Armin Mašala
University of Zurich
Racial profiling, i.e., law enforcement based on the statistical likelihood of members of a race committing certain crimes, has been a contested issue in philosophy. At first glance, it seems that if the relevant statistics hold, it is a rational and efficient law enforcement practice. However, a plethora of objections have been raised: racial profiling is unjust, it is inegalitarian, and it stands on methodologically shaky grounds. Yet, de facto racial profiling remains widely practiced. Given this situation, what is the conscientious police officer to do? A natural suggestion, which has also recently been argued for by Lewis Ross, is to suspend judgement.
Suspension of judgement has received renewed attention in epistemology and the philosophy of mind in recent years. Traditionally, suspension of judgement is thought of in terms of a tripartite distinction, standing in equality next to belief and disbelief. Therefore, suspension of judgement, a belief-like attitude, ought to be adopted voluntarily for practical reasons, i.e., the moral objectionability of racial profiling. There seems to be something philosophically disturbing about this suggestion, for if we cannot adopt beliefs at will, especially not for practical reasons, how can we make sense of this suggestion?
Departing from that uneasy feeling, this paper attempts to make sense of this suggestion. After clarifying the concept of racial profiling and arguing for its moral objectionability, an agential conception of suspension of judgement is put forward. Interpreting “suspension of judgement” as a mental act, as something we do, and not a mental attitude, something we are in, allows us to make sense of the idea. A comprehensive account of suspension of judgement as an effort to prevent oneself from forming and expressing certain judgements is then put forward. Finally, it is argued that this conception makes sense of the conscientious police officer’s suspension as a successful means to refraining from racial profiling.
Chair: Dominik Boll
Time: September 11th, 15:30 – 16:00
Location: SR 1.007
SOPhiA 2026 