But species are to some extent artificial categories. Sapiens and Neanderthals were close. Genetically compatible and behaviorally similar (as far as we can tell). It would not be unreasonable to define them all as subspecies or ever varieties within a species.
Apart from the minor fact that until we knew some of us are descended from Neanderthal they were consider by everyone to be different species. Ideology 1, science 0.
It's impossible to deny that studies of our biology attracts a lot of interest, and we're not best placed for objectivity. That said, tghe splitter-lumper dynamic always exists. Are polar bears just big, white, aquatic brown bears that don't hibernate, or a species? New information about interbreeding should tip the balance in favour of subsceices. That's happening. Science works. I don't think there's an ideology problem here, at least not more than anywhere else.
Wolfs, dogs and coyotes interbreed, too. And coyotes have long been thought their own species. (They are quite fascinating: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coywolf .)
Yeah, that comment started out as "anatomically modern humans" with a caveat on later interbreeding before editing; I hope the elisions were a net gain for getting the point across, if slightly less precise.
