Race is a philosophical issue because it has a strong bearing on identity construction and metaphysical or ontological self-concept. As long as race remains relevant as a means of constructing personal identity or projecting identity onto other people, race will remain a critical component of humanistic philosophies. A discussion of race as a metaphysical concept is distinctly different from a discussion of race as an ethical concept, even though both metaphysics and ethics fall under the rubric of philosophy. However, a discussion of race as an ontological issue depends on an understanding of race as an ethical issue as race has been socially constructed in status-oriented and hierarchal societies like the United States. Race is socially constructed, but race is also subjectively constructed, which is what Ally's case demonstrates. Ally's case is best understood through the lens of what Mills calls subjectivism, in which race designations and categories are arbitrary and individuals can freely choose their own race.Ally is consciously passing as white, and admits as much. For this reason, Ally does fall neatly into Mills's Problem Case II: the case of conscious permanent passing. However, Ally is also what Mills calls a racial transgressive, because of the conflicts that exist between the variables linked to race including "bodily appearance, ancestry, self-awareness of ancestry, public awareness of ancestry, culture, experience, and self-identification," (Mills 50). The conflicts between these variables are experienced internally, from Ally's...
More interesting by far than Ally's case is the case of her family members who opt into an African-American identity because their conception of race is realist-constructivist. The family members have bought into the "one drop" mentality that Mills discusses, a mentality that plays on racial binaries. And in spite of the lower social status conferred upon African-Americans throughout United States history, Ally's black-identifying family members embrace their heritage proudly even though they cannot necessarily pass as black.
" Real Americans support the right of religious people to worship, and would never base legislation on a religious conviction rather than a conviction based on constitutional rights, constitutional law, and Enlightenment ethics. American political identity is continually changing also because of the incredible ethnic and cultural diversity within the nation's borders. When gender, sexual identity, socio-economic class, and other factors are also included in the mix, America's political philosophy is
Miranda Fricker's 'Central Case' of Testimonial Injustice Considering a case in which Tom, a black man is alleged to have raped a white woman; Miranda explores how injustice happens within the confines of offering testimony. Tom is a black man living in Alabama accused of raping a white woman. Every detail and evidence that tries to bring out Tom as not the possible suspect are disapproved because of Tom's blackness. Tom
Salman Rushdie is one of the most famous authors of the modern era. In the tradition of Gabriel Marquez, Rushdie sweeps the reader up in his novel, Midnights Children, like the book by Marquez that obviously had a great deal of influence on Rushdie, One Hundred Years of Solitude, Midnights Children is a postmodern look at the modern fairytale that Salman Rushdie weaves for those who wish to pick up
In fact, Hindus consider their religion not as a form of religion per se, but spirituality in general. Selvanayagam (2005) discussed the Hindu concept of spirituality, which takes into account all possible ways or manner in which enlightenment can be achieved. In India, wherein the Hindu religion is the dominant and an integral part of people's lives, Hinduism is considered more than a religion -- it is also a political
" It caused missionaries to deal with peoples of other cultures and even Christian traditions -- including the Orthodox -- as inferior. God's mission was understood to have depended upon human efforts, and this is why we came to hold unrealistic universalistic assumptions. Christians became so optimistic that they believed to be able to correct all the ills of the world." (Vassiliadis, 2010) Missiology has been undergoing changes in recent years
Gothic, as a term, refers to both an artistic style and a cultural movement that has evolved over time, originating in medieval Europe and continuing to influence modern-day literature, film, architecture, and more. The word 'Gothic' itself is etymologically tied to the Goths, a group of East Germanic people, but the Gothic period in art and architecture is generally understood to span from the 12th to the 16th centuries, characterized
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