Journal article
Reaction to: The Fallacious Rhetorica of Racism - The Challenges of Applying "Reliable Social Science"
Georgetown journal of law & modern critical race perspectives, Vol.5(1)
22 Mar 2013
Abstract
Observing "that logically coherent, unanimous decisions concerning racial classifications are possible when members of the [Supreme] Court have credited the more objective findings of social scientists instead of relying on their own socially embedded views," Patrick B.N. Solomon's The Fallacious Rhetorica of Racism endeavors "to demonstrate the incoherency of arguments both for and against affirmative action efforts in the Court's opinions by analyzing the logical fallacies in the rhetoric employed by individual Justices." Solomon does so by effectively excerpting passages from a number of Supreme Court affirmative action decisions in order to show the extent to which, in each instance, the Justice quoted operates under a set of unstated presuppositions that ultimately inform, if not shape, his or her understanding of the legality of racial preferences. Though Solomon's objection to this form of suppositional decision-making is both clear and, for the most part, well-supported, less clear is the basis for his suggestion that reliance upon social science research can act as a potential cure for the problem he identifies.
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Details
- Title
- Reaction to: The Fallacious Rhetorica of Racism - The Challenges of Applying "Reliable Social Science"
- Creators
- Bret D AsburyXiaoxiang Deng
- Publication Details
- Georgetown journal of law & modern critical race perspectives, Vol.5(1)
- Publisher
- Georgetown University Law Center
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Thomas R. Kline School of Law
- Identifiers
- 991020535057004721