The American Evasion of Philosophy (Masterplots II: African American Literature Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Cornel West
- First Published: 1989
- Type of Work: Cultural criticism
- Genres: Criticism, Nonfiction, Philosophy
- Subjects: Social action, History, Intellectuals, Philosophy or philosophers, Pragmatism, Social reform, Tradition
Form and Content
Announcing in his introduction that this book is a political act, Cornel West in The American Evasion of Philosophy seeks in a tradition of American thought a source for effective political, or “prophetic,” action. It is to this tradition that West refers by the phrase “evasion of philosophy,” in which the word “evasion” does not carry its usual negative connotations. Rather, West asserts, Ralph Waldo Emerson, the great nineteenth century American poet, essayist, and thinker and the founding father of this tradition, turned away from the...
[The entire page is 3452 words long]
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