J Adeshei Carter | Howard University (original) (raw)
Papers by J Adeshei Carter
Philosophizing the Americas, 2024
The first three sections of this chapter are critical presentations of three different theories o... more The first three sections of this chapter are critical presentations of three different theories of race, and the last considers the value of an Inter-American philosophy of race. The racial perspectives of three American thinkers, José Vasconcelos, Alain Locke, and José Martí as each relates to their cosmopolitan visions are considered. The chapter argues that Martí’s position poses serious challenges to the racialism of Vasconcelos and Locke. Against Vasconcelos, Martí argues that the supposed superiority of the “Cosmic Race” is false, that the notion of racial amalgamation itself reifies racial difference, and that all forms of racialism obstruct the success of an independent nation. Possible responses to these arguments by Vasconcelos are considered, the chapter concludes that although their various positions are not at odds in ways that the two philosophers may have envisioned, a number of Martí’s challenges are unanswerable by Vasconcelos. Against Locke, Martí argues that racialism aimed at social uplift for an oppressed group perpetuates racism, and that racial identification impedes individuals’ abilities to form more meaningful associations. It is argued that Locke’s and Martí’s positions are more complementary than either may have thought. Locke’s racialism does not commit him to the continued existence of races and something like Locke’s reconstructionist view of race would likely be required by Martí’s position in the interim as one works towards elimination. The chapter ends by arguing that an inter-American philosophy of race has theoretical, practical and historical advantages.
Philosophizing the Americas exists as a prolegomenon to Inter-American philosophy. Scholars accep... more Philosophizing the Americas exists as a prolegomenon to Inter-American philosophy. Scholars accepted the challenge to step beyond their disciplinarity and embrace the task of doing philosophy in an unfamiliar way. The results break new ground. This text invites scholars to expand their idea of what it means to do (Inter-) American philosophy. The chapters of this book are a foundation for a distinctly Inter-American philosophical discourse and field of study. Many chapters shed new light on well-studied figures, as well as on race and patriarchy. Others offer insights into unfamiliar thought traditions that are influential in the Caribbean or Latin America. Several essays contain thoughtful considerations of better-and lesser-known figures. Still others pose deep questions about what distinguishes Inter-American philosophy and whether to defend or criticize those features.
The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural, political, philosophical, and philanthropic burgeoning tha... more The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural, political, philosophical, and philanthropic burgeoning that happened primarily between 1915 and 1940. Participants worldwide promoted and produced visual, theatrical, literary, and musical art that sought to (re) define and (re)imagine people racialized as Black. The New Negro movement refers to the cultural, aesthetic, and civil rights efforts that continued from earlier movements and through the subsequent civil rights movement of the 1950s-1960s. Many writers, musicians, actors, and visual artists alike challenged racism through their art. The Great Migration out of the rural South, the experiences during World War I of African American soldiers abroad of different racial ideologies, increased federal funding of the arts inclusive of African American artists, and a putatively less rigid system of racial segregation and greater economic opportunity in the North all contributed to the cultural rebirth of a "New Negro" type and character. Although the renaissance expanded across and included all types of art, in the 1920s and 1930s, there was an extraordinary deluge of publications by African Americans. Artists identified, described, and renamed themselves, each other, and many of their imagined characters as "New Negroes, " a distinction from America's "Old Negro" that had come to represent America's Frankenstein, a boogieman, everything monstrous, and inferior when compared to "white" refinement and Victorian morals. African American artists are compelled to do their work within a cultural context that not only devalues them as artists, but devalues them as human beings. This circumstance alone gives rise to myriad ethical questions and normative and aesthetic debates among African American artists. Some problems germane to the New Negro movement
Routledge eBooks, Sep 5, 2022
Alain Locke is known as a preeminent African American philosopher. Locke is perhaps best known fo... more Alain Locke is known as a preeminent African American philosopher. Locke is perhaps best known for his work in value theory, aesthetics, cosmopolitanism, democracy, and cultural pluralism. While it is known that he did work on the philosophy of race, and his conception of ethnic or social race has received some attention in the literature, he is not prominently featured in contemporary philosophical discussions of race. This is likely due in part to the fact that few of his published philosophical works are concerned exclusively with race, though issues of race frequently receive some attention, or are present just beneath the surface of his work. Perhaps an even better reason is that his most extensive contribution to the philosophy of race was a series of lectures he delivered in 1915 and 1916, but which were not published until 1992. In the intervening decades, race theory developed largely in ignorance of Locke's contribution to the field. As a consequence, many of his insights and arguments have not had the impact on the development of the philosophy of race as they might have had otherwise. This is perhaps an historical accident in need of correction.
Transactions of the Charles S. Pierce Society, 2014
Phillip Kitcher, author of Preludes to Pragmatism, argues in chapter six, "Does 'Race' Have a Fut... more Phillip Kitcher, author of Preludes to Pragmatism, argues in chapter six, "Does 'Race' Have a Future" that developments in evolutionary biology may support a separation of our species into subcategories that could be regarded as races. This article begins with a presentation of Kitcher's account of race as biologically real, and socially constructed. From there it moves on to a consideration of racial eliminativism. An important aspect of the view Kitcher argues for is the claim that pragmatism may be incompatible with racial eliminativism. The article ends with a critical evaluation of Kitcher's proposed biological conception of race. It is argued that pragmatist considerations notwithstanding there are reasons to doubt that divisions of humanity into subspecies constitute races, or that such divisions will track the historical and cultural divisions people find salient.
Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society, 2013
Abstract: Insurrectionist ethics is a philosophy aimed at radical social transformation and human... more Abstract: Insurrectionist ethics is a philosophy aimed at radical social transformation and human liberation. This article begins with a presentation of the insurrectionist challenge to pragmatism, and considers which conceptual or motivational resources pragmatism would need to possess in order to meet that challenge. I make no judgment as to the ability of pragmatist philosophers to meet the challenge. I then consider Maria W. Stewart as a paradigmatic insurrectionist and Black feminist thinker. I examine Stewart’s life and thought as a unique and dynamic combination that results in a feminist insurrectionist ethics.
Contemporary Pragmatism, 2012
This paper begins with a presentation of some important aspects of the science behind global warm... more This paper begins with a presentation of some important aspects of the science behind global warming. Following that, I argue that attempts to address global warming and climate change as problems facing humanity ought not to center around economic understandings of the problem or it solutions. Moreover, I argue that (environmental) pragmatism is especially vulnerable to this sort of misappropriation in seeking solutions to climate change, and that environmental pragmatists ought to make a conscious effort to avoid potential mischaracterizations of pragmatism by providing a clearer sense of the boundaries that delimit its approach to climate change, or any other environmental crisis.
Philosophy in the Contemporary World, Dec 2013
ABSTRACT: This article begins with a consideration of the standard argument for the moral equalit... more ABSTRACT: This article begins with a consideration of the standard argument for the moral equality of soldiers; namely, that soldiers are morally equal because they pose similar dangers to one another. Next, arguments for the equal application of the rules of war to both sides are considered and ultimately rejected. In the end, it is argued that if the justice of the cause for war is attributable to the warriors on either side, then modifying or unequally applying the rules of war is in some cases the morally appropriate thing to do.
Philosophy in the Contemporary World, 2009
ABSTRACT: This paper first considers the increasingly common suggestion that a new form of warfa... more ABSTRACT: This paper first considers the increasingly common suggestion that a new form of warfare has emerged. It seeks first to provide some clarity concerning the notion of new wars. In particular I offer a view as to what is new about certain kinds of warfare given that they bear many similarities to older forms of war. Following that, I respond to an argument for the claim that non-state actors that seek to achieve military parity with conventional nation-states must violate the just war principles of discrimination and necessity and that just war theory is thereby unable to give a plausible account of new wars. I, first, reject the claim that the violation of these two principles is in fact necessary, and second, argue that we can make reasonable normative judgments about new wars in terms of just war theory. From there, I consider the possibility that military parity can be achieved in a way that does not violate these principles and argue that it is permissible for relatively weak non-state actors to fight with fewer restrictions than conventional states.
Books by J Adeshei Carter
In Philosophic Values and World Citizenship: Locke to Obama and Beyond, Alain Locke—the central p... more In Philosophic Values and World Citizenship: Locke to Obama and Beyond, Alain Locke—the central promoter of the Harlem Renaissance, America's most famous African American pragmatist, the cultural referent for Renaissance movements in the Caribbean and Africa—is placed in conversation with leading philosophers and cultural figures in the modern world. The contributors to this collection compare and contrast Locke's views on values, tolerance, cosmopolitanism, and American and world citizenship with philosophers and leading cultural figures ranging from Aristotle, Immanuel Kant, James Farmer, William James, John Dewey, José Vasconcelos, Hans G. Gadamer, Fredrick Nietzsche, Horace Kallen, Leroi Jones (Amiri Baraka) to the cultural and political figure of Barack Obama.
This important collection of essays eruditely presents Locke's views on moral, emotional, and aesthetic values; the principle of tolerance in managing value conflict; and his rhetorical style, which conveyed his views of cultural reciprocity and tolerance in the service of the values of citizenship and cosmopolitanism.
For teachers and students of contemporary debates in pragmatism, diversity, and value theory, these conversations define new and controversial terrain.
Book Chapters by J Adeshei Carter
The Routledge Companion to the Philosophy of Race, 2017
Lexington Books, Sep 30, 2010
Encyclopedia Entries by J Adeshei Carter
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Mar 2012
Drafts by J Adeshei Carter
Book and Series Proposals by J Adeshei Carter
Philosophizing the Americas, 2024
The first three sections of this chapter are critical presentations of three different theories o... more The first three sections of this chapter are critical presentations of three different theories of race, and the last considers the value of an Inter-American philosophy of race. The racial perspectives of three American thinkers, José Vasconcelos, Alain Locke, and José Martí as each relates to their cosmopolitan visions are considered. The chapter argues that Martí’s position poses serious challenges to the racialism of Vasconcelos and Locke. Against Vasconcelos, Martí argues that the supposed superiority of the “Cosmic Race” is false, that the notion of racial amalgamation itself reifies racial difference, and that all forms of racialism obstruct the success of an independent nation. Possible responses to these arguments by Vasconcelos are considered, the chapter concludes that although their various positions are not at odds in ways that the two philosophers may have envisioned, a number of Martí’s challenges are unanswerable by Vasconcelos. Against Locke, Martí argues that racialism aimed at social uplift for an oppressed group perpetuates racism, and that racial identification impedes individuals’ abilities to form more meaningful associations. It is argued that Locke’s and Martí’s positions are more complementary than either may have thought. Locke’s racialism does not commit him to the continued existence of races and something like Locke’s reconstructionist view of race would likely be required by Martí’s position in the interim as one works towards elimination. The chapter ends by arguing that an inter-American philosophy of race has theoretical, practical and historical advantages.
Philosophizing the Americas exists as a prolegomenon to Inter-American philosophy. Scholars accep... more Philosophizing the Americas exists as a prolegomenon to Inter-American philosophy. Scholars accepted the challenge to step beyond their disciplinarity and embrace the task of doing philosophy in an unfamiliar way. The results break new ground. This text invites scholars to expand their idea of what it means to do (Inter-) American philosophy. The chapters of this book are a foundation for a distinctly Inter-American philosophical discourse and field of study. Many chapters shed new light on well-studied figures, as well as on race and patriarchy. Others offer insights into unfamiliar thought traditions that are influential in the Caribbean or Latin America. Several essays contain thoughtful considerations of better-and lesser-known figures. Still others pose deep questions about what distinguishes Inter-American philosophy and whether to defend or criticize those features.
The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural, political, philosophical, and philanthropic burgeoning tha... more The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural, political, philosophical, and philanthropic burgeoning that happened primarily between 1915 and 1940. Participants worldwide promoted and produced visual, theatrical, literary, and musical art that sought to (re) define and (re)imagine people racialized as Black. The New Negro movement refers to the cultural, aesthetic, and civil rights efforts that continued from earlier movements and through the subsequent civil rights movement of the 1950s-1960s. Many writers, musicians, actors, and visual artists alike challenged racism through their art. The Great Migration out of the rural South, the experiences during World War I of African American soldiers abroad of different racial ideologies, increased federal funding of the arts inclusive of African American artists, and a putatively less rigid system of racial segregation and greater economic opportunity in the North all contributed to the cultural rebirth of a "New Negro" type and character. Although the renaissance expanded across and included all types of art, in the 1920s and 1930s, there was an extraordinary deluge of publications by African Americans. Artists identified, described, and renamed themselves, each other, and many of their imagined characters as "New Negroes, " a distinction from America's "Old Negro" that had come to represent America's Frankenstein, a boogieman, everything monstrous, and inferior when compared to "white" refinement and Victorian morals. African American artists are compelled to do their work within a cultural context that not only devalues them as artists, but devalues them as human beings. This circumstance alone gives rise to myriad ethical questions and normative and aesthetic debates among African American artists. Some problems germane to the New Negro movement
Routledge eBooks, Sep 5, 2022
Alain Locke is known as a preeminent African American philosopher. Locke is perhaps best known fo... more Alain Locke is known as a preeminent African American philosopher. Locke is perhaps best known for his work in value theory, aesthetics, cosmopolitanism, democracy, and cultural pluralism. While it is known that he did work on the philosophy of race, and his conception of ethnic or social race has received some attention in the literature, he is not prominently featured in contemporary philosophical discussions of race. This is likely due in part to the fact that few of his published philosophical works are concerned exclusively with race, though issues of race frequently receive some attention, or are present just beneath the surface of his work. Perhaps an even better reason is that his most extensive contribution to the philosophy of race was a series of lectures he delivered in 1915 and 1916, but which were not published until 1992. In the intervening decades, race theory developed largely in ignorance of Locke's contribution to the field. As a consequence, many of his insights and arguments have not had the impact on the development of the philosophy of race as they might have had otherwise. This is perhaps an historical accident in need of correction.
Transactions of the Charles S. Pierce Society, 2014
Phillip Kitcher, author of Preludes to Pragmatism, argues in chapter six, "Does 'Race' Have a Fut... more Phillip Kitcher, author of Preludes to Pragmatism, argues in chapter six, "Does 'Race' Have a Future" that developments in evolutionary biology may support a separation of our species into subcategories that could be regarded as races. This article begins with a presentation of Kitcher's account of race as biologically real, and socially constructed. From there it moves on to a consideration of racial eliminativism. An important aspect of the view Kitcher argues for is the claim that pragmatism may be incompatible with racial eliminativism. The article ends with a critical evaluation of Kitcher's proposed biological conception of race. It is argued that pragmatist considerations notwithstanding there are reasons to doubt that divisions of humanity into subspecies constitute races, or that such divisions will track the historical and cultural divisions people find salient.
Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society, 2013
Abstract: Insurrectionist ethics is a philosophy aimed at radical social transformation and human... more Abstract: Insurrectionist ethics is a philosophy aimed at radical social transformation and human liberation. This article begins with a presentation of the insurrectionist challenge to pragmatism, and considers which conceptual or motivational resources pragmatism would need to possess in order to meet that challenge. I make no judgment as to the ability of pragmatist philosophers to meet the challenge. I then consider Maria W. Stewart as a paradigmatic insurrectionist and Black feminist thinker. I examine Stewart’s life and thought as a unique and dynamic combination that results in a feminist insurrectionist ethics.
Contemporary Pragmatism, 2012
This paper begins with a presentation of some important aspects of the science behind global warm... more This paper begins with a presentation of some important aspects of the science behind global warming. Following that, I argue that attempts to address global warming and climate change as problems facing humanity ought not to center around economic understandings of the problem or it solutions. Moreover, I argue that (environmental) pragmatism is especially vulnerable to this sort of misappropriation in seeking solutions to climate change, and that environmental pragmatists ought to make a conscious effort to avoid potential mischaracterizations of pragmatism by providing a clearer sense of the boundaries that delimit its approach to climate change, or any other environmental crisis.
Philosophy in the Contemporary World, Dec 2013
ABSTRACT: This article begins with a consideration of the standard argument for the moral equalit... more ABSTRACT: This article begins with a consideration of the standard argument for the moral equality of soldiers; namely, that soldiers are morally equal because they pose similar dangers to one another. Next, arguments for the equal application of the rules of war to both sides are considered and ultimately rejected. In the end, it is argued that if the justice of the cause for war is attributable to the warriors on either side, then modifying or unequally applying the rules of war is in some cases the morally appropriate thing to do.
Philosophy in the Contemporary World, 2009
ABSTRACT: This paper first considers the increasingly common suggestion that a new form of warfa... more ABSTRACT: This paper first considers the increasingly common suggestion that a new form of warfare has emerged. It seeks first to provide some clarity concerning the notion of new wars. In particular I offer a view as to what is new about certain kinds of warfare given that they bear many similarities to older forms of war. Following that, I respond to an argument for the claim that non-state actors that seek to achieve military parity with conventional nation-states must violate the just war principles of discrimination and necessity and that just war theory is thereby unable to give a plausible account of new wars. I, first, reject the claim that the violation of these two principles is in fact necessary, and second, argue that we can make reasonable normative judgments about new wars in terms of just war theory. From there, I consider the possibility that military parity can be achieved in a way that does not violate these principles and argue that it is permissible for relatively weak non-state actors to fight with fewer restrictions than conventional states.
In Philosophic Values and World Citizenship: Locke to Obama and Beyond, Alain Locke—the central p... more In Philosophic Values and World Citizenship: Locke to Obama and Beyond, Alain Locke—the central promoter of the Harlem Renaissance, America's most famous African American pragmatist, the cultural referent for Renaissance movements in the Caribbean and Africa—is placed in conversation with leading philosophers and cultural figures in the modern world. The contributors to this collection compare and contrast Locke's views on values, tolerance, cosmopolitanism, and American and world citizenship with philosophers and leading cultural figures ranging from Aristotle, Immanuel Kant, James Farmer, William James, John Dewey, José Vasconcelos, Hans G. Gadamer, Fredrick Nietzsche, Horace Kallen, Leroi Jones (Amiri Baraka) to the cultural and political figure of Barack Obama.
This important collection of essays eruditely presents Locke's views on moral, emotional, and aesthetic values; the principle of tolerance in managing value conflict; and his rhetorical style, which conveyed his views of cultural reciprocity and tolerance in the service of the values of citizenship and cosmopolitanism.
For teachers and students of contemporary debates in pragmatism, diversity, and value theory, these conversations define new and controversial terrain.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Mar 2012
This article provides an exposition of important aspects of Alain Leroy Locke’s philosophy as the... more This article provides an exposition of important aspects of Alain Leroy Locke’s philosophy as they relate to Black Lives Matter. Effort is made to demonstrate the relevance of Locke’s thinking about democracy and cultural pluralism to a consideration of contemporary campaigns for racial and social justice. The article ends with a reflection on the importance of asserting that “black lives matter”, as opposed to, ‘all lives matter.”