In this episode of Sacred Tension, I’m joined by philosopher David Livingstone Smith to discuss his work on the history of dehumanization. We explore why “monstering” language is dangerous, how dehumanization leads to violence, and how trans people are currently being dehumanized. In the second half of our conversation, we discuss racism and David’s commitment to race abolitionism. We discuss “racecraft”, and why reifying race as a category reinforces racism.

David Livingstone Smith is a professor of philosophy, former psychotherapist, and award-winning author of Less Than Human (St. Martin's, 2011), On Inhumanity (Oxford, 2020) and Making Monsters (2021). Subscribe to his Substack:

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