Race, Reasons, and Acting on the Basis of Race (As a Reason)

In this article, I set forth an inquiry into discrimination on the basis of race via two broad questions: What is a consideration of race a consideration of? And what is it for action to be on the basis of that consideration? Beginning with the matter of what constitutes race-based action brings out two conceptual hinges in analyses of racial discrimination, one in race and one in reason, that comprise what I call the race as a reason framework. Not only are there different notions of practical reason that may be implicated in the stricture not to act on the basis of race (as a reason), there are also different conceptions of race that are relevant to these different notions of reasons for acting. Drawing out these two sites of ambiguity generates an illuminating taxonomy of acting on the basis of race that has significant theoretical and normative upshots for discrimination theory.