Background
Zack, Naomi was born on July 21, 1944 in New York City.
(In the first philosophical challenge to accepted racial c...)
In the first philosophical challenge to accepted racial classifications in the United States, Naomi Zack uses philosophical methods to criticize their logic. Tracing social and historical problems related to racial identity, she discusses why race is a matter of such importance in America and examines the treatment of mixed race in law, society, and literature. Zack argues that black and white designations are themselves racist because the concept of race does not have an adequate scientific foundation. The "one drop" rule, originally a rationalization for slavery, persists today even though there have never been "pure" races and most American blacks have "white" genes. Exploring the existential problems of mixed race identity, she points out how the bi-racial system in this country generates a special racial alienation for many Americans. Ironically suggesting that we include "gray" in our racial vocabulary, Zack concludes that any racial identity is an expression of bad faith. Author note: Naomi Zack is Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the State University of New York at Albany. She herself is of mixed race: Jewish, African American, and Native American.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1566392659/?tag=2022091-20
(THINKING ABOUT RACE offers a concise, provocative introdu...)
THINKING ABOUT RACE offers a concise, provocative introduction to the often overlooked, yet ever-salient body of philosophical thought regarding the nature and impact of race on our lives. Not only does the book address the essence of race and ethnicity as philosophical concepts, it also focuses on the social realities and implications of race as they affect the realms of public policy, sexuality, and social class.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/053453564X/?tag=2022091-20
(Naomi Zack begins this extraordinary book with the premis...)
Naomi Zack begins this extraordinary book with the premise that if one is to understand Western conceptions of racialized and gendered identity, one needs to go back to a period when such categories were not salient and examine how notions of identity in the seventeenth century were fundamentally different from subsequent constructions. The seventeenth century is the last time, for example, that Europeans had any contact with non-Europeans without racializing them. From the eighteenth century onward, race becomes a central category for Europeans in their transactions with a different world, and gender undergoes radical transformation. Zack takes the reader through a lucid tour of the lives, times, and writings of such key 'bachelors of Science' as Bacon, Descartes, Newton, and Gassendi. The book situates these empiricist philosophers and their canonical reputations within the larger framework of the de facto 'masculinization of science' and 'scientizing of masculinity' in the seventeenth century, arguing for a more nuanced understanding of these key thinkers of the period. Other fascinating issues examined in this book include pre-racial conceptions of slavery, witchcraft trials and their connection to homosociality, and the highly sexualized nature of women's identity in the seventeenth century. Zack points out the link between elite bachelorhood, the profession of philosophy, and scientific pursuit as recreational activity. This book is a must for understanding the historical and philosophical precedents of modern scientific identity, race, and gender. Author note: Naomi Zack is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at State University New York at Albany and the author of "Race and Mixed Race" (Temple).
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1566394368/?tag=2022091-20
Zack, Naomi was born on July 21, 1944 in New York City.
Bachelor, New York University, 1966. Doctor of Philosophy, Columbia University, 1970.
Professor philosophy University Albany, State University of New York, 1990-2001, University Oregon, Eugene, since 2001.
(Naomi Zack begins this extraordinary book with the premis...)
(THINKING ABOUT RACE offers a concise, provocative introdu...)
(In the first philosophical challenge to accepted racial c...)
(First published in 2003. Routledge is an imprint of Taylo...)
Member American Philosophical Association, Phi Beta Kappa.
Children: Alexander Erdmann, Bradford Z. Mahon.