between a seed and its tree, so that a seed is never just a seed but also its potentiality--the tree. That would be something to consider, but I might still hold that the seed AND the tree are complete in themselves. Becoming is an aspect of being, and vice versa.

Re: Naturalism and Race


Having agreed with pretty much everyone else, I thought I'd tackle this from a slightly different angle;

Given a choice, there are an infinite number of more "moral" ways for the human race to have come about the way it is.

Evolution just has the dubious honour of being the one that actually occurred.