Philosophers on Race: Critical Essays

Philosophers on Race: Critical Essays
Julie K. Ward,Tommy L. Lott | 2002-03-08 00:00:00 | Wiley-Blackwell | 336 | Philosophy
This volume adds a new dimension to current research on race theory by examining its historical roots in the works of major Western philosophers.

The essays included in this book span a wide range of topics, including the opposition between Greek and "barbarian" in the works of Plato and Aristotle, the notion of racial difference employed in medieval Islamic thought, as well as the existence of racial categories within the social contract and Enlightenment theories of Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, and Kant. The readings also discuss repercussions in the post-Enlightenment period in the views of Nietzsche, Mill, and Carlyle, and twentieth-century reflections on race in the thought of Heidegger, Dewey, Sartre, and Beauvoir. Philosophers on Race contributes to the increasing debate on the subject of race by elucidating the philosophical origins of race in Greek and medieval thought and the subsequent development of racial categories in modern Western philosophy.
Reviews
Although it probably wasn't brought up when you took a philosophy class in college, many famous philosophers have made blatantly racist remarks in their writings. For example, Hobbes justified colonial conquests, and Hume, Kant and Hegel made notoriously odious remarks about Africans. In this very significant collection of essays, Julie Ward and Tommy Lott (who each contribute one essay to the collection, as well) have gathered extremely well-researched statements by noteworthy scholars on the subject.



We learn, for example, that "Although Locke did not own slaves, he did buy (and sell at a profit) shares in ... slave-trading companies." In Locke's famous Essay Concerning Human Understanding, he wrote that American Indians "are confined to a few simple ideas or a few abstract ideas, as akin to animals." Kant wrote, "The [...] can be disciplined and cultivated, but is never genuinely civilized. He falls of his own accord into savagery."



The collection of essays is very well-balanced, and diverse: some of the essays are, "Race and Genos in Plato," "Aristotle and Race," "Medieval Muslim Philosophers on Race," "Locke and the Dispossession of the American Indian," "Liberalism's Limits: Carlyle and Mill on 'The [...] Question,'" "Heidegger and the Jewish Question," and more.



The scholars are scrupulously fair in their asessments. For example, in his essay, "Kant as an Unfamiliar Source of Racism," Robert Bernasconi observes that "It is extraordinary that Hume's racism has received more attention than Kant's, even though Hume's racism is much less extensive than Kant's and far less integrated into his philosophy." He also comments, "I am aware of no direct statement of Kant calling for the abolition of either African slavery or the slave trade, even if only in principle."



This is a book that, although it is disquieting to read statements from a philosopher that one respects which literally turn one's stomach, is very important for anyone interested in the history of philosophy, philosophical biographies, ethnic studies, racism, or society in general. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

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