Preeminent philosopher, Naomi Zack, brings us an indispensable work in the ethics of race through an inquiry into the history of moral philosophy. Beginning with Plato and a philosophical tradition that has largely ignored race, The Ethics and Mores of Race: Equality after the History of Philosophy enters into a web of ideas, ethics, and morals that untangle our evolving ideas of racial equality straight into the twenty-first century. The dichotomy between ethics and mores has long aided the separation of what is right with ideas of equality. Zack tackles the co-existence of slavery with the classic moral systems and continues to show how our society has evolved and our mores with it. An ethics of race may not exist yet, but this book gives us twelve discerning requirements to establish it.
In the preface to the paperback edition, Zack addresses the criticisms raised in response to this book and concludes that a focus on rights and justice, rather than privilege, is the only fruitful pathway towards a functioning ethics of race.