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Howard McGary and Bernard Boxill, professors of philosophy at Rutgers University and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, respectively, will speak on “Race and Reparation: Do White People Owe African-Americans Reparations for Slavery?” Thursday, Feb. 28, in Kirby Hall of Civil Rights auditorium.
Free and open to the public, the lecture is part of Lafayette’s celebration of Black History Month and is sponsored by the Ethics Project.
McGary earned his bachelor’s degree from California State University at Los Angeles and his Ph.D. from University of Minnesota. His academic work focuses on African American philosophy as well as social and political philosophy. He is the co-author of Between Slavery and Freedom: Philosophy and American Slavery (Indiana University Press, 1992) and is finishing Race and Social Justice (Basil Blackwell, forthcoming). He has also published several articles and book chapters.
Last fall, McGary gave the 14th Annual Warren Steinkraus Lecture on Human Ideals at Oswego State University of New York, and has also been appointed the Ralph Metcalfe Chair in Liberal Studies at Marquette University for fall 2002. His talk will include a critique of liberal theories of distributive justice and an examination of the alleged connection between racial identification and moral and political theories.
Boxill also is a scholar of social and political philosophy and African American philosophy. He has devoted his professional life to philosophical analysis of policies related to race and racism. Boxill is the author of Blacks and Social Justice (Rowman and Littlefield, 1984) and is finishing Boundaries and Justice, on International Ethics and Distributive Justice. He also edited Race and Racism and has published many articles in his field.
Lafayette’s Ethics Project promotes sound moral analysis and reasoning and their application to a full range of contemporary problems. It involves faculty throughout Lafayette. The program has sponsored talks, seminars, and other activities for more than a decade. Funding is provided by an endowment established by the late Louise M. Olmsted and her husband, Robert Olmsted.