PHIL 405: Political Philosophy of Race

Winter 2025

Instructor: José J. Mendoza  

Email: josejm@uw.edu

Office: Savery Hall 385

Office Hour: Thursday 3:30-5:30pm

Course Description

This course will explore the philosophical issues that arise in pursuit of racial justice. The course will begin with the larger question: what is racial justice and how (if at all) is it different from justice as traditionally conceived by the Western philosophical tradition? For example, does a Rawlsian approach to "ideal" justice help or hurt in our efforts to redress racial injustice? The course will then look into the merits of more specific arguments for reparations, affirmative action, neighborhood integration, school reform, criminal justice reform, racial profiling, prison abolition and the efficacy of protest as means to achieve racial justice.

Readings for the Course

All readings will be available online. So, there are no books to buy for this course.

Course Reading Schedule:

Week One: The Racial Contract 

Tuesday (Jan 7): Introduction to the course

Thursday (Jan 9): Charles Mills, “Race and the Social Contract Tradition”

Week Two:  Rawls and Racial Justice

Tuesday (Jan 14): Tommie Shelby, “Race and Social Justice: Rawlsian Considerations”

Thursday (Jan 16): Charles Mills, "Retrieving Rawls for Racial Justice?"

Week Three:  Rawls and Racial Justice

Tuesday (Jan 21): Tommie Shelby, "Racial Realities and Corrective Justice"

Thursday (Jan 23): D. C. Matthew, "Rawls and Racial Justice"

Week Four:  Racial Reparations

Tuesday (Jan 28): Bernard Boxill, “A Lockean Argument for Black Reparations”

Thursday (Jan 30): Derrick Darby, "Reparations and Racial Inequality"

Week Five:  Affirmative Action

Tuesday (Feb 4): Howard McGary, “Racism and Justice: The Case for Affirmative Action”

Thursday (Feb 6): Kwame Anthony Appiah, “Group Rights and Racial Affirmative Action” 

Week Six: Civic and Social Integration

Tuesday (Feb 11): Elizabeth Anderson, “The Future of Racial Integration”

Thursday (Feb 13): Tommie Shelby, “Integration, Inequality, and Imperatives of Justice”

Week Seven: Education and Racial Justice

Tuesday (Feb 18): Derrick Darby, “Adequacy, Inequality, and Cash for Grades”

Thursday (Feb 20): Andrew Valls, “Common Schools and Black Schools”

Week Seven: Racial Profiling

Tuesday (Feb 25): Naomi Zack, “Black Rights and Police Racial Profiling”

Thursday (Feb 27): Adam Omar Hosein, “Racial Profiling and Inferior Political Status”

Week Nine: Criminal Justice Reform

Tuesday (Mar 4): Naomi Zack, “Black Injustice and Police Homicide”

Thursday (Mar 6): Tommie Shelby, “Rejecting the Claims of Law”

Week Ten: Protesting Racial Injustice

Tuesday (Mar 11): Steven Johnston, “Two Cheers for Ferguson’s Democratic Citizens”

Thursday (Mar 13): Juliet Hooker, “Black Lives Matter & Paradoxes of U.S. Black Politics”