Aporophobia: Why We Reject the Poor Instead of Helping Them

216 Pages·2022·1.071 MB·English

by  Adela Cortina, Adrian Nathan West

Aporophobia

Aporophobia
Why We Reject the Poor
Instead of Helping Them
Adela Cortina
Translated by
Adrian Nathan West
prince ton university press
prince ton and oxford
English language translation © 2022 by Prince ton University Press
Copyright © 2017 by Adela Cortina and Editorial Planeta, S. A., Avda.
Diagonal, 662-664. 08034 Barcelona, Spain, originally published as
Aporofobia, el rechezo al pobre.
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Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Cortina Orts, Adela, author.
Title: Aporophobia : why we reject the poor instead of helping
them / Adela Cortina ; translated by Adrian Nathan West.
Other titles: Aporofobia, el rechazo al pobre. En glish
Description: Prince ton : Prince ton University Press, [2022] |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021050363 (print) | LCCN 2021050364 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780691205526 (hardback ; alk. paper) |
ISBN 9780691239422 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Poor— Moral and ethical aspects. |
Poverty— Moral and ethical aspects. | Discrimination.
Classification: LCC HC79.P6 C66413 2022 (print) |
LCC HC79.P6 (ebook) | DDC 362.5— dc23/eng/20211015
LC rec ord available at https:// lccn . loc . gov / 2021050363
LC ebook rec ord available at https:// lccn . loc . gov / 2021050364
British Library Cataloging- in- Publication Data is available
Editorial: Hannah Paul and Josh Drake
Production Editorial: Ellen Foos
Text and Jacket Design: Karl Spurzem
Production: Erin Suydam
Publicity: Kate Hensley and Kate Farquhar- Thomson
Copyeditor: Dana Henricks
This book has been composed in Arno Pro with Rustica
Printed on acid- free paper. ∞
Printed in the United States of Amer i ca
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Preface to the En glish Edition ix
Introduction xvii
chapter 1. A Scourge without a Name 1
From Xenophobia to Aporophobia 1
History of a Term 6
chapter 2. Hate Crimes toward the Poor 13
The Key to Hatred: The Holder or the Object
of Contempt? 13
Hate Crimes, Hate Speech: Two Social Pathologies 15
The Fable of the Wolf and the Lamb 18
State and Civil Society, a Necessary Collaboration 24
The Poor Person Is in All Cases an Unprofitable Person 27
chapter 3. Hate Speech 30
An Unavoidable Debate 30
Freedom of Expression or the Right to Self- Esteem? 32
The Construction of Radical Democracy 34
The Poverty of Hate Speech 39
Freedom Is Built through Active Re spect 43
v
vi Contents
chapter 4. Our Brain Is Aporophobic 45
We Have a Dream 45
A Gulf between Declarations and Deeds 47
Three Versions of Radical Evil 50
Neuroscience Takes Action 51
The Chariot Allegory 53
We Are Biologically Xenophobic 56
A Brief History of the Xenophobic Brain 59
Aporophobia: The Excluded 60
chapter 5. Conscience and Reputation 66
The Need to Educate the Conscience 66
The Ring of Gyges 67
The Biological Evolution of the Moral Conscience 70
The Feeling of Shame and Moralist Aggression 72
The Natu ral Garden of Eden 73
What Is the Voice of Conscience? 74
The Force of Reputation 75
Educating for Autonomy and Compassion 78
chapter 6. Moral Bioenhancement 84
The Prob lem of Moral Motivation 84
The New Frankenstein 86
Transhumanists and Bioconservatives 87
Moral Bioenhancement without Harm to Others 91
An Ethical Imperative 92
Is This Really a Promising Path? 97
Contents vii
chapter 7. Eradicating Poverty, Reducing In equality 104
The Poor Person in the Exchange Society 104
Is Justice Obligated to Eradicate Economic Poverty? 106
Poverty Is a Lack of Freedom 107
Poverty Is Avoidable 109
Not Just Protecting Society but, above All,
Empowering People 113
Charity or Justice? 115
The Right to a Free Life 117
Reducing In equality: Proposals for the
Twenty- First Century 119
chapter 8. Cosmopolitan Hospitality 127
Asylum and the Refugee Crisis 127
A Sign of Civilization 130
A Virtue of Life in Common 131
Hospitality as a Right and Duty 133
Shelter: An Unconditional Ethical Demand 140
The Urgent and the Impor tant 142
Cosmopolitan Hospitality: Justice and Compassion 143
Notes 147
Bibliography 159
Index 173

Preface to the En glish Edition
In August of 2021, there was a drastic earthquake in Haiti, 7.2 on
the Richter scale, which led to many dead and wounded and
irreparable damage to the country’s basic infrastructure. Haiti
was already one of the poorest countries in the world, and an
inevitable wave of immigration followed. They joined the im-
mense number of Mexicans, Guatemalans, Hondurans, Ni-
caraguans, and Salvadoreans who had undertaken the harsh
journey to the promised land, maybe not a land of milk and
honey, but a place where a dignified life was pos si ble.
These people had a well- founded belief that they would find
asylum in the promised land, because the triumph of Joe Biden
in the recent presidential elections made it appear less likely
that the borders would be closed to poor immigrants. A Demo-
crat was back in the White House, open, tolerant, ready to
change the course of the country and lead with values shared
all across the Western world. The Donald Trump era was over,
at least for now: an era when votes were garnered with the
promise of building a wall on the Mexican border to keep any-
one from crossing via the Rio Grande.
Yes, t here was hope. But it was frustrated, b ecause the hostil-
ity shown to the Haitians was so ferocious. Many Demo crats
raised their voices in indignation at the acts of Border Patrol
agents who chased immigrants down on horse back. The images
on TV, in the papers, and on social media were terrifying.
ix
x Preface to the English Edition
Once again, we were faced with repression employed against
defenseless foreigners only hoping to survive. It seemed that
Lady Liberty didn’t accept all the tired, the poor, and the hun-
gry equally.
But this isn’t just Amer i ca. Sadly, every country does it, with
more or less open displays of aggression. Despite the funda-
mental role of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in
the EU’s identity, Eu rope has been incapable of developing a
plan for taking in those who flee hunger, war, and poverty,
crossing the Mediterranean on rafts and arriving at our shores.
The Mediterranean, which the Romans called “mare nostrum,”
is now a grave for thousands who had hoped for a better life.
The media and academic texts often describe the rejection
of immigrants as xenophobia, fear (phobia) of the stranger or
foreigner (xenos), of those who a ren’t “one of us.” It’s true that
there is a tendency to shut the door to strangers, so deeply
rooted that some writers affirm that the human brain itself is
xenophobic. We will look at that later, but for now I would like
to ask a simple question that gets at the very point of this book:
Do we reject immigrants because they are foreign or because
they are poor and seem to bring prob lems while offering noth-
ing of value in return?
It doesn’t seem hard to answer. No one is both ered by the
foreigners who flock to Vegas to spend money in casinos or
Chinese billionaires investing their money in safe havens; no-
body’s both ered by foreign scientists or professors, who are
often hired with handsome salaries. Foreign elite athletes, artists,
and chefs get the royal treatment, no m atter where they come
from. And everywhere people are happy to show hospitality to
foreign tourists, who contribute a great deal to many countries’
GDP. One of the worst consequences of the COVID-19 pan-
demic has been the drastic reduction of international travel,