Racial Equality, Human Equality, and Fairness, by Naomi Zack
In “Racial Equality, Human Equality, and Fairness,” Naomi Zack argues that a “general equality principle” is unlikely to exist, and does not promote equality; rather, what is needed is fairness. For Zack, philosophical discussions of equality—for instance, in Kant—do not actually promote equality, are empty, or have no practical pull. The alternative principle of fairness means that for each group, within that group, there should be equality. Zack typifies this in relation to the law; that is, in the eye of the law, white people are treated equally among each other, while other nonwhite groups are not. Zack’s solution to this is fairness.
Article available through Philosophy Documentation Center, here.
Naomi Zack is is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oregon. Her most recent book, The Ethics and Mores of Race: Equality after the History of Philosophy (Rowman & Littlefield, 2011), inquires into moments in the history of moral philosophy for an ethics of race. Her past publications include Ethics for Disaster (Rowman & Littlefield, 2010), Inclusive Feminism (Rowman & Littlefield, 2005), Thinking about Race (Wadsworth, 2005), and Philosophy of Science and Race (Routledge, 2002). She has also worked on the multimedia project Philosophical Installations, a work at the intersection of performance art and philosophical discourse accessible through a series of online videos.
Naomi Zack, “Racial Equality, Human Equality, and Fairness,” in “Philosophy and Race,” ed. Alexis Dianda and Robin M. Muller, special issue, Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal 35:1–2 (2014), pp. 353–68.