Abstract
This research note is meant to introduce into philosophical discussion
the preliminary results of an empirical study on the state of blacks
in philosophy, which is a joint effort of the American Philosophical
Association’s Committee on the Status of Black Philosophers (APA
CSBP) and the Society of Young Black Philosophers (SYBP). The
study is intended to settle factual issues in furtherance of contributing
to dialogues surrounding at least two philosophical questions:
What, if anything, is the philosophical value of demographic
diversity in professional philosophy? And what is philosophy? The
empirical goals of the study are (1) to identify and enumerate U.S.
blacks in philosophy, (2) to determine the distribution of blacks in
philosophy across career stages, (3) to determine correlates to the
success of blacks in philosophy at different career stages, and (4) to
compare and contrast results internally and externally to explain any
career stage gaps and determine any other disparities.