I was just reading OPAR (Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand) the other day and I came across a part about how we (human beings) form concepts by integrating and disintegrating properties of an object to create the concept. This made me think about how some people can become racist by forming invalid concepts about the races.
Basically, we notice the differences and similarities between objects to form unique concepts in our minds. For example, as a child you take all these different shapes and colors and start to notice similarities. Such as the fact that a ball looks different than a table. That's when you first start to notice these objects as separate entities apart from each other. Then you start to notice the similarities between two or more different objects. Such as how all tables have legs that support them, and a large flat surface on the top. This allows you to form the concept of "table". Because of this, we don't have to remember each instance of a table we've ever seen and can automatically know that an object is a table by observing the properties of a table in an object.
Now there are multiple levels of concepts. If we continue with our "table" concept you can see what I am talking about. There is a wider level concept that a table fits into, "furniture". Then below just "table" we have narrower concepts such as "coffee table", "picnic table", etc. I'll assume you all know the definition of these terms. In order for a table to be a table it still has to meet the definition of the wider level concept of "furniture".
Now this process is not flawless. We have to observe all the facts correctly and not ignore any wider level concepts that your object may fit into. If you ignore facts, or ignore the wider level concepts, you can end up with heinous contradictions.
So how this relates to racism? This method of concept integration allows us to form concepts for people of different races, including the derogatory terms we call them. So by observing the behavior of multiple people of a certain race you can forms concepts about these people. Say you notice a lot of people that are criminals, or are lazy, or dress sloppily all belong to the same race. Some people will use these behaviors in their definition of that race.
The big problem here is that anyone that is racist is ignoring the higher level concept of "man" and the properties that define man. One of the essential characteristics of man is that he has a volitional consciousness (free will). Each individual man has his own mind and can choose his own ideas and his own behavior. This implies that man isn't pre-determined to coincide with his racial stereotypes. He can choose not to commit crimes, not to be lazy, or to dress neatly.
The problem is not in the way that concept integration works, but in the fact that some men choose to ignore the wider levels concepts. In order to form any concept correctly you have to observe all the facts about the object, including its conceptual hierarchy.
