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

1. The Ethics of Diversity:Race, Ethnicity, and Culture in Moral Theory (c) Lawrence M. Hinman

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? (c) Lawrence M. Hinman

3. Overview • The Identity Argument • Minority Rights • The Virtues Necessary for Living Well in a Diverse Society (c) Lawrence M. Hinman

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 (c) Lawrence M. Hinman

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.” (c) Lawrence M. Hinman

6. Godwin’s 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 (c) Lawrence M. Hinman

7. Godwin’s 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 (c) Lawrence M. Hinman

8. Two Questions • Godwin’s dilemma poses two distinct questions to us: • Behavior: What should I do? • Motivation: Why should I do it? (c) Lawrence M. Hinman

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” (c) Lawrence M. Hinman

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 Godwin’s example, we should not violate someone’s right to be saved. (c) Lawrence M. Hinman

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. (c) Lawrence M. Hinman

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. (c) Lawrence M. Hinman

13. The Identity Argument • Premise 1 What is morally right depends (at least in part) on one’s identity as a moral agent; • Premise 2 One’s race (or ethnicity, or culture) is central to one’s identity as a moral agent; • Conclusion Thus, what is morally right depends (at least in part) on that person’s race, ethnicity, or culture. (c) Lawrence M. Hinman

14. Premise 1 What is morally right depends (at least in part) on one’s 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. (c) Lawrence M. Hinman

15. Premise 2 One’s race (or ethnicity, or culture) is central to one’s 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? (c) Lawrence M. Hinman

16. Race, Ethnicity, and Culture • Race • Initially appears to be biological • Eventually is seen as socially constructed • Ethnicity • An individual’s identification with a particular cultural group to which they are usually biologically related • Culture • Set of beliefs, values and practices that define a group’s identity (c) Lawrence M. Hinman

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 (c) Lawrence M. Hinman

18. Responses to the Identity Argument • Separatist—seeks to preserve identity by maintaining a separate existence. • Supremacist—seeks power and superiority over all other groups. • Assimilationist and Integrationist--seeks a common identity, the “melting pot.” • Pluralist—preserves particularity in a shared framework, the “crazy quilt.” (c) Lawrence M. Hinman

19. Separatism • May be: • Partial • Complete • Examples • Amish and Mennonites • Orthodox Jews • Acoma Pueblo (c) Lawrence M. Hinman

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. (c) Lawrence M. Hinman

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. (c) Lawrence M. Hinman

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. (c) Lawrence M. Hinman

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. (c) Lawrence M. Hinman

24. Minority Rights • Kymlicka, Liberalism, Community, and Culture (1989) and Multicultural Citizenship (1995) • Thesis: liberalism entails minority rights (c) Lawrence M. Hinman

25. Kymlicka’s Argument Following Rawls, Kymlicka argues that the ability to develop and pursue a life plan is a very important good • One’s 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. (c) Lawrence M. Hinman

26. Groups • Indigenous Peoples • Formerly Enslaved Peoples • Immigrant Minorities (c) Lawrence M. Hinman

27. The Rights of Indigenous Peoples • Compensatory Justice • Backward-looking • Redress past harms • Rights of Indigenous Peoples • Language • Religion • Land • Self-determination (c) Lawrence M. Hinman

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? (c) Lawrence M. Hinman

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. (c) Lawrence M. Hinman

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 (c) Lawrence M. Hinman

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 (c) Lawrence M. Hinman