Combating Rationalism and 'Blackism' in the Thought of Black Conservative George S. Schuyler

Jack Kerwick

doi:10.18267/j.e-logos.358

Abstract

I argue that Schuyler-one of the most prolific American cultural commentators, white, black, or other, of the middle of the 20th century-is grossly misunderstood by his contemporary critics. Far from being the opportunistic political polemicist who was insensitive to the precarious situation of race relations in America that his detractors make him out to be, Schuyler was a sophisticated thinker well educated in the philosophical tradition known as conservatism. Though not a philosopher by trade, he articulated and defended epistemological, ethical, and political-philosophical suppositions long endorsed by such notable conservative theorists as Edmund Burke and Michael Oakeshott. And like the latter, he advanced conservatism in response to a philosophical orientation-rationalism-that conservatives have always recognized as being diametrically opposed to their own. The specific version of rationalism on which Schuyler set his sights is what I call Blackism-an abstract ideology that, he believed, undermined racial harmony by neglecting the concrete realities of race relations past and present. As an antidote to Blackism, Schuyler advanced his conservatism.

Highlights

For his prodigious efforts in assembling the essays of forgotten “black conservative” George Samuel Schuyler, as well as for his recognition of the latter’s considerable talents in his capacities as both writer and thinker, Jeffrey B
This praise aside, though, Leak’s own ideological biases conspire with an all too typically provincial focus on American intellectual and political life to reinforce the very prejudices against the “black conservatism” represented by the likes of Schuyler that Leak presumably set out to dispel
Franklin Frazier—that Schuyler was a “race traitor.”4 Leak refuses to endorse this allegation, and he agrees with Cornel West5 that conservatives like Schuyler are correct in rejecting “blind” loyalty to race, he concurs with West’s verdict that black conservatives tend to substitute for “blind loyalty to the race” a “blind loyalty to the nation.”

Summary

Introduction

For his prodigious efforts in assembling the essays of forgotten “black conservative” George Samuel Schuyler, as well as for his recognition of the latter’s considerable talents in his capacities as both writer and thinker, Jeffrey B. Leak does not share the political and philosophical predilections of the subject of his study, a fact that reveals his treatment of Schuyler to be that much more commendable. This praise aside, though, Leak’s own ideological biases conspire with an all too typically provincial focus on American intellectual and political life to reinforce the very prejudices against the “black conservatism” represented by the likes of Schuyler that Leak presumably set out to dispel. While acknowledging Schuyler’s adeptness at dealing with race-related issues throughout his long and illustrious career, Leak simultaneously criticizes him for “his unshakable commitment at times to the most extreme forms of conservatism,”2 “the political far right” or “radical conservatism”, a commitment that rendered him vulnerable to the charge—articulated by, among others, the distinguished black historian, E. While it is not inappropriate to speak of multiple rationalisms, each is related to all of the others by way of a set of commonly shared philosophical presuppositions— epistemological, ethical, and political-philosophical—on account of which rationalism is the distinctive tradition that it is

Reason and Knowledge

Morality and Political Philosophy

Conclusion

End Notes