The Ethics of Diversity: Race, Ethnicity, and Culture in Moral Theory

1
The Ethics of DiversityRace, Ethnicity, and
Culture in Moral Theory
2
Introduction

• Increasing interest in diversity in the past two
  decades
• Fundamental question what place, if any, do
  race, ethnicity, and culture have in moral theory?

3
Overview

• The Identity Argument
• Minority Rights
• The Virtues Necessary for Living Well in a
  Diverse Society

4
The Identity Argument

• The basic claim of the identity argument is that
  race, ethnicity, and culture are central to moral
  identity
• The argument has two parts
• Negative The Critique of Impartiality
• Positive The Situatedness of the Moral Agent

5
Impartiality and Particularity

• The premise of modern moral theory has been that
  the moral agent ought to be impartial
• Utilitarianism The Impartial Calculator
• Deontology Acting according to the duty of any
  rational agent
• See especially Alasdair MacIntyre, How the Moral
  Agent Became a Ghost.

6
Godwins Choice

• Which to choose to rescue in a burning building?
• The Bishop of Cambray (Fenelon)
• His chambermaid
• Version 2
• The Bishop of Cambray
• Your mother

7
Godwins Choice, 2

• Suppose the valet had been my brother, my
  father, or my benefactor. This would not alter
  the truth of the proposition. The life of Fenelon
  would still be more valuable than that of the
  valet and justice, pure, unadulterated justice,
  would still have preferred that which was most
  valuable. Justice would have taught me to save
  the life of Fenelon the Bishop of Cambray at
  the expense of the other. What magic is there in
  the pronoun "my," that should justify us in
  overturning the decisions of impartial truth? My
  brother or my father may be a fool or a
  profligate, malicious, lying or dishonest. If
  they be, of what consequence is it that they are
  mine?
• --Godwin, Enquiry Concerning Political Justice,
  Chapter 2

8
Two Questions

• Godwins dilemma poses two distinct questions to
  us
• Behavior What should I do?
• Motivation Why should I do it?

9
Moral Motivation and Impartiality

• Sometimes what is morally required in a situation
  is acting out of a particular moral motivation
• e.g., visiting a sick friend.
• Michael Stocker has argued that modern moral
  theory has a kind of schizophrenia, a split
  between motivation and justification
• Video interview with Michael Stocker on this
  topic.
• Bernard Williams has pointed out the problem of
  one motivation too many

10
Impartiality and Behavior

• Considerations of rights establish the boundaries
  within which considerations of partiality may
  play a role
• In acting on the basis of particularity, people
  may not violate rights.
• Thus, in Godwins example, we should not violate
  someones right to be saved.

11
Impartiality, Particularity, and Power

• Critics of impartiality often claim that claims
  of impartiality often mask power relationships of
  dominance
• Impartiality is really just the partiality of the
  powerful.

12
Identity and Transparency

• For the dominant group in a society, their
  particular identity is transparent, I.e., not
  perceived by them as a specific identity
• Supermarket example
• For non-dominant groups, their identity is always
  experienced as particular, as specific to them as
  members of a group.

13
The Identity Argument

• Premise 1 What is morally right depends (at least
  in part) on ones identity as a moral agent
• Premise 2 Ones race (or ethnicity, or culture)
  is central to ones identity as a moral agent
• Conclusion Thus, what is morally right depends
  (at least in part) on that persons race,
  ethnicity, or culture.

14
Premise 1

• What is morally right depends (at least in part)
  on ones identity as a moral agent.
• Kantians would argue that moral identity is
  purely rational, and that it does not involve any
  elements of particularity.
• Supporters of this premise point to special
  obligations characteristic of particular cultures
  and ethnicities, e.g., placing a high value on
  family commitments.

15
Premise 2

• Ones race (or ethnicity, or culture) is central
  to ones identity as a moral agent.
• In order to evaluate this premise, we first must
  ask What exactly do we mean by race, ethnicity,
  and culture?

16
Race, Ethnicity, and Culture

• Race
• Initially appears to be biological
• Eventually is seen as socially constructed
• Ethnicity
• An individuals identification with a particular
  cultural group to which they are usually
  biologically related
• Culture
• Set of beliefs, values and practices that define
  a groups identity

17
Internalist and Externalist Accounts of Ethnic
Identity

• Externalist accounts
• Ethnic identity is formed by certain external
  events, e.g., slavery, persecution,
  discrimination
• This even fits within utilitarianism
• Internalist accounts
• Ethnic identity is formed by certain shared
  experiences, often of oppression, which bind a
  people together

18
Responses to the Identity Argument

• Separatistseeks to preserve identity by
  maintaining a separate existence.
• Supremacistseeks power and superiority over all
  other groups.
• Assimilationist and Integrationist--seeks a
  common identity, the melting pot.
• Pluralistpreserves particularity in a shared
  framework, the crazy quilt.

19
Separatism

• May be
• Partial
• Complete
• Examples
• Amish and Mennonites
• Orthodox Jews
• Acoma Pueblo

20
Supremacist

• Seeks power and superiority over all other
  groups.
• See Jim Crow laws in the United States, which
  tried to retain white supremacy.

http//www.ferris.edu/news/jimcrow/index.htm.
21
Assimilationism

• Predominant American metaphor the melting pot.
• Classic philosophical source Richard
  Wasserstrom, On Racism and Sexism. Wasserstrom
  argues that race and gender should be no more
  significant than eye color.

22
Pluralism

• Rejects ideal of impartiality
• Seeks to preserve and strengthen group identity.
• Sources
• Iris Marion Young, Justice and the Politics of
  Difference.
• Michael Walzer, Spheres of Justice.

23
Pluralism and Multiculturalism

• Principle of Understanding
• We seek to understand other cultures before we
  pass judgment on them.
• Principle of Tolerance
• We recognize that there are important areas in
  which intelligent people of good will will in
  fact differ.
• Principle of Standing Up to Evil
• We recognize that at some points we must stand up
  against evil, even when it is outside of our own
  borders.
• Principle of Fallibility
• We recognize that, even with the best of
  intentions, our judgments may be flawed and
  mistake.

24
Minority Rights

• Kymlicka, Liberalism, Community, and Culture
  (1989) and Multicultural Citizenship (1995)
• Thesis liberalism entails minority rights

25
Kymlickas Argument

• Following Rawls, Kymlicka argues that the ability
  to develop and pursue a life plan is a very
  important good
• Ones own culture is necessary for achieving that
  good
• Many minority cultures need special protection if
  they are to continue to exist
• Thus minority cultures must be given special
  protection so that all members of society have an
  equal opportunity to pursue a life plan.

26
Groups

• Indigenous Peoples
• Formerly Enslaved Peoples
• Immigrant Minorities

27
The Rights of Indigenous Peoples

• Compensatory Justice
• Backward-looking
• Redress past harms
• Rights of Indigenous Peoples
• Language
• Religion
• Land
• Self-determination

28
The Rights of Formerly Enslaved Peoples

• Do we owe a special debt to those who have been
  forcibly brought to our shores and enslaved?
• To their descendants?
• How is such a debt measured? Repaid?

29
Hate Crimes

• One way of providing special protection to groups
  that have been the object of persecution is to
  provide special legal sanctions against
  persecutory acts--in other words, against hate
  crimes.

30
The Rights of Immigrant Minorities

• What special rights, if any, do immigrant
  minorities have if they have freely come to the
  United States in search of a better life?
• Language
• Support

31
The Virtues Necessary for Living Well in a
Diverse Society

• Lawrence Blum indicates there are three virtues
  necessary for living wel in a diverse society
• Opposition to racism
• Multiculturalism
• Sense of community, connection, or common humanity