PHIL365D

Colonialism, the genocide of native and Indigenous peoples, and the enslavement of Africans and African Americans, are foundational wrongs in the United States. It is essential to ask whether the United States-as a society, as a government, or as individuals-must pay reparations to Black and brown people and to Indigenous people for these wrongs. This course examines what it means to make reparations, whether and under what circumstances humans in the present can repair wrongs done by others, and done in the past. The course considers the difference between paying reparations for past wrongs and ending ongoing injustices. Finally, the course asks what the goal of reparations is, whether it is morally required to pay them, and morally justified to demand them. Prerequisite(s): two courses in philosophy.