CEMH Digital Talk: Michael Bennett McNulty (Philosophy, University of Minnesota)

Recently, controversies in philosophy have raged regarding the implications of Kant’s racism and scientific theory of race upon the canonical ‘core' of his philosophy — particularly, his moral theory. In order better to comprehend Kant’s racism and to assess the systematic ramifications thereof, this paper examines Kant’s allegations that Indigenous Americans have “no culture” and Africans have “only the culture of slaves.” I argue that these claims must be understood in the context Kant’s overarching teleological theory of human development, which consideration reveals a stark and vicious commitment: that nonwhite individuals, for Kant, are not genuine, equal moral agents.