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American Reconstruction and the Abolition of Second Slavery: On Pascoe’s Intersectional Critique of Kant’s Theory of Labour

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 May 2024

Elvira Basevich
Elvira Basevich*
Affiliation:
University of California, Davis, CA, USA
*
Email: ebasevich@ucdavis.edu
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Abstract

To highlight the promise of Jordan Pascoe’s Kant’s Theory of Labour, my comments concern the diagnostic and prescriptive dimensions of the book’s excellent intersectional critique of dependent labour relations. The diagnostic dimension of Pascoe’s critique establishes that the organisation of dependent labour relations is a neglected problem of Kantian justice. The prescriptive dimension offers solutions to this problem but is underdeveloped. To enhance the book’s prescriptive dimension, I draw on the noted Africana philosopher W. E. B. Du Bois for guidance. For Du Bois, a constitutional republic ought to strive for the abolition of a ‘second’ slavery following the abolition of de jure black chattel slavery with the end of the American Civil War. Given Du Bois’ call for meaningful Emancipation, I argue that philosophers should reinterpret the Kantian normative ideal of freedom as universal independence to uproot the postbellum conditions of second slavery.

Keywords

racelabourclasscare work
Type
Author Meets Critic
Information
Kantian Review , First View , pp. 1 - 9
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Kantian Review

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