ABSTRACT
The paradox of recommending prejudices arises from the presumption that, in order to recommend a prejudice, one has to check it which transforms it into a judgement proper and thus ends its existence as a prejudice. The paradox that a prejudice ceases to be a prejudice as soon as it is recommended can be avoided in the case of general recommendations of prejudice. A position that is logically opposed to external justifications of particular prejudices is external criticism of prejudices in general. Such a negative assessment of prejudices in terms of utility has been presented by du Marsais, as well as by Kant. As Hume, Chesterfield and Edmund Burke recognized, the claim that all prejudices are reasonable is unacceptable. Therefore some selection among prejudices seems necessary, and it is hard to see how that could be achieved without becoming more specific.
