Submitted by philosophybreak t3_zkr99s in philosophy
Reply to comment by soulstudios in Existence is infinitely richer than our descriptions of it. So, rather than cling to reductive explanations that only ‘close’ life’s possibilities, we should ‘open’ reality by seeing ourselves as perpetual students | Interview with Black Existentialist Lewis Gordon by philosophybreak
Black Existentialism is so named because it investigates the construction of racial identities through the lens of existentialism. You could draw similarities to how Simone de Beauvoir used existentialism to investigate the identities imposed upon women. I.e. you are not starting from scratch in your analysis of your relationship to reality; you are starting from an identity (a negative/limiting identity) that has been constructed for you. Lewis Gordon's work focuses on how one can shed the 'double consciousness' and 'bad faith' of seeing oneself through the eyes of others. Progress here comes "when you don’t accept the idea that you’re intrinsically a problem. Instead, you shift and argue there’s a problem with a society that makes people into problems". Hopefully that helps - more in the interview!
This makes a lot of sense. Not sure what the other commenters here are on about (I assume they’re on the kneejerk reactionary “why I not included GRUG” kick).
Black Existentialism in this context is not something that the average white person in America/Europe has direct experience with, which makes it a meaningful distinguisher from regular ol existentialism.
For a philosophy subreddit, y’all mfs love to take things at face value and get emotional over the use of the word black.
Then give it a different name. While black people (in america) are heavily disenfranchised, so are the Uyghurs in China, the tibetans in Tibet, Ethnic Muslims in many parts of the world, whites (currently) in south africa, the list goes on.
Ignoring the fact that from the viewpoint of most biologists 'race' as a concept doesn't exist, what he's tlaking about (according to your summary) has nothing intrinsically to do with african americans, more to do with dominant and sub-dominant subcultures.
The existence of Black Existentialism does not preclude a broader all-encompassing viewpoint.
A direct examination of the concept from the perspective of one specific group is perfectly valid, and could even be a precursor to a broader theory.
And I’m sure that a closer examination of other disenfranchised groups would also reveal meaningfully distinct characteristics between those groups such that a single group cannot perfectly generalize to all groups, thus requiring a much broader effort to properly construct a general theory.
It's not perfectly valid, because it's naming black people - not african-american people - but all black people, including those who are in dominant positions of power in their given societies.
If the viewpoint is really so-specific to the united states, then call it that. But I HIGHLY doubt that is the case.
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