Abstract

We take for granted a theory of human nature that Charles Taylor has called “expressivism.” Expressivism shows how individuals are shaped by their communities and how individuals shape their communities. Expressivism ties individual and group identity together. It lies at the core of our modern ideas of religion and race because it shows why these groups are central to our identity, and why membership in religious and racial groups shapes the ways we think and act. Though Herder attacks Kant’s race theories, and Schleiermacher is an early and robust pluralist, both are key figures in the construction of the Western anthropology of expressivism that makes modern race-thinking possible and ties race to religious groups.