Debating race, ethnicity, and Latino identity : Jorge J.E. Gracia and his critics

291 Pages·2015·0.84 MB·English

by  Gracia

DEBATING
RACE, ETHNICIT Y, AND
LATINO IDENTIT Y
JORGE J. E. GRACIA AND HIS CRITICS
EDITED BY
I VÁ N J A K S I Ć
D E B AT I N G
R A C E , E T H N I C I T Y , A N D
L AT I N O I D E N T I T Y

D E B AT I N G
R A C E , E T H N I C I T Y , A N D
L AT I N O I D E N T I T Y
jorge j. e. gracia and his critics
IVÁN JAKSIĆ
EDITED BY
Columbia University Press
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Debating race, ethnicity, and Latino identity :
Jorge J. E. Gracia and his critics / edited by Iván Jaksić.
pages cm
Summary: “Th is book brings together some of the most prominent scholars in the
philosophy of race and ethnicity in conversation about issues of ethnic and racial
identity, nationality, and ethnic philosophy. Th e book contains the best defense by
Jorge J. E. Gracia of his familial- historical view of Latino identity”— Provided by publisher.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-231-16944-8 (cloth : acid- free paper)
ISBN 978-0-231-53772-8 (e- book)
1. Hispanic Americans— Ethnic identity. 2. Hispanic Americans— Race identity.
3. Latin Americans— Ethnic identity. 4. Latin Americans— Race identity. 5. Gracia,
Jorge J. E.— Political and social views. 6. Gracia, Jorge J. E.— Philosophy. 7. Ethnicity—
Philosophy. 8. Race— Philosophy. 9. United States— Ethnic relations. 10. Latin
Ame rica— Ethnic relations. I. Jaksić, Iván, 1954–
E184.S75D42 2015
305.868'073— dc23
2014049267

Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable acid-free paper.
Th is book is printed on paper with recycled content.
Printed in the United States of America
c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

cover design : chang jae lee
CONTENTS
Preface vii
Introduction
Iván Jaksić 1
Part I. Race, Ethnicity, Nationality, and Philosophy
1. Writing a Check Th at Philosophy Can’t Cash
Lucius T. Outlaw Jr. 29
2. Mapping the Boundaries of Race, Ethnicity, and Nationality
Linda M. Alcoff 38
3. Race, Ethnicity, and Philosophy
K. Anthony Appiah 48
4. Race, Ethnicity, Nationality, and Philosophy
Lawrence Blum 56
5. Race, Ethnicity, Nationality, and Philosophy: A Response
Jorge J. E. Gracia 65
Part II. Hispanic/Latino Identity
6. Is Being Hispanic an Identity?
J. L. A. García 91
vi Contents
7. Th e Boundaries of Hispanic Identity
Richard J. Bernstein 106
8. Hispanic Identity, Its Origin, and Hispanic Philosophers
Robert Gooding-Williams 114
9. Th e Role of Culture in Hispanic Identity
Gregory Pappas 122
10. Th e Language Prism
Ilan Stavans 131
11. Th e Second R econquista
Eduardo Mendieta 138
12. Hispanic/Latino Identity: A Response
Jorge J. E. Gracia 147
Part III. Hispanics/Latinos and Philosophy
13. Hispanics/Latinos, Labels, and Latino Philosophy
Renzo Llorente 183
14. Ethnic Philosophy and Latin American Philosophy
Susana Nuccetelli 195
15. Latino and Latin American Philosophy
María Cristina González and Nora Stigol 203
16. Affi rmative Action for Latinos
Howard McGary 215
17. Hispanics/Latinos and Philosophy: A Response
Jorge J. E. Gracia 219

Closing Th oughts
Jorge J. E. Gracia 247
Appendix. Original Panels and Discussions 251
References 253
Contributors 263
Index 267
PREFACE
Th e fi rst decade of the twenty-fi rst century has seen an unprecedented inter-
est in, and development of, philosophical issues concerned with the intersec-
tion of race, ethnicity, and Hispanic/Latino identity. Th e exploration of race
by philosophers goes back a relatively long way. Leaving aside the confusing
and oft en biased notions put forward by the likes of Immanuel Kant and
David Hume, authors such as Alain Locke and perhaps most of all W. E. B. Du
Bois probed deeply into issues of race and racism in the eighteenth and nine-
teenth centuries. Th is was followed in the twentieth century by a plethora of
work by black philosophers and philosophers of color, including Kwame
Anthony Appiah, Bernard Boxill, Robert Gooding-Williams, Lewis Gordon,
Leonard Harris, Bill E. Lawson, Howard McGary, Charles Mills, Lucius T.
Outlaw Jr., Tommy Shelby, George Yancy, and Naomi Zack, and by white
philosophers such as Robin Andreasen, Robert Bernasconi, Lawrence Blum,
Joshua Glasgow, Sally Haslanger, Philip Kitcher, and Ron Mallon, to men-
tion just a few of the most established, who have engaged the philosophy of
race.
Th e exploration of ethnicity is connected to early discussions of race in-
sofar as race and ethnicity have been thought to be closely related by some
authors as early as Locke and Du Bois, although this has not been the norm.
However, the fi rst attempts at tying the philosophical discussion of race and
ethnicity to Hispanic/Latino issues began in the nineties, with the work of
Linda M. Alcoff , J. Angelo Corlett, and Jorge J. E. Gracia, who together with
other philosophers interested in ethnic issues related to Hispanics/Latinos,
such as José Medina, Eduardo Mendieta, Susana Nuccetelli, and Mariana
viii Preface
Ortega, and I, among others, constituted a strong contingent. But it is at the
beginning of the twenty-fi rst century that this interest undergoes a substan-
tial expansion with the publication of many books and articles, in part no
doubt infl uenced by the demographic explosion of this ethnic group in the
country and its increasing infl uence in American culture and politics.
Th is book tries to capture recent advances in the discussion of these is-
sues by gathering important exchanges between Gracia and other prominent
philosophers who have engaged him in dialogue. Gracia has been a leader in
the philosophical discussion of these topics and has been at the center of
many of the most important controversies surrounding race, ethnicity, and
Hispanic/Latino identity.
Th e foundation for Gracia’s familiarity with these topics began with re-
search on Latin American philosophy in the mid-seventies. Th is was helped
by his personal friendship and collaboration with Risieri Frondizi, one of the
most important Latin American philosophers of his generation, who acted
as a mentor and partner to him. In Latin American philosophy, Gracia found
some of the themes that he later explored and for which eventually he off ered
original theories and analyses. In collaboration with Frondizi, he compiled
an anthology of philosophical texts from contemporary Latin American
philosophers on the topics popular in the fi rst half of the century, concerned
with human nature and values: E l hombre y los valores en la fi losofía latino-
americana del siglo XX (1975, 1981). Th e editors intended to publish an
English version of this volume, but given the American philosophical climate
at the time, their eff orts failed. Following this book, Gracia and I compiled
a collection of texts in Venezuela ( Filosofía e identidad cultural en América
L atina , copyright 1983 but published in 1988), and he edited a volume with
Eduardo Rabossi, Enrique Villanueva, and Marcelo Dascal (P hilosophical
Analysis in Latin America , 1984; Spanish enlarged edition, 1985), a F estschrift
in honor of Frondizi ( Man and His Conduct: Philosophical Essays in Honor
of Risieri Frondizi/El hombre y su conducta: E nsayos fi losófi cos en honor de
Risieri Frondizi , 1980), and a collection of Frondizi’s essays titled E nsayos
fi losófi cos (1986). In 1986 also Gracia published a substantially diff erent ver-
sion of E l hombre y los valores , with the title Latin American Philosophy in
the Twentieth Century: Man, Values, and the Search for Philosophical Iden-
tity , the fi rst such work in English edited by a philosopher.
Encouraged by the publication of the anthology in English and the grow-
ing infl uence of the Hispanic/Latino population in the United States, Gracia
convinced the board of the State University of New York Press in 1989 to
Preface ix
begin a series devoted to the publication of monographs in the area of Latin
American and Iberian Th ought and Culture. Th e series was inaugurated with
my book A cademic Rebels in Chile: Th e Role of Philosophy in Higher Educa-
tion and Politics (1989) and followed in 1993 by Ofelia Schutte’s C ultural Iden-
tity and Social Liberation in Latin American Th ought .
Th ese events signaled that the fi eld of Latin American philosophy was be-
ginning to move and Hispanic/Latino demographics were helping, so that
even the stodgy American Philosophical Association began to take notice.
In 1991, Gracia became the founding chair of the association’s Committee
for Hispanics, an event that provided some impetus to the study of Latin
American philosophy and Hispanic/Latino issues in the United States. En-
couraged by these developments, Gracia published two groundbreaking books
in 2000. Hispanic/Latino Identity: A Philosophical Perspective was the fi rst
book in English on Hispanic/Latino identity that was not a historical study
of Latin American ideas on this topic but instead proposed an original philo-
sophical theory. And H ispanics/Latinos in the United States: Ethnicity, Race,
and Rights , edited in collaboration with Pablo De Greiff , was the fi rst collection
of philosophical essays focused on Hispanic/Latino issues and the relation
between race and ethnicity in that context.
Until around 1995, Gracia’s interest in Hispanics/Latinos hovered around
topics related to identity and the history of Latin American thought. But
working on his book on Hispanic/Latino identity he realized that he needed
to turn to questions of race and nationality as well. Th is resulted in the pub-
lication of the mentioned anthology in 2000, a substantially revised edition
of the 1986 volume on Latin American philosophy in collaboration with
Elizabeth Millán-Zaibert titled L atin American Philosophy for the 21 st Century:
Th e Human Condition, Values, and the Search for Identity (2004), and, more
signifi cantly, the monograph Surviving Race, Ethnicity, and Nationality: A
Challenge for the Twenty-First Century (2005b). In the last of these, he explic-
itly addressed questions of race, ethnicity, and nationality from a systematic
perspective. Two years later he followed this with the publication of a col-
lection of essays by leading black, Hispanic/Latino, and white American
philosophers: R ace or Ethnicity? On Black and Latino Identity (2007b). And a
year later he published L atinos in America: Philosophy and Social Identity
(2008b), which explores not only matters of identity but also questions of af-
fi rmative action, linguistic rights, ethnic names, and Hispanic/Latino phi-
losophy in the United States. His latest book on related topics is an edited
collection of essays by leading historians of Latin American thought called