West, Cornel (1953–)

Cornel West, formerly a professor of divinity and Afro-American studies at Harvard University, is currently a professor of religion at Princeton University. West epitomizes what it means to be a public intellectual. He is not merely a philosopher and prolific scholar but is also a social activist who unashamedly implements the tenets of prophetic pragmatism, a theoretical concept he has developed.

To West, prophetic pragmatism is the broader development of the philosophical concept of American pragmatism. No doubt, West's resonance with American pragmatism emanated from the significant influence that Richard Rorty, his Princeton University professor, had on him. West's extension of this philosophical perspective dares to include the voices in the pragmatic discourse that traditionally have been silenced, namely, the voices of the poor and African American people. West locates prophetic pragmatism in the confluence of his personal introspection on himself as an American pragmatist and in what ways he has been able to see and hear himself and those who look like him in the American pragmatic discourse. His first book, Prophesy Deliverance! An Afro-American Revolutionary Christianity (1982), dared to voice an antithetical notion of Christianity based solidly on his beliefs about prophetic pragmatism, which would make the religion of Jesus responsible for revealing and reconstructing the countless ways institutions, in a supposed democracy, systematically disenfranchise African Americans and the poor. West's writings juxtapose the radical, societal reforming agenda of Jesus against the hegemony perpetuating tactics of institutionalized religion.

Cornel West's conceptualization of prophetic pragmatism is purposed to transport a substantive theoretical and philosophical discourse into a plan of action that is designed to produce a purer form of democracy in the American society. West's pragmatism is prophetic because it is grounded in the context of the Old Testament prophets who, according to West, brought acrid and urgent critique to the contemporary evils of their day. According to West, the mark of the prophet was to speak the truth with a moral fortitude that risked everything for the sake of sonorously speaking forth radical transformation for social justice in the society. West describes prophetic pragmatism as both an oppositional cultural critique and a material force for individuality and democracy. There are two characteristics of prophetic pragmatism, according to West. First, prophetic pragmatism highlights a universal consciousness that is grounded in a desire to see democratic practices evolve and remain in our society. Second, prophetic pragmatism includes a historical consciousness. By this, West means the serious examination of those many ways in which human unfinishedness, as Paulo Freire refers to this phenomenon, and the limitations of humanity have inspired asymmetrical relations of power and systemic mechanisms that disenfranchise and marginalize people out of the mainstream. Because West is a non-Marxist socialist, he compels his philosophical position not merely to attempt to explain realities but also to critique them. Of special note is West's emphasis on critique. He includes a relentless self-critique, which compels one to grapple with the ways one has either promoted undemocratic practices, has been oppressed by marginalizing practices, or has remained silent in the presence of either condition. The goal of both the universal and historical consciousness is the ultimate social change of our society.

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