Race – The Deviant Philosopher

Lesson: The Ethics of Racial Humor

by Luvell Anderson (Syracuse University)

The question—‘What makes humor racist, when it is?’—provides a rich platform for discussion about several philosophically interesting topics. The subject broaches issues in aesthetics, ethics, social and political philosophy, and even the philosophy of language. Challenges for constructing a theory of racist humor involve (1) distinguishing between humor and non-humor, (2) determining what racism is, (3) distinguishing the kinds of speech acts involved in humorous discourse and how they can give rise to racist utterances

Exercise: Applying Philosophical Theories of Race

by Andrew P. Mills (Otterbein University)

This activity helps students apply various theories in the philosophy of race to popular race “memes” that students may have seen on social media. It helps students practice their understanding of those theories of race and allows them to see how popular memes embody (perhaps problematically) those theories.