Race and Racism in the Works of David Hume

Abstract

African Americans who must work with historical and philosophical texts face a dilemma. On one hand they wish to make use of the information contained in the texts they study; but they must at the same time be aware that the information is often tainted by views which define as universal things which are not. And when they examine these supposed universals, they discover that the latter’s proponents are Europeans who did not intend for their universals to include non-Europeans. Furthermore, they find that those who are not included in the universals have been consciously excluded and that this exclusion has provided the justification for racial events and theories which set-up the framework for white supremacy in history, politics, and scholarship.