Bøger af Cornel West

"Man får ikke en egentlig systematisk analyse af raceproblemer i USA i ’Et spørgsmål om race’, men man får suveræne fortolkninger, imponerende selvkritik, eminente indsigter og en fornem opvisning i, hvordan man faktisk kan anerkende den sociale virkeligheds kompleksitet og stadig skrive på fordringen om at kæmpe for det gode, søge sandheden og forsøge at hjælpe alle i deres kampe for at gøre verden til et bedre sted." - fra Rune Lykkebergs forordEt spørgsmål om race udkom i USA i 1993 og blev straks en bestseller. Næsten 30 år senere er det stadig en af de mest originale bøger om racisme, kapitalisme og imperialisme. Bogen er første titel i Informations Forlags nye bogserie Antiracistiske klassikere. Cornel West (f. 1953) er professor, forfatter, politisk aktivist og er en af de vigtigste venstreorienterede intellektuelle i USA. Han har skrevet adskillige bøger om race, kapitalisme, demokrati og filosofi. Med Et spørgsmål om race udkommer han for første gang på dansk.

Esteemed American philosopher, Cornel West tackles the ethics of the Marxism agenda In this fresh, original analysis of Marxist thought, Cornel West makes a significant contribution to today's debates about the relevance of Marxism by putting the issue of ethics squarely on the Marxist agenda. West, professor of religion and director of the Afro-American studies program at Princeton University, shows that not only was ethics an integral part of the development of Marx's own thinking throughout his career, but that this crucial concern has been obscured by such leading and influential interpreters as Engels, Kautsky, Luk?cs, and others who diverted Marx's theory into narrow forms of positivism, economism, and Hegelianism.

No matter who wins the next election, Caesar will remain Caesar, doing some good and some bad. But Christians report to a different king.This issue starts with a provocation. In his opening letter, editor Peter Mommsen suggests Christians are too excited about the wrong politics: ¿Questions of public justice should matter deeply to Christians. We dare not be indifferent about securing healthcare for all and ending interventionist wars; we must seek to reduce abortions and strengthen families. When an election comes, we should pray and then, perhaps, lend our support to a candidate we judge may, on balance, advance social righteousness. But if the early Christians and the Anabaptists are right, this isn¿t the politics that matters most. And so, as a matter of faithfulness, we should question how much it deserves of our passion and time. Our allegiance belongs elsewhere.¿In contrast to an election campaign, this politics may feel grittier and less glamorous. This issue of Plough Quarterly explores what this alternate vision of faithful Christian witness in the political sphere might look like.Yoüll find articles on:What two leading political theorists of left and right agree onWhat persecution taught Anabaptists about politicsThe Bruderhof¿s interactions with the stateTolstoy¿s case against making war more humaneHow some Christians read Romans 13 under fascism

A collection of essays, which critique structures of power and oppression as they operate within American society and provide a way of thinking about human dignity and difference. It explores the politics and philosophy of America, the role of the black intellectual, and the fate of African Americans.

An unflinching look at nineteenth- and twentieth-century African American leaders and their visionary legacies. In an accessible, conversational format, Cornel West, with distinguished scholar Christa Buschendorf, provides a fresh perspective on six revolutionary African American leaders: Frederick Douglass, W. E. B. Du Bois, Martin Luther King Jr., Ella Baker, Malcolm X, and Ida B. Wells. In dialogue with Buschendorf, West examines the impact of these men and women on their own eras and across the decades. He not only rediscovers the integrity and commitment within these passionate advocates but also their fault lines. West, in these illuminating conversations with the German scholar and thinker Christa Buschendorf, describes Douglass as a complex man who is both ';the towering Black freedom fighter of the nineteenth century' and a product of his time who lost sight of the fight for civil rights after the emancipation. He calls Du Bois ';undeniably the most important Black intellectual of the twentieth century' and explores the more radical aspects of his thinking in order to understand his uncompromising critique of the United States, which has been omitted from the American collective memory. West argues that our selective memory has sanitized and even ';Santaclausified' Martin Luther King Jr., rendering him less radical, and has marginalized Ella Baker, who embodies the grassroots organizing of the civil rights movement. The controversial Malcolm X, who is often seen as a proponent of reverse racism, hatred, and violence, has been demonized in a false opposition with King, while the appeal of his rhetoric and sincerity to students has been sidelined. Ida B. Wells, West argues, shares Malcolm X's radical spirit and fearless speech, but has ';often become the victim of public amnesia.' By providing new insights that humanize all of these well-known figures, in the engrossing dialogue with Buschendorf, and in his insightful introduction and powerful closing essay, Cornel West takes an important step in rekindling the Black prophetic fire so essential in the age of Obama.

The Power of Religion in the Public Sphere represents a rare opportunity to experience a diverse group of preeminent philosophers confronting one pervasive contemporary concern: what role does or should religion play in our public lives? Reflecting on her recent work concerning state violence in Israel-Palestine, Judith Butler explores the potential of religious perspectives for renewing cultural and political criticism, while Jurgen Habermas, best known for his seminal conception of the public sphere, thinks through the ambiguous legacy of the concept of "e;the political"e; in contemporary theory. Charles Taylor argues for a radical redefinition of secularism, and Cornel West defends civil disobedience and emancipatory theology. Eduardo Mendieta and Jonathan VanAntwerpen detail the immense contribution of these philosophers to contemporary social and political theory, and an afterword by Craig Calhoun places these attempts to reconceive the significance of both religion and the secular in the context of contemporary national and international politics.

A study of American pragmatism, this book looks at all the different stages from the Emersonian roots, through the dilemma of the mid-century pragmatic intellectual up to the decline and resurgence of American pragmatism. It also discusses prophetic pragmatism.

An anthology of the best work of an always compelling, often controversial, and absolutely essential philosopher of the modern American Experience.

This comprehensive text offers a systematic and thematic approach to West's philosophical work. It moves the reader through his distinctive form of prophetic pragmatism, his historicist and improvisational philosophy of religion, and his reflections on a range of cultural issues.