Cogprints

Equality and the Mantra of Diversity

Thomas, Laurence (2003) Equality and the Mantra of Diversity. [Preprint]

This is the latest version of this eprint.

Full text available as:

[img] PDF
472Kb

Abstract

This essay is part of a symposium on affirmative action that took place at the University of Cincinnati with the distinguished legal scholar Ronald Dworkin. I argue against affirmative action. And I discuss at length the votes of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and the dissent of Justice Clarence Thomas. I develop the idea of idiosyncratic excellence; and I argue that diversity is a weakness insofar as it (a) an excuse for social myopia and (b)an impediment to individuals seeing beyond their differences and affirming the excellences that they witness. The expected publication date, Univ of Cinn Law Review, is March 2004.

Item Type:Preprint
Keywords:diversity, inferiority, idiosyncratic excellence, stigma
Subjects:Philosophy > Ethics
ID Code:3376
Deposited By: Thomas, Professor Laurence
Deposited On:11 Jan 2004
Last Modified:11 Mar 2011 08:55

Available Versions of this Item

References in Article

Select the SEEK icon to attempt to find the referenced article. If it does not appear to be in cogprints you will be forwarded to the paracite service. Poorly formated references will probably not work.

Lawrence Blum, I'm Not a Racist, But . . .: The Moral Quandry of Race (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2002)

Ronald Dworkin, "The Court and the University," The New York Review of Books (15 May 2003)

Ronald Dworkin, "Is Affirmative Action Doomed?," New York Review of Books (5 November 1998)

Thomas Nagel, "Equal Treatment and Compensatory Discrimination," Philosophy and Public Affairs 2 (1973)

Laurence Thomas, "Forgiving the Unforgivable," in Eve Garrard and Geoffrey Scarre (eds.) Moral Philosophy and the Holocaust (England: Ashgate Press, 2003)

Metadata

Repository Staff Only: item control page

Cogprints is powered by EPrints 3 which is developed by the School of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton. More information and software credits.