The Derelictical Crisis of African American Philosophy: How African American Philosophy Fails to Contribute to the Study of African-Descended People

Abstract

Unlike many Black-specific disciplines in the academy (Black psychology, Black history, etc.), Black philosophy never completely forged a unique conceptual framework separate from American and continental philosophical traditions. Instead the field has continued to define its validity to the extent that Black authors extend the thought of white philosophers toward race. This epistemic convergence, or the extent to which Black theory converges with established white philosophical traditions and white racial sensibilities, continues to misguide many of the current philosophical techniques of Africana thought. Because this practice is so dominate, it has made current scholarship in African American and Africana thought derelict, in the sense that all investigations into Blackness are normatively and hence ideologically driven and not culturally relevant to the actual lives of Africana people.