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race theory  

Definition

  • Race theory involves (a) the definition of race, (b) the determination of policies in response to the definitions at hand, and (c) the viability of thought and justifications for the reasoning dominating race definitions and policies. In more prosaic language, this involves answering the questions: What is race? What is the proper response or policies that should be set with regard to race? And, as Paul C. Taylor has characterized these matters in Race: A Philosophical Introduction, what is involved in and what is justifiable or not justifiable in and about race thinking? Echoing a turn in modern thought that focuses on conditions of possibility, this last question also takes the form: How is race possible? These three (and not exclusive) concerns of race theory connect with a variety of other theoretical concerns in modern thought, such as the articulation of human subjects, the directions to which human societies should aim or that for which human societies struggle, and the metatheoretical problem of reflective justification. [Source: Encyclopedia of Political Theory; Race Theory]

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https://concepts.sagepub.com/social-science/concept/race_theory

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