Scientific Racism in the Philosophy of Science: Some Historical Examples

Abstract

The question is investigated whether scientific racism--the masking of purported racial prejudice by scientific fact--can afflict not only first-order theories but also the philosophy of science. An affirmative answer is suggested by the investigation of the biological theories of knowledge underlying the metatheories of Poincare, Duhem and Boltzmann which reveal affinities with social/racial Darwinism.