Kant's Universalism and the Concept of Race

Abstract In Kant’s Universalism and the Concept of Race, Jameliah Inga Shorter-Bourhanou provides an account of Kant’s views on universalism regarding the claim that they are enough to absolve Kant from racist allegations. In this book, Shorter-Bourhanou embraces both sides of the traditional debate regarding Kant and his racism. That is, Shorter-Bourhanou agrees with philosophers such as Pauline Kleingeld and Allen W. Wood that there is a universalist theory in Kant’s moral, social, and political philosophies worth preserving. Shorter-Bourhanou also agrees with philosophers Robert Bernasconi and Charles W. Mills, who argue that Kant has racist ideas that impact his moral, social, and political philosophies. Shorter-Bourhanou seeks a middle ground between these two interpretations in order to account for Kant’s racism while also generating a discussion about universalism that would, in fact, reflect a truly inclusive ideology. Shorter-Bourhanou thus focuses on what Kant said about race, and the impact of these claims on his universalist views present in his moral, historical, social, and political philosophies with a particular focus on Kantian interpretations of these areas. Shorter-Bourhanou embraces Kant’s racism in order to discover the possibility for a concept of a Kant inspired universalism that will in fact include everyone.