Should Race Matter?: Unusual Answers to the Usual QuestionsIn this book, philosopher David Boonin attempts to answer the moral questions raised by five important and widely contested racial practices: slave reparations, affirmative action, hate speech restrictions, hate crime laws and racial profiling. Arguing from premises that virtually everyone on both sides of the debates over these issues already accepts, Boonin arrives at an unusual and unorthodox set of conclusions, one that is neither liberal nor conservative, color conscious nor color blind. Defended with the rigor that has characterized his previous work but written in a more widely accessible style, this provocative and important new book is sure to spark controversy and should be of interest to philosophers, legal theorists and anyone interested in trying to resolve the debate over these important and divisive issues. |
Contents
| 1 | |
2 Repairing the Slave Reparations Debate | 24 |
3 Advancing the Slave Reparations Debate | 77 |
4 One Cheer for Affirmative Action | 135 |
5 Two Cheers for Affirmative Action | 175 |
6 Why I Used to Hate Hate Speech Restrictions | 203 |
7 Why I Still Hate Hate Speech Restrictions | 230 |
8 How to Stop Worrying and Learn to Love Hate Crime Laws | 250 |
9 How to Keep on Loving Hate Crime Laws | 274 |
10 Is Racial Profiling Irrational? | 300 |
11 Is Racial Profiling Immoral? | 327 |
Notes | 351 |
Sources | 387 |
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Common terms and phrases
accept African Americans aftermath agree appeal argu arsonist average benefits Bill black Americans black and white black drivers black students Blockburger candidate causal claim caused chapter clear committed compensation argument compensation principle context critic doesn’t equal treatment example fact fighting words doctrine geography-based affirmative action hate crime laws hate speech restrictions Horowitz immoral intention involved justify kind least legacy of slavery ment moral obligation morally unobjectionable objection objectionable offense ordinary crimes particular percent person practice affirmative action problem punishment question race into account race-based affirmative action rational racial profiling reason to reject reason to think regardless relevant reparations for slavery reparations position response result right to equal seems simply slave reparations someone sorts step suppose there’s things thought police tion U.S. government uncontroversial unfair disadvantage unjust enrichment argument victim violate virtually white Americans white drivers white students wrongfully harmed