1st Edition
The Routledge Companion to the Philosophy of Race
For many decades, race and racism have been common areas of study in departments of sociology, history, political science, English, and anthropology. Much more recently, as the historical concept of race and racial categories have faced significant scientific and political challenges, philosophers have become more interested in these areas. This changing understanding of the ontology of race has invited inquiry from researchers in moral philosophy, metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of science, philosophy of language, and aesthetics.
The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Race offers in one comprehensive volume newly written articles on race from the world’s leading analytic and continental philosophers. It is, however, accessible to a readership beyond philosophy as well, providing a cohesive reference for a wide student and academic readership. The Companion synthesizes current philosophical understandings of race, providing 37 chapters on the history of philosophy and race as well as how race might be investigated in the usual frameworks of contemporary philosophy. The volume concludes with a section on philosophical approaches to some topics with broad interest outside of philosophy, like colonialism, affirmative action, eugenics, immigration, race and disability, and post-racialism.
By clearly explaining and carefully organizing the leading current philosophical thinking on race, this timely collection will help define the subject and bring renewed understanding of race to students and researchers in the humanities, social science, and sciences.
Introduction Paul Taylor, Linda Alcoff, and Luvell Anderson
Part 1: History and the Canon
1. Critical Philosophy of Race and Philosophical Historiography Robert Bernasconi
2. Of Problem Moderns and Excluded Moderns: On the Essential Hybridity of Modernity Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò
3. Kant on Race and Transition Frank M. Kirkland
4. Hegel on Race and Development Frank M. Kirkland
5. Heidegger’s Shadow: Levinas, Arendt, and the Magician From Messkirch Jonathan Judaken
6. Race-ing the Canon: American Icons, From Thomas Jefferson to Alain Locke Jacoby Adeshei Carter
7. At the Intersections: Existentialism, Critical Philosophies of Race, and Feminism Kathryn T. Gines
8. Critical Theory: Adorno, Marcuse, and Angela Davis Arnold L. Farr
9. Post-structuralism and Race: Giorgio Agamben and Michel Foucault Ladelle McWhorter
Part 2: Alternative Traditions
10. Rights, Race, and the Beginnings of Modern Africana Philosophy Chike Jeffers
11. Africana Thought Lewis R. Gordon
12. Theorizing Indigeneity, Gender, and Settler Colonialism Shelbi Nahwilet Meissner and Kyle Whyte
13. The History of Racial Theories in China Frank Dikötter
14. Racism in India Ania Loomba
Part 3: Metaphysics and Ontology
15. Analytic Metaphysics: Race and Racial Identity Jorge J. E. Gracia and Susan L. Smith
16. American Experimentalism Harvey Cormier
17. Phenomenology and Race (or Racializing Phenomenology) Gail Weiss
Part 4: Epistemology, Cognition, and Language
18. Epistemic Injustice and Epistemologies of Ignorance José Medina
19. Implicit Bias and Race Michael Brownstein
20. The Mark of the Plural: Generic Generalizations and Race Daniel Wodak and Sarah-Jane Leslie
21. Psychoanalysis and Race Kelly Oliver
Part 5: Natural Science and Social Theory
22. Race and Biology Rasmus Grønfeldt Winther
23. Eugenics Camisha Russell
24. Framing Intersectionality Elena Ruíz
25. Canonizing the Critical Race Artifice: An Analysis of Philosophy’s Gentrification of Critical Race Theory Tommy J. Curry
Part 6: Aesthetics
26. Race-ing Aesthetic Theory Monique Roelofs
27. Joking About Race and Ethnicity Stephanie Patridge
28. Anti-black Racism: The Greatest Art Show on Earth Janine Jones
Part 7: Ethics and the Political
29. Racism Luc Faucher
30. On Race and Solidarity: Reconsiderations Lucius Turner Outlaw
31. Race, Luck, and the Moral Emotions Samantha Vice
32. Racism and Coloniality: The Invention of “HUMAN(ITY)” and the Three Pillars of the Colonial Matrix of Power (Racism, Sexism, and Nature) Walter D. Mignolo
33. White Supremacy Charles W. Mills
Part 8: Politics and Policy
34. On Post-racialism: Or, How Color-Blindness Rebranded Is Still Vicious Ronald R. Sundstrom
35. Philosophy of Race and the Ethics of Immigration José Jorge Mendoza
36. Mixed-Race Jared Sexton
37. Racism, State Violence, and the Homeland Falguni A. Sheth.
Index
Biography
Paul C. Taylor is Professor of Philosophy and African American Studies at the Pennsylvania State University, where he also serves as Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies. He has written three books, including Black is Beautiful: A Philosophy of Black Aesthetics and On Obama, and is one of the founding co-editors of the journal Critical Philosophy of Race.
Linda Martín Alcoff is Professor of Philosophy at Hunter College and the CUNY Graduate Center, and Visiting Research Professor at Australian Catholic University. She was President of the American Philosophical Association, Eastern Division, for 2012-2013. Her books include The Future of Whiteness and Visible Identities: Race, Gender and the Self.
Luvell Anderson is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Memphis. Before coming to Memphis, he was Alain Locke Postdoctoral Fellow at Pennsylvania State University. His research lies principally in philosophy of language, philosophy of race, and aesthetics. He has published articles on the semantics of racial slurs and on racist humor.
"This important and timely volume addresses foundational questions concerning the impact of racial ideologies and practices on the development of Western philosophy. These interventions, profound in their ontological, epistemological and political implications, will be of keen interest to philosophers and other scholars working to better grasp the enduring legacies of racism." - Steven Gregory, Columbia University, USA
"A timely and telling collection on the philosophy of race in the critical tradition. The volume grapples in the terms of both the European and counter-European philosophical traditions concerning the driving questions of race and racism today. This is a critically valuable study of philosophical canons and disciplinary practices regarding race. A volume that is as productive to think about as it is to teach." - David Theo Goldberg, University of California, Irvine, USA
