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Critical Affinities is the first book to explore the multifaceted relationship between the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche and various dimensions of African American thought. Exploring the connections between these two unlikely interlocutors, the contributors focus on unmasking and understanding the root causes and racially inflected symptoms of various manifestations of cultural malaise. They contemplate the operative warrant for reconstituted conceptions of racial identity and recognize the existential and social recuperative potential of the will to power. In so doing, they simultaneously foster and exemplify a nuanced understanding of what both traditions regard as “the art of the cultural physician.” The contributors connote daring scholarly attempts to explicate the ways in which clarifying the critical affinities between Nietzsche and various expressions of African American thought not only enriches our understanding of each, but also enhances our ability to realize the broader ends of advancing the prospects for social and psychological flourishing.
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Critical nietzsche and African American Thought Affinities Edited by Jacqueline Scott and A. Todd Franklin Foreword by Robert Gooding-Williams Critical Affinities SUNY series, Philosophy and Race Robert Bernasconi and T. Denean Sharpley-Whiting, editors Critical Affinities Nietzsche and African American Thought EDITED BY Jacqueline Scott and A. Todd Franklin FOREWORD BY Robert Gooding-Williams State University of New York Press Published by State University of New York Press © 2006 State University of New York All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without prior permission in writing of the publisher. For information, York Press, For information,address addressState StateUniversity UniversityofofNew New York Press, 194 Washington Albany, NYNY 12210-2365 194 WashingtonAvenue, Avenue,Suite Suite305, 305, Albany, 12210-2384 Production by Diane Ganeles Marketing by Michael Campochiaro Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Critical affinities : Nietzsche and African American thought / edited by Jacqueline Scott and A. Todd Franklin ; foreword by Robert Gooding-Williams. p. cm. — (SUNY series, philisophy and race) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-7914-6861-6 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-7914-6861-5 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN-13: 978-0-7914-6862-3 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-7914-6862-3 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm, 1844–1900. 2. African Americans—Intellectual life. 3. Race relations—United States. 4. Racism—United States. I. Scott, Jacqueline. II. Franklin, A. Todd, 1968– III. Series. B3317.C685 2006 193—dc22 2005029978 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Contents Foreword Robert Gooding-Williams vii Acknowledgments xix Note on Abbreviations xxi Introduction: The Art of the Cultural Physician 1 Part I: Diagnoses 1. Kindred Spirits: Nietzsche and Locke as Progenitors of Axiological Liberation A. Todd Franklin 17 2. Nietzsche, Ressentiment, Lynching John Pittman 33 3. Double Consciousness and Second Sight Kathleen Marie Higgins 51 4. Of Tragedy and the Blues in an Age of Decadence: Thoughts on Nietzsche and African America Lewis R. Gordon 75<