La retorica della razza

The notion of race, despite its scientific aura, is a political concept that works on some (more or less arbitrary) assumptions. The paper focuses on some basic aspects of such an inner logic of the notion of ‘race’ from the point of view of political theory: pluralism, potential hierarchy, tension with a necessary (but inconsistent) claim of objectivity. The discourse on race can interact with the value of equality in more than one way. Liberal thought should be aware that issues of colourblindness could be but the other side of the racist coin.