A Companion to African-American Philosophy

by Lott, Tommy L.; Pittman, John P.

• ISBN13: 9781557868398
• ISBN10: 1557868395
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-04-11
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

This wide-ranging, multidisciplinary collection of newly commissioned articles brings together distinguished voices in the field of Africana philosophy and African-American social and political thought. Topics covered include philosophic traditions; the moral and political legacy of slavery; Africa and diaspora thought; gender, race, and racism; legal and social philosophy; and aesthetics and cultural values. The volume provides a comprehensive critical survey of African-American philosophical thought by leading authorities. Addressing key themes, it will serve as a benchmark work of reference for courses in philosophy, social and political thought, legal studies, liberal studies, cultural studies, American studies, and African-American studies.

Author Biography

Tommy L. Lott is Professor of Philosophy at San José State University. He is author of The Invention of Race (Blackwell, 1999), editor of Subjugation and Bondage: Critical Essays on Slavery and Social Philosophy (1998), African-American Philosophy (2001), and co-editor of The Idea of Race (2000), and Philosophers on Race (Blackwell, 2002).

John P. Pittman is Chair of the Department of Art, Music, and Philosophy at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York. He is editor of African-American Perspectives and Philosophical Traditions (1996) and Associate Editor of the journal Philosophia Africana.

Table of Contents

Notes on Contributors	viii
Preface	xiii
Acknowledgments	xv
Part I Philosophic Traditions
Introduction to Part I	3	(4)
Philosophy and the Afro-American Experience	7	(26)
Cornel West
African-American Existential Philosophy	33	(15)
Lewis R. Gordon
African-American Philosophy: A Caribbean Perspective	48	(19)
Paget Henry
Modernisms in Black	67	(20)
Frank M. Kirkland
The Crisis of the Black Intellectual	87	(23)
Hortense J. Spillers
Part II The Moral and Political Legacy of Slavery
Introduction to Part II	107	(3)
Kant and Knowledge of Disappearing Expression	110	(15)
Ronald A. T. Judy
Social Contract Theory. Slavery, and the Antebellum Courts	125	(9)
Anita L. Allen
Thaddeus Pope
The Morality of Reparations II	134	(21)
Bernard R. Boxill
Part III Africa and Diaspora Thought
Introduction to Part III	151	(4)
``Afrocentricity'': Critical Considerations	155	(13)
Lucius T. Outlaw. Jr.
African Retentions	168	(22)
Tommy L. Lott
African Philosophy at the Turn of the Century	190	(15)
Albert G. Mosley
Part IV Gender, Race, and Racism
Introduction to Part IV	199	(6)
Some Group Matters: Intersectionality, Situated Standpoints. and Black Feminist Thought	205	(25)
Patricia Hill Collins
Radicalizing Feminisms from ``The Movement Era''	230	(9)
Joy A. James
Philosophy and Racial Paradigms	239	(16)
Naomi Zack
Racial Classification and Public Policy	255	(14)
David Theo Goldberg
White Supremacy	269	(24)
Charles W. Mills
Part V Legal and Social Philosophy
Introduction to Part V	285	(8)
Self-Respect, Fairness, and Living Morally	293	(13)
Laurence M. Thomas
The Legacy of Plessy v. Ferguson	306	(7)
Michele Moody-Adams
Some Reflections on the Brown Decision and Its Aftermath	313	(11)
Howard Mcgary
Contesting the Ambivalence and Hostility to Affirmative Action within the Black Community	324	(9)
Luke C. Harris
Subsistence Welfare Benefits as Property Interests: Legal Theories and Moral Considerations	333	(16)
Rudolph V. Vanterpool
Racism and Health Care: A Medical Ethics Issue	349	(11)
Annette Dula
Racialized Punishment and Prison Abolition	360	(21)
Angela Y. Davis
Part VI Aesthetic and Cultural Values
Introduction to Part VI	373	(8)
The Harlem Renaissance and Philosophy	381	(5)
Leonard Harris
Critical Theory, Aesthetics, and Black Modernity	386	(13)
Lorenzo C. Simpson
Black Cinema and Aesthetics	399	(8)
Clyde R. Taylor
Thanatic Pornography, Interracial Rape. and the Ku Klux Klan	407	(6)
T. Denean Sharpley-Whiting
Lynching and Burning Rituals in African-American Literature	413	(6)
Trudier Harris-Lopez
Rap as Art and Philosophy	419	(10)
Richard Shusterman
Microphone Commandos: Rap Music and Political Ideology	429	(7)
Bill E. Lawson
Sports, Political Philosophy, and the African American	436	(14)
Gerald Early
Index	450