Another mind-body problem : a history of racial non-being /

Harfouch (Univ. of Alabama, Huntsville) has written an important book on the intersection of race and the Western construction of the mind-body problem. Looking to statements by individuals such as Malcolm X, Sojourner Truth, and Eric Voegelin, Harfouch examines the positions of "non-being" and "nothingness" involved in race. He considers the embeddedness of human nothingness beginning with Kant's establishment of different races based on intellectual reproduction, and he critiques the racial construction of the mind-body problem and the continued teaching of this construction. In the third and final chapter, he exposes the continued use of this racial nothingness in current developments of race. This book is a significant resource for theorists dealing with race and decolonization issues, but it is more significant for the critique of philosophy itself and the continued teaching of mind-body issues. Readers will need some knowledge of philosophy, but the volume is in general accessible. It should be required reading for scholars of philosophy. Harfouch establishes a logically strong argument and makes a unique contribution to the field. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.--Lavonna Lea Lovern, Valdosta State University