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Race
A Philosophical Introduction
Third Edition
Paul C. Taylor
polity
Copyright © Paul C. Taylor 2022
The right of Paul C. Taylor to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First edition published in 2003 by Polity Press
Second edition published in 2013 by Polity Press
This third edition first published in 2022 by Polity Press
Polity Press
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Cambridge CB2 1UR, UK
Polity Press
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Medford, MA 02155, USA
All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.
ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-3292-6
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Taylor, Paul C. (Paul Christopher), 1967- author.
Title: Race : a philosophical introduction / Paul C. Taylor.
Description: Third edition. | Cambridge, UK ; Medford, MA : Polity Press, 2022. | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: “Every perspective on the philosophy of race explained accessibly”-- Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021017309 (print) | LCCN 2021017310 (ebook) | ISBN 9781509532896 (hardback) | ISBN 9781509532902 (paperback) | ISBN 9781509532926 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Race--Philosophy. | Race relations--Philosophy.
Classification: LCC HT1521 .T36 2022 (print) | LCC HT1521 (ebook) | DDC 305.8001--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021017309 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021017310
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Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been overlooked the publisher will be pleased to include any necessary credits in any subsequent reprint or edition.
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Preface to the Third Edition
The first edition of this book started taking shape in the immediate aftermath of September 11, 2001. Just after the hijacked jetliners did their terrible work, US public discourse resounded with demands for justice, security, and, sometimes, retaliation. These demands led not just to a national discussion about appropriate responses, but also to a rash of vigilante attacks on, as an Associated Press reporter put it, “people who look Middle Eastern and South Asian, whatever their religion or nation of origin …”1 This book is about the kind of thinking – what I’ll call “race-thinking” – that plays a crucial role in picking out the targets for these backlash attacks. It is crucial to the argument of the book to note that this is not the only kind of thing race-thinking does.
The second edition of the book was the product of a moment of unusually explicit and unusually optimistic public reflections on racial phenomena. Barack Obama had burst upon the world stage, ascended to the presidency of the United States (and won re-election), and established his African American wife and children as the nation’s “first family.” This led many people to think that a new day had dawned with respect to (what Cornel West long ago taught us to call) race matters. These people dared to hope that race had finally lost its influence over human relations, and that the world could enter a new, post-racial age. This book is also a gentle introduction to
