Philosophers to Know

Oftentimes, philosophical discussion short-circuits diverse representation, forgoing its promise to include a wide variety of perspectives. In today’s blog, we will focus on Cornel West, a vital philosopher and political activist who has had a huge impact on modern race scholarship and social critiques. It’s important to note that past historical figures such as Martin Luther King, Jr. play a vital role in West’s philosophy, who hopes to communicate his legacy to the audience of today. From a young age, West became surrounded by prominent religious figures, regularly attending Baptist church where he listened to testimonials of those whose grandparents [...]

Jiang Shigong is an advocate for the “conservative socialist” exponent of Xi Jinping Thought, a set of policies and ideas that are derived from the Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping. Jinping advocated for a socialism (think of it as a branch of communism but instead citizens share equally resources as allocated by the government rather than the government owning most things under communism) with Chinese characteristics, using the ideals of Marx (think of Karl Marx, founder of the idea of communism which consists of an equitable redistribution of wealth and a state-centered economy rather than capitalism, the dominant [...]

1,950 mile-long open wound dividing a pueblo, a culture, running down the length of my body, staking fence rods in my flesh, splits me    splits me me raja      me raja (Anzaldúa 1987: 2) This piece was written by Chicana (a women/girl of Mexican descent or origin) scholar Gloria Anzaldúa. Chicana studies are silenced in almost every aspect, especially given the politicizing narrative that becomes unnecessarily attached to them, such as “illegal immigrants”. Above, the graphic description describes Anzaldúa’s personal experience growing up on the US-Mexican border. Not ideal by any measure at all. Anzaldúa is considered pivotal to Third World feminism, a [...]

One aspect of critical theory that is overlooked, even by prominent academics, is queer theory, gender studies, and philosophical feminism. Judith Butler is a philosopher whose work intersects with each of these different areas in the 20th century. Her best-known work, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, continues the notion that gender is socially constructed, critiquing the conventional notions of gender and sexuality that she views as perpetuating traditional patriarchal values. She extends this further by explaining it as a justification for the oppression of homosexuals and transgender persons. By stating that gender is socially constructed, she means [...]

Racial discourse has come to dominate modern political discourse and rightfully so. While America has made strives to reform its racial foundation that determines political, social, and economic interactions, the concept of race has entered into the American vernacular and societal consciousness. Kwame Anthony Appiah, rather than taking a socio-historical, classist, metaphysical, or scientific context, approaches through this previous frame of understanding. Appiah comes to approach the notion of "biological race" as problematic, arguing that these categories and labels are actually detrimental to the individual by constraining their freedom and limiting their possibilities. Essentially, the categories of race that we [...]