Is modern philosophy racist? Do such canonical philosophers as Descartes, Hobbes, Leibniz, Spinoza, the British Empiricists, and the German Idealists lend support, if only indirectly, to racist doctrines? Or do their ideas contain the resources to critique or even reject racist theories? An innovative and substantial intervention in critical race theory, Race and Racism in Modern Philosophy brings together an impressive roster of thinkers to trace the question of race in modern philosophical inquiry and explore its influence on contemporary philosophy. From Locke's treatment of the issue of slavery and Descartes's silence on the issue to Hegel's philosophy of religion and Nietzsche's "racial profiling," this book illuminates the complex relationship between race and philosophy.

Contributors: Robert Bernasconi, University of Memphis; Anthony Bogues, Brown University; Bernard R. Boxill, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Peter Fenves, Northwestern University; Barbara Hall, Georgia State University; Michael H. Hoffheimer, University of Mississippi; Anika Maaza Mann, Morgan State University; Charles W. Mills, University of Illinois, Chicago; Debra Nails, Michigan State University; Richard T. Peterson, Michigan State University; Timothy J. Reiss, New York University; William Uzgalis, Oregon State University; Andrew Valls, Oregon State University