Introduction: Black Philosophy and the Crucible of Lived History

Author(s)	George Yancy
Journal	The Black Scholar
Thematic Cluster/Special Issue	The Role of Black Philosophy
Abstract	This introduction frames a special issue on “The Role of Black Philosophy” by situating black philosophical thought within the crucible of lived Black historical experience. It rejects biological essentialism, instead understanding “blackness” and Black philosophy as shaped by the concrete realities of oppression, dehumanization, and anti-Black racism across time and place. The middle passage of slavery marks one such formative experience, though diverse genealogies and phenomenologies of Blackness must be recognized. Emerging from struggle, Black philosophy plays an iconoclastic, resistant role toward claims of philosophical universalism that exclude or invalidate Black modes of thought. Rather, it affirms Black humanity and an ethical-political imperative to remake the world, invoking the language of “ought” and justice. Likewise, Black philosophy must attend to gendered oppressions of Black women in addition to racial oppression. The diverse essays in this special issue exemplify the protean, engaged nature of Black philosophical thought as it tackles ontological, political, ethical, and aesthetic questions marginalized in traditional Western philosophy. They demonstrate Black philosophy’s context-sensitive critical purchase as well as its universalist aspirations. This content was generated by artificial intelligence using the text of the original work.
Keywords	Black philosophy, lived experience, oppression, racism, liberation, universalism, gender This content was generated by artificial intelligence using the text of the original work.
Date Published	Winter 2013
Volume	43
Issue	4
Pages	5-10
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5816/blackscholar.43.4.0005
URL	https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5816/blackscholar.43.4.0005
Google Scholar Link	https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=5143654912760868511&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5
Open Access?	No