This phenomenon has percolated down from the university to the public schools. Gracia is an expert in medieval metaphysics and a noted metaphysical theorist himself, blending scholastic with analytic techniques and arguments. That is not to say that Gracia s position is necessarily convincing or that his argumentation while careful, historically informed, and methodical is always cogent. Gracia argues that there is a Hispanic ethnicity in addition to the Mexican, Mexican American, Spanish, Puerto Rican, etc. particular ethnicities. Moreover, he thinks there is Hispanic identity , involving some level of unity, though not homogeneity.
Many different things can count as being Hispanic.
In the same way, Gracia thinks, not all Hispanics share one common feature, but they are linked by a web of smaller scale connections, especially historical ones. But Wittgenstein was right family resemblance makes sense only in biological terms, not constructed ones. When Carolyn Bessette joined the Kennedys through her marriage to John Jr., she could have no real family resemblance to them, however similar she looked to some of them. The resemblance could only have been chance. In contrast, had one of John Sr. s assignations yielded an illegitimate son who was never acknowledged and never bore the name of Kennedy, the child could well have shared the Kennedy family resemblance, inheriting, say, his father s smile.