'Black Conservatism': The Philosophy of Thomas Sowell

Jack Kerwick

E-LOGOS, 2011, vol. 2011, issue 1, 24 pages

Abstract: In this paper I explore the concept of "black conservatism" by focusing specifically upon the writings-including his analyzes of racially oriented issues-of the contemporary economist Thomas Sowell. I argue that while there is no such thing as "black conservatism" in the sense of a political philosophical orientation supposedly distinguishable from other types of conservatism, Sowell is the paradigmatic instance of a black thinker whose thought is located solidly within the intellectual tradition of classical conservatism. To this end, I show that the conceptions of human rationality, morality, and the state underlying Sowell's thought converge with those held by such notable representatives of the conservative tradition as Edmund Burke and Michael Oakeshott, with particularly close attention paid to accentuating similarities between Sowell and the latter. It is from the interstices of this conservative intellectual tradition that I abstract Sowell's philosophy of race.

Keywords: Conservatism; race; Sowell's philosophy of race; rationalism; Burke; Oakeshott (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
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DOI: 10.18267/j.e-logos.297

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