Luc Faucher and Edouard Machery’s recent article in this journal uses evidence from psychological studies to criticize Jorge Garcia’s view of racism. This brief response argues that their critique fails because they misinterpret Garcia’s view and engage in some conceptual equivocation. It also argues that their focus on affect and human psychology is in fact compatible with Garcia’s view of racism as rooted in the human heart. Hence the evidence that they cite should be seen as empirical enrichment of Garcia’s basic view, rather than as evidence against that view.
Blum, Lawrence.2002. I’m not a racist, but . . . : The moral quandary of race. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
2.
---. 2004a. What do accounts of racism do? In Racism in mind, edited by Michael P. Levine and Tamas Pataki, 56-77. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
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---. 2004b. Systemic and individual racism, racialization, and antiracist education: A reply to Garcia, Sillman, and Levinson. Theory and Research in Education2:49-74.
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---. 2004c. Stereotypes and stereotyping: A moral analysis. Philosophical Papers33:251-89.
5.
---. 2006. Racial virtues. In Working virtue: Virtue ethics and contemporary moral problems, edited by Rebecca L. Walker and Philip J. Ivanhoe , 225-50. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
6.
Faucher, Luc, and Edouard Machery .2009. Racism: Against Jorge Garcia’s moral and psychological monism. Philosophy of the Social Sciences39:41-62.
7.
Garcia, Jorge.1996. The heart of racism. Journal of Social Philosophy29:5-45.
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---. 1997a. Current conceptions of racism: A critical examination of some recent social philosophy. Journal of Social Philosophy28:5-42.
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---. 1997b. Racism as a model for understanding sexism. In Race/sex: Their sameness, difference, and interplay, edited by Naomi Zack, 45-59. New York: Routledge.
10.
---. 1999. Philosophical analysis and the moral concept of racism . Philosophy and Social Criticism25:1-32.
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---. 2001. Racism and racial discourse. The Philosophical Forum32:125-45.
12.
---. 2003. Three scalarities: Racialization, racism, and race in Blum. Theory and Research in Education1:283-302.
13.
---. 2004. Three sites for racism: Social structures, valuings, and vice. In Racism in mind, edited by Michael Levine and Tamas Pataki, 35-55. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
14.
Mills, Charles W.2003. "Heart" attack: A critique of Jorge Garcia’s volitional conception of racism. Journal of Ethics7:29-62.
15.
Shelby, Tommie.2002. Is racism in the "heart"? Journal of Social Philosophy33:411-20.
