Judd Legum on Critical Race Theory →

In the Twitter thread the title of this post links to, Judd Legum makes Critical Race Theory sound a lot better than the Wikipedia article “Critical race theory” does. In particular, the current version of the Wikipedia article “Critical race theory” has this on academic criticism of Critical Race Theory:

Law professors Daniel A. Farber and Suzanna Sherry argue that critical race theory lacks supporting evidence, relies on an implausible belief that reality is socially constructed, rejects evidence in favor of storytelling, rejects truth and merit as expressions of political dominance, and rejects the rule of law.[19] Farber and Sherry additionally posit that the anti-meritocratic tenets in critical race theory, critical feminism, and critical legal studies may unintentionally lead to antisemitic and anti-Asian implications.[61][62] In particular, they suggest that the success of Jews and Asians within what critical race theorists argue is a structurally unfair system may lend itself to allegations of cheating, advantage-taking, or other such claims. A series of responses to Farber and Sherry on this matter was published in the Harvard Law Review.[63] These responses argue that there is a difference between criticizing an unfair system and criticizing individuals who perform well inside that system.[19][63]

In a 1997 Boston College Law Review article, Jeffrey Pyle argued that critical race theory undermined confidence in the rule of law, writing that "critical race theorists attack the very foundations of the liberal legal order, including equality theory, legal reasoning, Enlightenment rationalism and neutral principles of constitutional law".[64]

Judge Richard Posner of the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals argued in 1997 that critical race theory "turns its back on the Western tradition of rational inquiry, forswearing analysis for narrative", and that "by repudiating reasoned argumentation, [critical race theorists] reinforce stereotypes about the intellectual capacities of nonwhites."[20] Former Judge Alex Kozinski, who served on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, criticized critical race theorists in 1997 for raising "insuperable barriers to mutual understanding" and thus eliminating opportunities for "meaningful dialogue".[65]

In his June 21, 2021 Wall Street Journal op-ed “Critical Race Theory Is the Opposite of Education” echoes some of these academic criticisms, contrasting the intellectual attitudes in Critical Race Theory to his open-minded Marxist tutor at Oxford. He writes:

Critical race theory—and its various postmodern cousins—is not some interesting interpretation of social and political history that we are free to examine, embrace or discard. Its proponents do not seek to frame a critique of modern America to be tested alongside alternatives.

They insist that a traditionally liberal approach to evaluating the merits of competing ideas is itself an outgrowth of an illegitimate system of oppression. Rejection of their critique is the product of false consciousness, since critical thought is itself invalid, the product of white male hegemony.

There certainly can be a version of Critical Race Theory that is exactly what we need: an “interpretation of social and political history that we are free to examine, embrace or discard. … tested alongside alternatives.” Some proponents of Critical Race Theory will be doing exactly this, while other proponents of Critical Race Theory will indeed be going too far by rejecting rational inquiry and rational judgment of evidence. In any case, those of us who are judging Critical Race Theory should be extracting the rational arguments from Critical Race Theory and paying close attention to those. Judd Legum points to some of those rational arguments.