HOW FUNDAMENTAL IS RACE TO THE MORAL AND POLITICAL THOUGHT OF KANT AND JEFFERSON? (Essay Sample)

HOW FUNDAMENTAL IS RACE TO THE MORAL AND POLITICAL THOUGHT OF KANT AND JEFFERSON? Introduction The problem of race in moral and political theory is a complex and substantial problem that gives people a logical reason for equality, justice, and social order. This essay will explore the role of race in the moral and political thought of four influential philosophers: Thomas Jefferson and Immanuel Kant. Every thinker on the nature of race grappled with questions about race individually, which influenced larger philosophical frameworks and developed disputes about the nature of societal order and individual rights. Jefferson, known for his natural rights theories and contract theory, is one of the political philosophers that modern political philosophy has recognized as a critical member of their discipline. Jefferson's ideas of liberty and equality of all people mean a lot to me as they are an essential part of the way he perceives the world and his attitude towards the government. The writings of Thomas Jefferson, one of the most influential Americans who contributed to the American Revolution, and the painting of the Declaration of Independence represent an interesting case study due to the significant gap between the freedom and democracy. Analyzing Jefferson's stance on race highlights the Enlightenment contradictions between its abstract ideals and the concrete things of racial oppression. Immanuel Kant focused on the universality of moral principles and humans' intangible values, which can be used as a prism to analyze race in philosophical discussions. Kant's racial hierarchies dramatically contradict his idealistic statements about universalism, and future interrogations of Enlightenment thought. Kant, the empiricist and the philosopher who also reinforced scepticism, profoundly influenced epistemology and moral philosophy in the modern era. As shown by Kant's writings on race, the crosses of racial biases and rationalism in the Enlightenment mindset take place, thus emphasizing the complexity that lies in the philosophical explorations of human nature and society. Part 1: Immanuel Kant It follows that Immanuel Kant divides races into a hierarchical scheme based on defining differences in intellectual potential and cultural advancements. Correspondingly, Kant's racial ladder positions Europeans at the pinnacle and values other racial groups but in an order where non-white races take the lower positions (Zhavoronkov and Salikov, 2018, p. 283). Admittedly, the racial classification is a clear example of Kant's ethnocentrism, which, in turn, raises a question regarding his professed ideology. Kant's moral and political philosophy and his racial ideas bump against each other; this exposes the uncertainties in his universal ethics. Kant places a premium on the underlying issue of moral autonomy and human dignity. Still, his racial hierarchy affects the universality of these principles, finding the non-European race as an unreliable candidate for complete moral reflection. The somewhat inconsistent and nonsensical racial ideas of Kant, who goes back to his papers, present his understanding of the gap in intellectual prowess among racial groups. Kant is attached to physical features (Asher, 2022, p. 231). Thus, he set a hierarchy in which Europeans represented the superiority of cognition. He questions “what contribution does pure reason make to our knowledge of the world and to the government of our actions?” (Kant, 2012, p. 10). Notably, Kant's view tends to encourage the existing preconceived thoughts about the race of non-Europeans while also rationalizing European domination and colonization over Asia, Africa, and America. In addition, Kant's scepticism embraces racial prejudices that permeate Enlightenment thought, justifying the superiority of European nations. As a result, the premises and principles put forward to apply to all races are jeopardized. Kant's philosophy of justice tries to find justice criteria acceptable in terms of fairness and to the same extent. Kant proposes the approach of the proper position and the veil of ignorance, where people work out the principles of justice so that they are left with the position they are in society (Follesdal, 2014, p. 317). Even though Kant's theory is among the most brilliant products of egalitarianism, there is a huge controversy around it from the viewpoint of equal rights. The practical approach is a basis for Kant's theory of justice, though it did not explicitly address racial inequalities in the original formulation. Hence, this has led to criticism raising concerns about how the theory disregards institutional racism and fails to solve historical and contemporary injustices faced by racial minorities. While modern political theory should consider Kant's theory when dealing with race oppression, it must also acknowledge its limits. However, critics say that Kant's proposal needs to be adjusted and supple-mounted to cater to those racially distinct minority experiences and challenges (Collins et al., 2021, p. 698). Proponents argue that building on top of principles of recognition and redistribution within the Kavlarian Justice theory helps the idea of racial justice maintain its place in the more widely-held idea of social justice. Part 2: Thomas Jefferson Jefferson's statements about race are also connected with his tanks on fundamental rights and authority, which are critical points of modern political philosophy theory. Accordingly, Jefferson's idea about natural rights, with the leading conceptions of life, liberty, and property, refers to the fact that these rights belong to any individual simply through being a person (Zack, 2016, p. 32). On the contrary, Jefferson, being the product of the social context of his time, affirmed the standard tenets of racial prejudice. Another example is that in the "Notes on the State of Virginia," Jefferson deals with enslaving Africans. He states “but in this country, the slaves multiply as fast as the free inhabitants” which is considered justifiable due to the conquest and labor notions involved (Jefferson, 1829, p. 148). Besides, this vision uncovers that Jefferson faulted his conception of natural rights and equality as he excluded the representatives of some racial groups from the full use and enjoyment of these rights. Consequently, Jefferson's racial theories, strongly influenced by the content of his era, are of immense importance, considering his leading place in American history and his owning slaves. In 1776, American bitterness and eventual Liberty movements saw the progressions of Jefferson's controversial views and contradictions on race (Mansfield, 2017, p. 54). On one hand, while agitating for the ideas of liberty and equality as outlined by the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson himself also enslaved people and believed in racially motivated discrimination. According to the introduction to his Notes on the State of Virginia, Jefferson was convinced that blacks were intellectually less fit than whites and that they were rapid leaders. Notwithstanding, such beliefs guided Jefferson to his political fundamentals. They helped him to imagine his up-and-coming world, where there was some liberty and democracy but inequality and exploitation to a high degree. Then again, Jefferson's clash with himself over the question of how to make the essence and form of liberal democracy fully compatible with the idea of freedom. Also, through his work, Jefferson exposed racial inequalities in the context of liberal democracy to put forward profound and ageless arguments. For a formerly enslaved person, whose enslavement expanded abolitionism and inwardly promoted the enslaver directive, Jefferson directly addressed the apparent hypocrisy of American democracy, which continued to enlarge the principle of freedom and equality while oppressing racial injustice through bondage and segregation (Salenius, 2016, p. 158). The reality of penning an analysis driven by Jefferson's observation as a black man in a society of white supremacy gave his biting critique of the social arrangement of liberal democracy a logical angle. His speeches and articles, for example, the autobiography and editorials, clearly depicted the nation's self-contradiction in its advocacy for self-governance and real weak support of African Americans' rights. Alternatively, instead of accepting the status quo of liberal democracy existing alongside racial inequality and systemic oppression, Jefferson's criticism substantiated the idea that the two could not come together. His experiences, writings, and revelations continue redefining race in the context of mainstream political theory. He defied discriminatory ideas upheld by famous philosophers such as Kant. He was one of the first to come out vocally against the racial hierarchies that aimed to diminish the inviolable dignity of every human being (Salenius, 2016, p. 153). Hence, the issue is that the modes of racial justice of Jefferson were mainly made of demolishing institutionalized racism and writing the minor groups into the political language. Jefferson achieved this goal through his robust discussion of lived experiences and the structural injustices that had become embedded in American society. Ultimately, his work reshaped political theory by highlighting the voices and struggles that affected those suffering the most from racial discrimination. Comparative Insights The majority of Thomas Jefferson's and Immanuel Kant's philosophies include the creation of a racial hierarchy that gave the Europeans the top positions while leaving the non-Europeans at the bottom of the chain, entitled to a lesser status based on someone's ostensibly intellectual or cultural differences. This pyramid-like structure dictated what was fair or unfair and justified racial discrimination within appointed societies. Nevertheless, the intensity and precise degree of racial prejudice in...