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Journal of Controversial Ideas

(ISSN: 2694-5991) Open Access Journal
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Peer-Reviewed
Open Access
Article
Controversial Ideas 2023, 3(1), 2; doi: 10.35995/jci03010002

Of Racist Philosophers and Ravens

Michael B. Gill 1 *
1 Department of Philosophy, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK;
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 17 Feb 2023 / Revised: 1 Apr 2023 / Accepted: 3 Apr 2023 / Published: 28 Apr 2023
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Abstract

How can historians of philosophy justify spending the preponderance of their professional lives writing about historical philosophers who held racist views? I use the controversy over University of Edinburgh’s David Hume Tower as a jumping-off place for discussion of this issue. I argue that worthwhile philosophical ideas in historical philosophers can be conceptually isolated from their racist views.
Keywords: David Hume Tower; racism; David Hume; John Stuart Mill; Immanuel Kant; John Locke
OPEN ACCESS
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. (CC BY 4.0).
CITE
Gill, M.B. Of Racist Philosophers and Ravens. Controversial_Ideas 2023, 3, 2.
Gill MB. Of Racist Philosophers and Ravens. Journal of Controversial Ideas. 2023; 3(1):2.
Gill, Michael B. 2023. "Of Racist Philosophers and Ravens." Controversial_Ideas 3, no. 1: 2.
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