Philosophy

Philosophy of Race & Racialisation

Module code: V7083E
Level 5
15 credits in spring semester
Teaching method: Lecture, Seminar
Assessment modes: Coursework

You’ll examine questions such as:

• is 'race' a social construct?
• Is racism essentially a set of beliefs or a set of feelings?
• what, if anything, is 'institutional racism'?
• what is racial discrimination?
• is racial disadvantage 'intersectional'?
• should we aim to eliminate race altogether from the way we think about each other?
• are reparations for groups who have suffered racial injustice justified?
• can there be a phenomenology of racialised experience?
• is modern Western philosophy racially biased?

You will address these questions by engaging with historical figures, such as Franz Fanon, and contemporary work in the philosophy of race.

Module learning outcomes

• Be able to think critically about philosophical views on the nature of 'race', racism, and/or racial discrimination
• Discuss and assess philosophical views on responses for racial disadvantage, such as racial eliminativism, racial conservationism and demands for reparations
• Rationally assess the extent to which racial bias permeates philosophy itself
• Analyse and understand key texts in the philosophy of race