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Prophetic Thought in Postmodern Times
Book by West, Cornel
205 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
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326 people want to read
About the author
Cornel West
153 books1,216 followersCornel Ronald West is an American scholar and public intellectual. Formerly at Harvard University, West is currently a professor of Religion at Princeton. West says his intellectual contributions draw from such diverse traditions as the African American Baptist Church, Marxism, pragmatism, transcendentalism, and Anton Chekhov.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 7, 2017
This is the best of West, a compilation but of a time when his writing had both intellectual rigor and an emerging style. In some ways it can me scene as a precursor or mini version of the Cornel West Reader, but the subject matter is a bit more obscure and in my view a little more intriguing.
November 9, 2024
LECTURES AND ESSAYS PRESENTING A MORE ‘INTIMATE’ COMMUNICATION
Author Cornel West wrote in the Introduction to this 1993 book, “We live on the brink of a new wave of social activism in America… As I travel across the nation I sense a deep hunger and thirst for a more compassionate country---one in which public service supersedes private opulence… and the common good prevails over group xenophobia. My aim in these two volumes is to present in clear, succinct and primarily SPOKEN language a prophetic vision of what is worth fighting and dying for as this century comes to a close… most of them are uncut speeches and interviews… they are efforts to connect in a more intimate way with fellow citizens in a conversational mode---much like a prophetic black preacher soliciting response from an open-minded yet suspicious congregation. The basic end is not to arrive at one correct solution to a myriad of problems, but rather to forge bonds of trust and to mutually empower one another to face the tragic facts of the past and present and respond to them … The principal theme … is how and why we must go beyond eurocentrism and multiculturalism in order to keep alive prophetic thought and action in our time.”
He wrote in the first chapter, “from the very beginning we must call into question any notions of pure traditions or pristine heritages, or any civilization of culture having a monopoly on virtue or insight… Every culture that we know is a result of the weaving of antecedent cultures… This is so true of the United States, of course. There is no jazz without European instruments… When we talk about multiculturalism we are talking about a particular critique of something which is already multicultural.” (Pg. 4)
He points out, “those who came to the United States didn’t realize they were white until they got here. They were told they were white. They had to learn they were white. An Irish peasant coming from British imperial abuse in Ireland during the potato famine of the 1840s, arrives in the States. You ask him or her what they are. They say ‘I am Irish.’ No, you’re white. ‘What do you mean I am white?’ And they point me out. Oh, I see what you mean. This is a strange land.” (Pg, 11)
He observes, “You … turn on the TV… with its spectator passivity. You are receiving as a spectator, with no sense of agency, no sense of making a difference. You are observing the collapse of an empire and feeling unable to do anything about it, restricted to just listening to Dan Rather talk about it. A market culture that promotes a market morality.” (Pg. 17)
He argues, “Bertrand Russell would say… pragmatism is just a justification for American commercialism. He… never got the point… [b]ecause he sees this mobility and fluidity. We are not talking about absolute truth, and so forth… Because none of those terms sound like the market. Pragmatism, on the other hand, looks like commercialism …Because there were elective affinities, he was not careful and cautious enough to see that Peirce and James were using a language that looked very much like the market [or] James when he talks about the cash value of truth. For Russell that is all market talk.” (Pg. 53)
After observing the projected cost of the savings & loan bailout, he comments, “Now, eliminate poverty is just not in the interests of poor people. It means you might be able to walk the street with ease. It means you might be able to produce a quality labor force. It means you might be able to cut back on the expansion of the prisons. You might even be able to envision quality relations between black and white folk.” (Pg. 66)
He suggests that Jesse Jackson “is part of that old messianic tradition. There is … no self-criticism. No accountability to the organization. Come in town, gone in 10 minutes, no infrastructure and institution left to keep things going. That’s gone too… I admire Jesse Jackson in his own way but he is part of a tradition that has to be called into question. We are talking about trying to get black action going again.” (Pg. 73)
He notes, “one way of reading rap music is as an attempt by certain highly talented cultural artists to socialize a generation in the light of the shattered institutions of black civil society; the families no longer do it, the schools can’t do it. ‘How do I relate to other people? Tell me.’ And so they listen to Salt-N-Pepa who provide some moral guidelines as to how to relate to other people. They used to get it in Sunday school thirty years ago.” (Pg. 92)
He argues, “The problem is that [deconstruction] too easily become linked to an austere epistemic skepticism. And that … makes it very difficult to make the links between rhetorical powers, military powers, political powers, social powers, and other kinds of powers. I see this also in Foucault. Foucault doesn’t tell us anything about the nation-state… about nation-states bumping up against each other… These are serious silences about macro-structural operations, about which Foucault has very little to say…” (Pg. 103-104)
He recalls, “I was… asked to give a lecture on black film… I knew absolutely nothing about black film, but it’s not that uncommon for me to be asked to lecture on something about which I know nothing. That’s part of the circulation of the very few black intellectuals in American society, so I refused to go.” (Pg. 140)
He states, “between 1964 and 1967 black neighborhoods underwent qualitative transformation … [that had] much to do with the invasion of a particular kind of commodity---drugs… there’s no doubt that black communities have fundamentally changed. For the first time we have the disintegration of the TRANSCLASS CHARACTER of black communities in which different classes live together. So the attempt to sustain the basic institutions of black civil society... that used to be in place and served as the infrastructures that transmitted the values and sensibilities to notions of self-respect and self-esteem still have some possibility of distribution across [which] the black community could take place.” (Pg. 149)
He continues, “And it’s not just the black school---we can talk about the black church… about the whole host of other institutions in black civil society. We no longer have this to the degree that we did in the past and they are being eroded slowly but surely. This is what is most frightening. This is why we get the exponential increase in black suicides between 18 and 35, unprecedented in black history. This is why we get escalating black homicides in which you get some of the most cold-hearted, mean-spirited dispositions and attitudes displayed by black people against other black people as well as non-blacks. It’s a breakdown in the social fabric.” (Pg. 151)
He clarifies, “I’m not calling for martyrdom, I’m just calling for sacrifice. But it’s very important because to be a member of the professional managerial class tends to mitigate against this very sense of commitment. Do you have to go against it? And it means then the rewards are less… there is a lot at stake in prosperity of America. Black people understand that. Yet it can be pushed, and progressive white comrades and feminist comrades will help push. And then we will be pushed back and the next generation will have to engage in their own challenge, and we hope the next generation of black philosophers will reflect on how they’re going to deal with those human beings of African descent who are unemployed, underemployed, have inadequate health care, housing, education, and so on. The battle is perennial; yet each of us in our time must fight.” (Pg. 157)
These brief essays/lectures provide great insight into West’s thought.
Author Cornel West wrote in the Introduction to this 1993 book, “We live on the brink of a new wave of social activism in America… As I travel across the nation I sense a deep hunger and thirst for a more compassionate country---one in which public service supersedes private opulence… and the common good prevails over group xenophobia. My aim in these two volumes is to present in clear, succinct and primarily SPOKEN language a prophetic vision of what is worth fighting and dying for as this century comes to a close… most of them are uncut speeches and interviews… they are efforts to connect in a more intimate way with fellow citizens in a conversational mode---much like a prophetic black preacher soliciting response from an open-minded yet suspicious congregation. The basic end is not to arrive at one correct solution to a myriad of problems, but rather to forge bonds of trust and to mutually empower one another to face the tragic facts of the past and present and respond to them … The principal theme … is how and why we must go beyond eurocentrism and multiculturalism in order to keep alive prophetic thought and action in our time.”
He wrote in the first chapter, “from the very beginning we must call into question any notions of pure traditions or pristine heritages, or any civilization of culture having a monopoly on virtue or insight… Every culture that we know is a result of the weaving of antecedent cultures… This is so true of the United States, of course. There is no jazz without European instruments… When we talk about multiculturalism we are talking about a particular critique of something which is already multicultural.” (Pg. 4)
He points out, “those who came to the United States didn’t realize they were white until they got here. They were told they were white. They had to learn they were white. An Irish peasant coming from British imperial abuse in Ireland during the potato famine of the 1840s, arrives in the States. You ask him or her what they are. They say ‘I am Irish.’ No, you’re white. ‘What do you mean I am white?’ And they point me out. Oh, I see what you mean. This is a strange land.” (Pg, 11)
He observes, “You … turn on the TV… with its spectator passivity. You are receiving as a spectator, with no sense of agency, no sense of making a difference. You are observing the collapse of an empire and feeling unable to do anything about it, restricted to just listening to Dan Rather talk about it. A market culture that promotes a market morality.” (Pg. 17)
He argues, “Bertrand Russell would say… pragmatism is just a justification for American commercialism. He… never got the point… [b]ecause he sees this mobility and fluidity. We are not talking about absolute truth, and so forth… Because none of those terms sound like the market. Pragmatism, on the other hand, looks like commercialism …Because there were elective affinities, he was not careful and cautious enough to see that Peirce and James were using a language that looked very much like the market [or] James when he talks about the cash value of truth. For Russell that is all market talk.” (Pg. 53)
After observing the projected cost of the savings & loan bailout, he comments, “Now, eliminate poverty is just not in the interests of poor people. It means you might be able to walk the street with ease. It means you might be able to produce a quality labor force. It means you might be able to cut back on the expansion of the prisons. You might even be able to envision quality relations between black and white folk.” (Pg. 66)
He suggests that Jesse Jackson “is part of that old messianic tradition. There is … no self-criticism. No accountability to the organization. Come in town, gone in 10 minutes, no infrastructure and institution left to keep things going. That’s gone too… I admire Jesse Jackson in his own way but he is part of a tradition that has to be called into question. We are talking about trying to get black action going again.” (Pg. 73)
He notes, “one way of reading rap music is as an attempt by certain highly talented cultural artists to socialize a generation in the light of the shattered institutions of black civil society; the families no longer do it, the schools can’t do it. ‘How do I relate to other people? Tell me.’ And so they listen to Salt-N-Pepa who provide some moral guidelines as to how to relate to other people. They used to get it in Sunday school thirty years ago.” (Pg. 92)
He argues, “The problem is that [deconstruction] too easily become linked to an austere epistemic skepticism. And that … makes it very difficult to make the links between rhetorical powers, military powers, political powers, social powers, and other kinds of powers. I see this also in Foucault. Foucault doesn’t tell us anything about the nation-state… about nation-states bumping up against each other… These are serious silences about macro-structural operations, about which Foucault has very little to say…” (Pg. 103-104)
He recalls, “I was… asked to give a lecture on black film… I knew absolutely nothing about black film, but it’s not that uncommon for me to be asked to lecture on something about which I know nothing. That’s part of the circulation of the very few black intellectuals in American society, so I refused to go.” (Pg. 140)
He states, “between 1964 and 1967 black neighborhoods underwent qualitative transformation … [that had] much to do with the invasion of a particular kind of commodity---drugs… there’s no doubt that black communities have fundamentally changed. For the first time we have the disintegration of the TRANSCLASS CHARACTER of black communities in which different classes live together. So the attempt to sustain the basic institutions of black civil society... that used to be in place and served as the infrastructures that transmitted the values and sensibilities to notions of self-respect and self-esteem still have some possibility of distribution across [which] the black community could take place.” (Pg. 149)
He continues, “And it’s not just the black school---we can talk about the black church… about the whole host of other institutions in black civil society. We no longer have this to the degree that we did in the past and they are being eroded slowly but surely. This is what is most frightening. This is why we get the exponential increase in black suicides between 18 and 35, unprecedented in black history. This is why we get escalating black homicides in which you get some of the most cold-hearted, mean-spirited dispositions and attitudes displayed by black people against other black people as well as non-blacks. It’s a breakdown in the social fabric.” (Pg. 151)
He clarifies, “I’m not calling for martyrdom, I’m just calling for sacrifice. But it’s very important because to be a member of the professional managerial class tends to mitigate against this very sense of commitment. Do you have to go against it? And it means then the rewards are less… there is a lot at stake in prosperity of America. Black people understand that. Yet it can be pushed, and progressive white comrades and feminist comrades will help push. And then we will be pushed back and the next generation will have to engage in their own challenge, and we hope the next generation of black philosophers will reflect on how they’re going to deal with those human beings of African descent who are unemployed, underemployed, have inadequate health care, housing, education, and so on. The battle is perennial; yet each of us in our time must fight.” (Pg. 157)
These brief essays/lectures provide great insight into West’s thought.
June 9, 2022
I like how Cornel West speaks to this kind of thing even in the early 90s. He can always find something positive in the people who are oppressive and then is able to remain compassionate. Some of this book is sad because it’s clear how far America has fallen in 30 years when it comes to hope, faith in government, racism etc. I love how deeply Cornel West thinks about America though. Deeper than anyone I’ve read. I like that he is able to give Schopenhauer his due. When it comes to America, Royce’s struggle with Schopenhauer is the closest the American tradition gets to meaningful open mindedness to both sides of pragmatism. An ability to discuss Hegel and Christianity together in this logic.
Every excellent work of postmodernism should come with a table in the back that explains what pragmatism and is not. Like a math book comes with, for other important information necessary to understand the content of the book. Many who don’t understand postmodernism misjudge it because they are lost in the pragmatist paradigm as compared to previous and hypothetical post paradigms. This is what reductionists and atheists like Bertrand Russel, as he explains, get wrong. They have the tendency to oversimplify culture and miss the market consumerism as an even larger paradigm than it seems. Dialectical materialism, or Marxism if you will, still misses the point for the same reason. This is why I think Hegel is a better starting point for postmodernism than Nietzsche, or even Schopenhauer. Pragmatism and market forces driving politics is at the heart of the postmodern misconception. This is where the conversation has to start for the vast majority who don’t understand postmodernism, and it’s the job of the postmodernists to clarify it like Cornel West is trying to do here. If that can be integrated, a lot more can be achieved in meaningful discussion.
The biggest misconception is that science or religion is a larger paradigm than the market forces. This is incorrect but hard to understand. Science and religion both fit within the larger encompassing market paradigm, more than the reverse. For example, in science, we think like reductionists and as modern Newtonianian’s because that’s the way we think about the economy. It goes back way further than Newton but this is its modern manifestation. Hegel was just the first to popularize this kind of situationist logic in the West. In religion, we think like totalitarians because monotheism is a byproduct again of the market. Both science and religion are guided by market idealism and the bifurcating politics that comes a long with that. Divide and conquer. Even today, it’s easy to get caught up in our market and government ideals to ever see the bigger dupe. Do you take the red or the blue pill? It doesn’t matter.
Every excellent work of postmodernism should come with a table in the back that explains what pragmatism and is not. Like a math book comes with, for other important information necessary to understand the content of the book. Many who don’t understand postmodernism misjudge it because they are lost in the pragmatist paradigm as compared to previous and hypothetical post paradigms. This is what reductionists and atheists like Bertrand Russel, as he explains, get wrong. They have the tendency to oversimplify culture and miss the market consumerism as an even larger paradigm than it seems. Dialectical materialism, or Marxism if you will, still misses the point for the same reason. This is why I think Hegel is a better starting point for postmodernism than Nietzsche, or even Schopenhauer. Pragmatism and market forces driving politics is at the heart of the postmodern misconception. This is where the conversation has to start for the vast majority who don’t understand postmodernism, and it’s the job of the postmodernists to clarify it like Cornel West is trying to do here. If that can be integrated, a lot more can be achieved in meaningful discussion.
The biggest misconception is that science or religion is a larger paradigm than the market forces. This is incorrect but hard to understand. Science and religion both fit within the larger encompassing market paradigm, more than the reverse. For example, in science, we think like reductionists and as modern Newtonianian’s because that’s the way we think about the economy. It goes back way further than Newton but this is its modern manifestation. Hegel was just the first to popularize this kind of situationist logic in the West. In religion, we think like totalitarians because monotheism is a byproduct again of the market. Both science and religion are guided by market idealism and the bifurcating politics that comes a long with that. Divide and conquer. Even today, it’s easy to get caught up in our market and government ideals to ever see the bigger dupe. Do you take the red or the blue pill? It doesn’t matter.
December 7, 2023
Read for American Philosophy Fall 2022. I still don't think I understand what prophetic pragmatism is.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews