Progressive Anonymity

Naomi Zack is professor of philosophy at Lehman College, CUNY, and was awarded the 2021 John Dewey lectureship by the Pacific Division of the American Philosophical Association. She is author of ten books, including Applicative Justice: A Pragmatic Empirical Approach to Racial Injustice (2016); White Privilege and Black Rights: The Injustice of U.S. Police Racial Profiling and Homicide (2015); The Ethics and Mores of Race: Equality after the History of Philosophy (2011); and Ethics for Disaster (2009). She has also written ten textbooks and edited anthologies and lectured widely in the United States and abroad. Zack is coeditor for the Rowman & Littlefield book series Explorations in Contemporary Social-Political Philosophy.

• Introduction and Chapter Overview1. Political Diagnoses Post World War II and the Need for Identity Politics2. From Society to Government: Problems with Identity Politics3. Universalism or Force: Inclusion or Domination4. White Supremacy, white supremacy, and Status: The Racism of Race5. Evidence-based Government6. Problems with EvidenceConclusionPostscript

Zack offers persuasive arguments and powerful critiques against our delusions of progress and argues that government policy founded on progressive anonymity is the best way to ensure equality and fairness across all strata of society. Whether the reader agrees or disagrees with Zack’s diagnoses, it is difficult to not find delight in Zack’s provocation that the task before the progressive philosopher resides in more than simply rationalizing the political posture offered by our current time.