PHL 301 - Racism & Enlightenment

Course Units: 1

This course will examine the ethical and political theories of the European Enlightenment with a focus on their historical connection to racism and racial oppression. In the first half of the course, we will study three iconic thinkers from the Enlightenment: John Locke, David Hume, and Immanuel Kant. In the second half, we will investigate the following questions: What role did racial prejudice play in these philosophers’ works? How did they inspire racist thinking? Given these historical connections to racism, how should we engage with their works in the present? CC: HUM, WAC, JCHF, JSPE