Latinos in America: Philosophy and Social Identity (review)

When I received my copy of Latinos in America: Philosophy and Social Identity I hesitated, thinking that I was perhaps not qualified to adequately review it. However, having read the work, I have to congratulate Professor Gracia for writing a book on Latino philosophy accessible to non-philosophers. Only rarely does he get bogged down in philosophical jargon.

The primary purpose of Latinos in America is to change the way Americans view and think about Latinos specifically, and ethnic groups in general. Gracia does this by dividing the book into three sections: 1) Latino/a identities; 2) Latinos/as in society; and 3) Latino/a philosophy. He settled on the awkward "Latinos/as" usage, but not without first discussing the relative merits of the terms "Latino" and "Hispanic." The reasons he gives for not using "Hispanic" are that it also includes Iberians, which draws attention away from US colonialism; by including Iberians it denies the common Latin American experience; and it is not an ethnic name. Rather, it was made up by the Census Bureau in the 1970s in order to better count the US Latino population. Latino, he argues, connotes a regional and historical identity that excludes Iberia. Most importantly, however, he argues that the term "Latino" connotes marginality not only in philosophy, which is his focus, but also politically, culturally, and economically. He concludes by saying that there is room for both "Hispanic" and "Latino" depending on the context, but he chose Latino for his title because of its political advantages.

After settling on the term Latino, the sources of misunderstanding concerning Latino identity and the problems associated with this misunderstanding are examined. In part one he addresses Latino identities, individuation, and "labels" by discussing the three standard theories of proper names—Referential, Descriptive, and Causal. He concludes that the term "Latino" is a proper name and an ethnic name that identifies and homogenizes a particular group such as Latino, but also José and Maria. In this sense Latino is like Cuban or Puerto Rican, but he concludes that by homogenizing different proper names, it obscures differences between Latino groups and contributes to the misunderstanding many North Americans have concerning Latinos. He addresses this problem in part two: Latinos/as in society.

This second part is primarily concerned with the position of Latino thought in the profession of philosophy and whether or not something called "Latino" philosophy can be identified. He concludes that Latino philosophy is as hard to pin down as is the term "Latino" itself. He is not so unsure about the condition of Latinos in US philosophy departments, which is bleak. He attributes several sociological factors endemic to the philosophical community that restrict Latinos' ability to become philosophers that include the division of ideological camps, the struggle for security and success in the shrinking pie that is academic philosophy departments, and the weakness of the American Philosophical Association. He then discusses affirmative action as a potential solution to the problem. With Latinos now the largest minority group in the US and with a rapidly growing population, why has there not been an increase in Latino philosophers? He concludes by arguing that often new hires are counted as Latino, when they are not. Is affirmative action the answer? The answer is yes if it used properly, but no if it continues to be abused. He then discusses linguistic rights and the five principle positions possible: English-only, Spanish-only, English-first, Spanish-first, and English-Spanish equal. Gracia presents, and then critiques, the following argument:

P1        The best education for a child is the education that is best for the child.

P2        The education that is best for a child in the U.S. is one in which English is given priority.

C1        Therefore, the best education for a child in the US is one in which English is given priority.

P3        To give priority to English is to make English the language of instruction...