b. 1944
Naomi Zack (born 1944) is an American analytic philosopher whose work centers on philosophy of race, mixed race identity, and feminist philosophy. She has been a leading voice in arguing that the biological concept of race lacks scientific foundation while its social construction remains powerfully real. Her scholarship spans epistemology of race, emergency ethics, and the philosophy of gender.
Pioneered philosophical analysis of mixed-race identity in Race and Mixed Race (1993)
Argued for the non-existence of biological race while affirming its social construction
Developed feminist epistemology critiquing gendered standpoint limitations in moral knowledge
Contributed to emergency ethics and disaster justice as a distinct philosophical domain
Extended social constructionism to identity categories including gender and race