Fall 2010
PHIL 317/617.001
Wednesdays 2:10-4:50 p.m.
Ellen K. Feder
Battelle 112; tel: 885-2931
efeder@american.edu
Office Hours: Tues. 12:45-2
Wed. 12:30-2
Race and Philosophy
This course will examine the development of race as an object of philosophy. With particular attention to the
American context, we will explore the way in which analysis of race has influenced the development of
philosophical discourse, as well as how this analysis has brought, and continues to bring, philosophy into
public conversation.
Required Texts (available in the AU bookstore):
Race and the Enlightenment, Eze, ed.
John Locke, Second Treatise of Government (Hackett)
Charles Mills, The Racial Contract
W.E.B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk, Gates, ed.
The Classic Slave Narratives, Gates, ed.
Additional readings will be available via electronic reserve on Blackboard. I ask that you print these out
(double-sided, if possible) for class, as I only permit the use of laptops or other electronic devices in class
with advance permission.
Written Work
Weekly assignments: Weekly writing assignments of 1-2 pages will involve close reading of the texts.
Presentation: Each student will be responsible during the semester for a presentation that will open the class
session each day. The presentation will consist in a well-organized, summary treatment of the central
argument or points contained in the reading for that day. The presentation should also offer questions that
draw connections to other parts of the text or to other readings in class. These questions are not intended to
“test” the class on their reading, but to promote a deeper discussion of the material at hand. Each presenter
will need to provide a handout (word-processed and copied for each member of the class), which addresses
the major points of the presentation; these might include the definition of technical terms, key (or difficult)
portions of the text, and analysis of the argument. I strongly encourage you to meet me during my office
hours to discuss the reading and the structure of your presentations.
Final papers: Students enrolled in PHIL 317 will write a final paper of 10-15 pages based on the
reading of class. Students enrolled in PHIL 617 will write a final paper of 12-20 pages.
Students will be strictly held to the standards of academic conduct specified in the University’s Academic Integrity Code. Please
see me if you have questions about the academic violations described in the code.
Participation
Your written work for the class is your forum for presenting well-thought-out analysis and response.
Class discussion will be your forum for trying out and experimenting with new ideas, old ideas, and working
through the material in the reading. I expect you to be prepared each day to 1) discuss the reading, 2) ask
questions about its meaning and merit, 3) help others find the answers, 4) discern presuppositions, 5) trace
consequences, 6) reconstruct arguments 7) evaluate strengths and weaknesses of positions.
Needless to say, good participation presupposes attendance. Participation is not a function of
quantity, but it does require presence in body and spirit. Therefore, your participation grade will be
determined in great measure by your attendance of class.
Evaluation is based on written work and participation in the following proportion:
Weekly assignments:
25%
Presentation:
25%
Participation:
10%
Final papers:
40%
The History of Philosophy and the Question of Race
August 25
Introductions; “Aristotle and the American Indians”
Assignment: View The Mission
September 1
selected readings from Race and the Enlightenment (chapters 3, 4, 7, 8, 10)
September 8
John Locke, Second Treatise of Government §I-IX
Robert Bernasconi and Anika Maaza Mann, “The Contradictions of Racism”
William Uzgalis, “‘…The Same Tyrannical Principle’: Locke’s Legacy on Slavery”
September 15 Charles Mills, The Racial Contract
Recommended reserve reading: Carole Pateman, The Sexual Contract
Theorizing Race and Racism I
September 22 from Mills, Blackness Visible: “Dark Ontologies,” Revisionist Ontologies,”
and “The Racial Polity”
September 29 Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
October 6
Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
October 13
Visit to Cedar Hill, the Frederick Douglass House, to be scheduled
October 20
Anna Julia Cooper Voice of the South part I;
W.E.B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk (esp. I, II, VI, IX, XIV) and
“The Conservation of Races”
October 22
Annual McDowell Conference on Philosophy and Social Policy:
“The Place of Religion in Public Life”
“Figures in Black” I
The Black Rapist
October 27
Frederick Douglass, Why is the Negro Lynched?
Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All its Phases
Tommy L. Lott, “Frederick Douglass on the Myth of the Black Rapist”
Angela Y. Davis, “Rape, Racism, and the Myth of the Black Rapist”
Theorizing Race and Racism II
November 3
David Theo Goldberg, “Racist Exclusions”
Linda Martín Alcoff, “Toward a Phenomenology of Racial Embodiment”
Elizabeth V. Spelman, “‘Race’ and the Labor of Identity”
“Figures in Black” II
The Welfare Queen
November 10 Wahneema Lubiano, “Black Ladies, Welfare Queens, and State Minstrels”
Patricia Williams, “Scarlet, the Sequel”
Dorothy E. Roberts, “Punishing Drug Addicts Who Have Babies: Women of Color,
Equality, and the Right of Privacy”
Iris Marion Young, “Punishment, Treatment, Empowerment: Three Approaches to
Policy for Pregnant Addicts”
Theorizing Race and Whiteness III/ “Figures in ‘Black’” III
The Dangerous Youth
November 17 Linda Martín Alcoff, “The Whiteness Question”
Henry Giroux, “Racial Politics and the Pedagogy of Whiteness”
View film: Kids
November 24 Final paper drafts due
December 1
Presentation of Final Papers
December 13 Final Exam Scheduled; Presentation of Final Papers
Assignment One
From Eze’s Race and the Enlightenment, read the following:
Chapter 3, Hume and Beatty, pp. 29-37
Chapter 4, Kant, pp. 38-57 (note this is not the entire chapter)
Chapter 7, Entries from the Encyclopédie and Encyclopedia Brittanica, pp. 91-94
Chapter 8, Jefferson, pp. 95-103
Chapter 10, Hegel, pp. 109-142 (note this is not the entire chapter)
One of the questions that we will explore throughout this semester concerns how race
figures as an object of philosophy. In Race and the Enlightenment, Eze collects prominent work
from the 18th and 19th century on race—work that has been, and largely continues to be,
dismissed by 20th century philosophers as merely “anthropological” or even “journalistic.”
Drawing on your experience as students of the history of modern philosophy, please
reflect on the significance of such dismissals, e.g. how are they grounded? What are their
implications?
Responses should be 1-2 pages, typed, double-spaced (and double-sided if possible), and should
draw on the text explicitly.
Due at the beginning of class.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Please give your first, second, and third choices for your presentation.
1.) ______________________________________________________
2.) ______________________________________________________
3.) ______________________________________________________
Notes (including dates that would NOT work for you):