Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book suggests that many human kinds are historical kinds. They are historical kinds because any common tendencies among their members is achieved through chains of reproduction, or lineages, to common models. The book describes popular alternative approaches to human kinds and identifies useful lessons from each approach. The accounts discussed are multiple realization, functionalism, social ontology, looping effects, homeostatic mechanisms and social construction. The book focuses on gender and how (re)classification according to cultural lineages helps human better demarcate their kinds of gender and resulting generalizations. It talks about cultural kinds more broadly, which are not necessarily kinds of people, such as different religions and ideologies. The book explains the particularly contentious cases of race and ethnicity from the purview of the Nordic north and the racial hygiene studies early of the 20th century.