Lucius Outlaw

Lucius Outlaw is an American philosopher who taught at Haverford College and later at Vanderbilt University, and is a leading figure in the development of Africana philosophy as an academic field. In the philosophy of race he is known for a 'conservationist' position, developed in dialogue with W. E. B. Du Bois: races are social-historical and partly biological groupings that may be worth preserving, so long as the concept is detached from hierarchy and racism.

Key ideas

• Africana philosophy names a field gathering the philosophical work of African peoples and the African diaspora.
• Race should not simply be eliminated as a concept; racial groups can be conserved as meaningful communities of shared history and culture.
• The task is to detach the idea of race from the ranking and domination with which it was historically bound up.
• Critical social theory must serve the concrete interests and self-understanding of Black communities.

Major works

• On Race and Philosophy (1996)
• Critical Social Theory in the Interests of Black Folks (2005)

In the conversation

• Debate Appiah is right: racial terms are empty, like ‘phlogiston’, and we should stop talking as if they named kinds Kwame Asante · 7 replies