Question

Please expand upon the arguments presented by William R. Jones, in "The Legitimacy and Necessity of Black Philosophy." In addition, please reference the Interview on William R. Jones by George Yancy as a way to further understand the need for an African American philosophy. Joyce Mitchell Cook was the first African American Women to receive a Ph.D. in Philosophy. What are her views of a BLACK philosophy and do you think her and William R. Jones would have agreed about there being a particular Black philosophy?. YOUR RESPONSE SHOULD BE IN 250 WORDS.

Answer 1

William R. Jones argued that black philosophy was the proof that (white) philosophy’s claim to universalism was nothing more than the racist premises utilized for oppression and domination rather than shared values or experiences of the world. Black philosophy is the test of white philosophy’s legitimacy.

The first criticism argued that ethnic category are not legitimate qualifiers of philosophy. The second criticism waged against black philosophy was that ethnic philosophies are self-refuting because they ultimately collapse into an absurdum position.

The third criticism was a charge of essentialism, namely that a black philosophy confuses ontological and sociological categories and to advance a black philosophy.

Last but not the least there is no such thing as a black philosophy at least there is no concrete black philosophy in the sense that we can identify a Jewish philosophy or a black theory.

George Yancy was an African-American Philosophers who brings into conversation seventeen of the foremost thinkers of color to discuss issues such as Black existentialism, racism, Black women philosophers within the academy, affirmative action and the conceptual parameters of African-American philosophy.

George Yancy employs an awesome and similar philosophical method of inquiry into the inner worldview and thoughts.

Joyce Mitchell Cook was a significant pioneer in the field of American philosophy, a figure whose very historical presence speaks to her incredible tenacity as a Black woman within a discipline that continues to be predominantly white and male. Joyce Mitchell Cook and William R. Jones would have agreed about being a particular Black philosophy.