Taylor ("Tay") Rogers is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Interdisciplinary Studies, and a multi-media artist at Governors State University in Chicago. She completed her PhD in the Department of Philosophy at Northwestern University with a certificate in Gender Studies in August 2021. Their research is in Latinx feminisms as they intersect with Critical Whiteness Studies and affect theory. They are particularly interested in the mobilization of storytelling (broadly construed) for resisting the numbness at the heart of racialized and gendered oppression, and their newest project focuses on grief in relation to this theme. Supervisors: Jose Medina, Charles Mills, Jennifer Nash, and Rachel Zuckert Phone: 9196193338
Rogers, Taylor (Forthcoming). "Curdled Contracts." In The Philosophy of Charles W. Mills: Race and the Relations of Power, edited by Westmoreland, Mark William. New York: Routledge., 2024
In this chapter, I aim to put Mills' project of reclaiming social contract theory for aims of rac... more In this chapter, I aim to put Mills' project of reclaiming social contract theory for aims of racial liberation into deeper conversation with decolonial feminisms than has been done at present. In Section One, I outline Mills' account of the Domination Contract. I consider a critique raised by Alison Bailey (2007) according to which theorizing racial ignorance within the contract tradition undermines logics of resistance. In Sections Two and Three, I outline María Lugones' account of purity and curdled logics as they relate to categories and concepts within racialized and gendered epistemologies of ignorance, and offer a reading of Mills through this framework. By the end of these sections, I hope to have offered new insights about the way Mills' commitment to social contract theory can be read as successfully resistant. I take a more critical orientation in Section Four, in which I argue that Mills' modified contract theory maintains a problematic commitment to rational abstraction as normative methodology for generating principles of (corrective) justice. I argue that Mills' account, and contract experiments more broadly, require greater attention to the role of embodied experience in the contracting process.
This paper explores the affective dimension of resilient epistemological systems. Specifically, I... more This paper explores the affective dimension of resilient epistemological systems. Specifically, I argue that responsible epistemic practice requires affective engagement with non-dominant experiences. To begin, I outline Kristie Dotson's account of epistemological resilience whereby an epistemological system remains stable despite counter evidence or attempts to alter it. Then, I develop an account of affective numbness. As I argue, affective numbness can promote epistemological resilience in at least two ways. First, it can reinforce harmful stereotypes even after these stereotypes have been rationally demystified. To illustrate, I examine the stereotype of Black criminality as it relates to false confessions (Lackey 2018). Second, it can encourage "epistemic appropriation" (Davis 2018), which I demonstrate by examining the appropriation of 'intersectionality' and #MeToo by white culture. Finally, I conclude that resisting harmful resilience requires affective resistance, or efforts which target numbness via different kinds of affective engagement. I consider Kantian 'dis-interestedness' as a candidate.
Without taking a stand on whether patriotism is a virtue, a vice, or neither, this paper consider... more Without taking a stand on whether patriotism is a virtue, a vice, or neither, this paper considers what patriotism at its conceptual best can be. We narrow the options down to those that are compatible with impartiality, and then consider Stephen Nathanson's moderate patriotism. Taking seriously objections to it raised by Simon Keller, we propose a loftier moderate patriotism. On our version, patriotism is not best construed as a loyalty to one's country but as a love of one's country (and a love for it as one's country); and this love is manifested both in deep attachment to such features as its mountains, rivers, or traditional folk music, and in a concern to promote the moral flourishing of one's country. Salient expressions of our version of moderate patriotism are the shame one feels if one's country does something morally egregious (for example, banning immigration from Syria and several other Muslim-majority countries), and pride in (say) one's country's history of tolerance. We distinguish our loftier moderate patriotism not only from Nathanson's but also from Igor Primoratz's "ethical patriotism." Like ours, the latter steers clear of the problems raised by Keller and more generally, better reflects the values in virtue of which impartiality is a value, but it is hard to find "love of country" in it.
Rogers, Taylor (Forthcoming). "Curdled Contracts." In The Philosophy of Charles W. Mills: Race and the Relations of Power, edited by Westmoreland, Mark William. New York: Routledge., 2024
In this chapter, I aim to put Mills' project of reclaiming social contract theory for aims of rac... more In this chapter, I aim to put Mills' project of reclaiming social contract theory for aims of racial liberation into deeper conversation with decolonial feminisms than has been done at present. In Section One, I outline Mills' account of the Domination Contract. I consider a critique raised by Alison Bailey (2007) according to which theorizing racial ignorance within the contract tradition undermines logics of resistance. In Sections Two and Three, I outline María Lugones' account of purity and curdled logics as they relate to categories and concepts within racialized and gendered epistemologies of ignorance, and offer a reading of Mills through this framework. By the end of these sections, I hope to have offered new insights about the way Mills' commitment to social contract theory can be read as successfully resistant. I take a more critical orientation in Section Four, in which I argue that Mills' modified contract theory maintains a problematic commitment to rational abstraction as normative methodology for generating principles of (corrective) justice. I argue that Mills' account, and contract experiments more broadly, require greater attention to the role of embodied experience in the contracting process.
This paper explores the affective dimension of resilient epistemological systems. Specifically, I... more This paper explores the affective dimension of resilient epistemological systems. Specifically, I argue that responsible epistemic practice requires affective engagement with non-dominant experiences. To begin, I outline Kristie Dotson's account of epistemological resilience whereby an epistemological system remains stable despite counter evidence or attempts to alter it. Then, I develop an account of affective numbness. As I argue, affective numbness can promote epistemological resilience in at least two ways. First, it can reinforce harmful stereotypes even after these stereotypes have been rationally demystified. To illustrate, I examine the stereotype of Black criminality as it relates to false confessions (Lackey 2018). Second, it can encourage "epistemic appropriation" (Davis 2018), which I demonstrate by examining the appropriation of 'intersectionality' and #MeToo by white culture. Finally, I conclude that resisting harmful resilience requires affective resistance, or efforts which target numbness via different kinds of affective engagement. I consider Kantian 'dis-interestedness' as a candidate.
Without taking a stand on whether patriotism is a virtue, a vice, or neither, this paper consider... more Without taking a stand on whether patriotism is a virtue, a vice, or neither, this paper considers what patriotism at its conceptual best can be. We narrow the options down to those that are compatible with impartiality, and then consider Stephen Nathanson's moderate patriotism. Taking seriously objections to it raised by Simon Keller, we propose a loftier moderate patriotism. On our version, patriotism is not best construed as a loyalty to one's country but as a love of one's country (and a love for it as one's country); and this love is manifested both in deep attachment to such features as its mountains, rivers, or traditional folk music, and in a concern to promote the moral flourishing of one's country. Salient expressions of our version of moderate patriotism are the shame one feels if one's country does something morally egregious (for example, banning immigration from Syria and several other Muslim-majority countries), and pride in (say) one's country's history of tolerance. We distinguish our loftier moderate patriotism not only from Nathanson's but also from Igor Primoratz's "ethical patriotism." Like ours, the latter steers clear of the problems raised by Keller and more generally, better reflects the values in virtue of which impartiality is a value, but it is hard to find "love of country" in it.
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