Cornel West Quotes on Knowledge
Cornel West is an American philosopher, theologian, and public intellectual whose work brings together pragmatism, the African-American intellectual tradition, and prophetic Christianity. This page collects quotes attributed to Cornel West on the topic of knowledge, drawn from across the philosopher's works.
Quotes
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“In situations of sparse resources along with degraded self-images and depoliticized sensibilities, one avenue for poor people is in existential rebellion and anarchic expression. The capacity to produce social chaos is the last resort of desperate people.”
The Role of Law in Progressive Politics" in Keeping Faith: Philosophy and Race in America (1993) -
“The Enlightenment worldview held by Du Bois is ultimately inadequate, and, in many ways, antiquated, for our time. The tragic plight and absurd predicament of Africans here and abroad requires a more profound interpretation of the human condition — one that goes beyond the false dichotomies of expert knowledge vs. mass ignorance, individual autonomy vs. dogmatic authority, and self-mastery vs. intolerant tradition.”
The Future of the Race (1997) by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Cornel West, p. 64 -
“Chekhov, Coltrane, and Democracy: Interview by David Lionel Smith." in The Cornel West Reader . Basic Books . 2000. p. 551. ISBN 978-0-465-09110-2 .”
To be an intellectual really means to speak a truth that allows suffering to speak. That is, it creates a vision of the world that puts into the limelight the social misery that is usually hidden or concealed by the dominant viewpoints of a society . "Intellectual" in that sense simply means those who are willing to reflect critically upon themselves as well as upon the larger society and to ascer -
“Interview in African-American Philosophers: 17 Conversations (1998) edited by George Yancy, p. 35”
Analytical philosophy was very interesting. It always struck me as being very interesting and full of tremendous intellectual curiosities. It is wonderful to see the mind at work in such an intense manner, but, for me, it was still too far removed from my own issues. -
“The authority of science … promotes and encourages the activity of observing, comparing, measuring and ordering the physical characteristics of human bodies.… Cartesian epistemology and classical ideals produced forms of rationality, scientificity and objectivity that, though efficacious in the quest for truth and knowledge, prohibited the intelligibility and legitimacy of black equality…. In fact, to "think" such an idea was to be deemed irrational, barbaric or mad.”
Prophesy Deliverance! (2002)