A Deficient Mean: Moral Theorizing at the Level of Discrimination

This thesis argues that we should not morally theorize at the level of discrimination. A plausible candidate for why discrimination is wrong will be broad enough to explain why acts are wrong generally, and therefore require engagement with broader debates. If not, it is unlikely to do justice to the breadth and complexity of discrimination, offering partial explanations at best for why discrimination is wrong. Inverting the familiar idea of a golden mean, I argue that theorizing at the level of discrimination occupies a deficient mean. Hence, we ought to theorize more broadly and/or more narrowly.