Phil. of Race

• Hume & Nietzche had two different views about slavery. Explain them.

• Hume: Blacks will be “ontologically” inferior because they lack certain relations that make possible unity. Are by nature incapable of arts and science because they do not have certain relations of the mind that make it possible (cannot deduce or infer). Can only think passively.

• Nietzsche: Relies more on spiritual and historical ideas of race rather than biological. Race was about heredity. Believes there is a necessity of human bondage. Society needs order and ranks in value between man and man, and that needs slavery.

• What reasons do we have to explain why the study of race began at the beginning of the modern era (17th century)?

Age of discovery & industrial revolution. Science (bio. & anthropology) developed by leading intellectuals.

Provide 2 of Kant’s views on race.

• Physical: Races appeared due to migration to different parts, with different climates. Races were distinguished by traits that remained over time. 

• Mental: Traits determine human worth. Capacities of the mind. Blacks have by no nature no feeling.

Why might we think that Hume’s view on race were important, although it was only in a single footnote?

• The footnote was changed several times, implied underlying and biased racist views). Had changed it to be directly towards blacks only.

• Why did Hume think that Blacks were inferior and provide one response by critics of his time, to his view?

• They were by nature inferior because they lacked certain relations that made possible unity. Incapable of arts and sciences (cognitive states inferior). Only have passive reasoning=repeating thoughts (parrots)

• Francis Williams” - black, wrote latin poetry and was a professor

• Richard H. Popkin- refused to see the evidence, only an empirical (just observation) scientist and a dishonest researcher.

• Name a couple of Christian egalitarian ideas that inspired thinkers.

• God created mankind in how own image -Genesis

• God, who shows no partiality

• All have one Father, one God created us

• Must treat foreigners residing among you as your native-born.

• Describe one way in which Beattie responded to Hume’s racism.

• Beattie’s Essay; natural inferiority claims are logically problematic, contradict Christian ideas (reasoning and scripture)

• Condition of a slave is not favorable to genius of any kind

• Fact of slavery, but not the nature of.

• What were black thinkers like Crummell and Walker’s response to the Christian biblical interpretation of the curse of Ham?

• Crummell: The curse was actually on Canaan (Judea to Europe) not Cush (Africa). Curse does not justify slavery, and black skin was not due to curse.

• Walker: Contemporary Africans are not descendents of Canaan (not target of curse). White’s refuse to acknowledge it.

• How did some thinkers use the Bible to explain how races came to be?

• Bible states races have common origin and are a single species.  After Noah’s ark and the flood, the world overspread.

• Describe at least one egalitarian idea found in David Walker’s Appeal?

• Declaration of independence- “All men are equal” to white’s actions (slavery and mistreatment). DOI claimed rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to all men.

• Primary audience: enslaved in south

• Whites were once slaves, it is not condition but the nature

• Jesus is the only master-for whites as well

• All have souls

• Provide 2 reasons why the declaration of independence is seen as a document about equality?

• Argues for political equality "separate and equal,” equal as a power

• All men are created equal

• How did Frederick Douglass make use of the declaration of independence and Constitution to express egalitarian ideas?

• All men are created equal= universal human truth

• Rights to life, liberty, and happiness

• White people must stand on those principles

• Why did Douglass once believe that the Constitution was pro-slavery?

• Slave-holders took a large share in making it, therefore aiding and strengthening

• Had used “other persons” instead of slaves to protect slavery.

• According to Rutherford and Taylor, why isn’t skin pigmentation a good way to classify people into races?

• Rutherford: Because there is more genetic diversity within races (based on skin color)

• Taylor: Traits that define race (skin color) are not consistent. Only 0.1% of genes determine physical traits

• In the simplest terms, explain why race is not biologically real.

• More genetic variation, only 0.1 determines appearance.

• What does ancestry DNA test show and doesn’t show?

• Shows: where DNA matches based on data panels, similarity to current geographic reference populations, results at continent level

• Doesn’t show: constant results, high confidence, health traits

• What is phrenology and how was it used to justify the inferiority of races and the practice of slavery?

• Pseudoscience says the size and shape of regions on the skull pointed to mental and behavioral capacities

• Claimed whites had the largest brain based on the skull=highest intelligence. Africans had large areas of tameness and cautiousness, resulting in them needing a master.

• Why might one think that ethnicity is an invention?

• Ethnicities are created sometimes for data. “Hispanic” in 1970

What is the difference between race and ethnicity?

• According to Paul Taylor: Race points to the body (appearance and ancestry)

• Ethnicity points to shared culture

• Why is “the case of ethnicity” considered unclear?

• Because no definition truly works. It can be either chosen or assigned.

• Gracia: no way of determining which lower-order features are relevant for being Latino

• Velasquez: Ethnic trait or bundle -> geo-political circumstances/shared history

What is “politics of difference” and a major criticism of it?

• Celebrating differences instead of erasing it, cannot be color-blind

• Major criticism: may stereotype groups with representation

Explain the genetic common-bundle and its advantage?

• Genetic common-bundle view of race:  particular set of features that are pertinent to determine an ethnicity. Essential features that function to single out an ethnic group. Must be cultural.

  • Advantage: people feel more ethnic with shared cultures. Allow ethnicity to change.

Explain the historical familial view of ethnicity, and its advantage?

• Historical view of ethnicity: ethnicities due to historical relations that tie them together and distinguish them. Do not require shared features.

  • Advantage: uses historical and contingent features deeper and static labels. It is stable, you either descend or don't.