The blur of ignorance

In this thesis, I try to paint a meaningful picture of the origin and current state of white supremacy, its epistemic sources and defense mechanisms, and ask where this leaves universal ideals articulated by philosophers like Immanuel Kant and G.W.F. Hegel.In the first chapter, I highlight two important points from Charles W. Mills’ book The Racial Contract (1997), which both suggest that white people have created a world, that we are unable to understand–which makes Mills suggest an epistemology of ignorance. According to Mills, racism hinders a rightful understanding of our latest origin myth, WWII, where the Nazi barbarism in Europe is understood as an unprecedented moral low, with no connection to the European barbarism outside the continent. This historical insight harmonizes with Mills’ philosophical insight of the Enlightenment ideals. Rather than taking the position that racism today suggests that the ideals of freedom and equality have not yet been realized, Mills argues that this is exactly a sign that ideals are truly realized–since they were articulated by philosophers who held racist views, which turned the universals into white ideals. Mills’ book outlines a broad horizon for asking social epistemological questions about the norms that maintain ignorance.The second chapter is a discussion of different views on white ignorance from the relevant research literature. I try to exhibit the strength of this epistemic phenomenon by looking at the contradictions of passive ignorance, non-white white ignorance, and the ideological truth of white freedom, which are all moments in the disguise and reproduction of white supremacy. Finally, I discuss the adequacy of notions, when trying to formulate contemporary philosophical antiracism. I draw on antiracist dialectical thinkers to highlight the importance of a combined understanding of ideals and their negations in the social reality. Furthermore, I make a negative teleological argument that social epistemological antiracism is committed to continuing to critique and develop notions even though it is a mission that will never be accomplished.