PHIL4040 · Philosophy

Philosophical Hermeneutics on Race and Justice

Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences

Philosophical Hermeneutics on Race and Justice examines fundamental questions about the nature ofjustice, retribution, the relationship between justice and fairness, contemporary debates on issues ofrace, and how race is a factor in peoples experience of injustice, inequality, discrimination, prejudice,structural violence, and various theoretical and practical issues of law, ethics and public policy.Hermeneutics as a philosophical discipline deals with interpretation and understanding of differentperspectives on reality and human affairs. For instance, the idea of race and justice in private and publiclife, its significance in politics and domestic and international affairs, and its contentiousness andchangeability over time. As an instrument of human liberation, the discourse on race and justice is richfor intellectual study, especially in using the tools of philosophical hermeneutics to arrive at inner andhigher meanings.Students will explore enduring questions of race and justice, as well as contemporary debates overmoral and legal responsibility, punishment, civil disobedience and revenge and their relation to race andjustice. As part of the semesters work students will analyze theories of justice, theories of race, race asa social construct, racial prejudice, examine specific case studies in relation to race and justice/injustice,research topics of individual interest, evaluate arguments, and defend positions of their own throughthe fusion of horizons. Emphasis will be placed throughout the course on readings some texts by Hans-Georg Gadamer, Martin Heidegger, Tsenay Serequeberhan, Paulo Freire, Frantz Fanon, and otherscholars; on lively discussions, careful research and writing, the formulation of well-reasoned stances onvarious hermeneutical and philosophical issues, and clarity in reasoning and argument.