Philosophy of Race

Catalog description

Race has long played a prominent role in our social existence, and continues to do so even in what some have called a "post-racial society." In this course, we will take a philosophical approach to understanding a set of related questions about race. What is the origin and basis for racial concepts? Is race socially constructed? Does it have a biological basis? Does racial discourse serve to further entrench racial divisions? How does racial oppression relate to other forms of oppression such as class- and gender-based oppression? What is "privilege"? What could it mean to say that a person has moral obligations deriving from harms which s/he has not personally brought about, and do persons ever have such obligations? We will also investigate issues such as affirmative action, racial solidarity, and the ways in which racial oppression differentially affects men and women.