In Ontological Terror Calvin L. Warren intervenes in Afro-pessimism, Heideggerian metaphysics, and black humanist philosophy by positing that the "Negro question" is intimately imbricated with questions of Being. Warren uses the figure of the antebellum free black as a philosophical paradigm for thinking through the tensions between blackness and Being. He illustrates how blacks embody a metaphysical nothing. This nothingness serves as a destabilizing presence and force as well as that which whiteness defines itself against. Thus, the function of blackness as giving form to nothing presents a terrifying problem for whites: they need blacks to affirm their existence, even as they despise the nothingness they represent. By pointing out how all humanism is based on investing blackness with nonbeing—a logic which reproduces antiblack violence and precludes any realization of equality, justice, and recognition for blacks—Warren urges the removal of the human from its metaphysical pedestal and the exploration of ways of existing that are not predicated on a grounding in being.
- 233 pages
- English
- PDF
- Available on iOS & Android
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Information
Publisher
Duke University Press BooksYear
2018Print ISBN
9780822370871
9780822370727
eBook ISBN
9780822371847
Table of contents
- Cover
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction. The Free Black Is Nothing
- Chapter 1. The Question of Black Being
- Chapter 2. Outlawing
- Chapter 3. Scientific Horror
- Chapter 4. Catachrestic Fantasies
- Coda. Adieu to the Human
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
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Yes, you can access Ontological Terror by Calvin L. Warren in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Social Sciences & Literary Criticism Theory. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.