Human races and the problem of variability--a recommendation for the solution by Franz Weidenreich

In parts of anthropology race concepts were playing a central role for evolutionary reconstruction as a means for assessment and study of human variability. This method was criticised already quite early. In this paper the arguments of one of those early critics, Franz Weidenreich, are introduced and reconstructed on a methodological basis. While avoiding race concepts, Franz Weidenreich developed other methods for reconstructing lines of evolutionary development. He suggested to use an extended concept of physical constitution. This concept is also introduced and studied with reference to its methodological foundations.