Doing Philosophy Personally: Thinking about Metaphysics, Theism, and Antiblack Racism (American Philosophy)

Gabriel Marcel’s reflective method is animated by his extraphilosophical commitment to battle the ever-present threat of dehumanization in late Western modernity. Unfortunately, Marcel neglected to examine what is perhaps the most prevalent threat of dehumanization in Western modernity: antiblack racism. Without such an account, Marcel’s reflective method is weakened because it cannot live up to its extraphilosophical commitment. Tunstall remedies this shortcoming in his eloquent new volume. The author contends that Gabriel Marcel's reflective method is animated by two extraphilosophical commitments. Marcel's first extraphilosophical commitment is to an ethico-religious insight where the highest ontological exigency for human persons is to participate in being. Marcel's second extra-philosophical commitment is to battle the ever-present threat of dehumanisation in late Western modernity. The importance of these two commitments to Marcel's reflective method can be appreciated better if one views it as a teleological suspension of philosophy. Marcel's reflective method is animated by his extra-philosophical commitment to battle the ever-present threat of dehumanization in late Western modernity. Unfortunately, Marcel neglected to examine what is perhaps the most prevalent threat of dehumanization in Western modernity: antiblack racism. Without such an account, Marcel's reflective method is weakened because it cannot live up to its extra-philosophical commitment. Here, the author addresses Marcel's shortcoming Tunstall contends that Gabriel Marcel's reflective method is animated by two extraphilosophical commitments. Marcel's first extraphilosophical commitment is to an ethico-religious insight where the highest ontological exigency for human persons is to participate in being. Marcel's second extra-philosophical commitment is to battle the ever-present threat of dehumanisation in late Western modernity. The importance of these two commitments to Marcel's reflective method can be appreciated better if one views it as a teleological suspension of philosophy Frontmatter Preface (page xi) Acknowledgments (page xv) Introduction (page 1) 1 Marcel's Reflective Method (page 19) 2 Transcending Philosophy by Teleologically Suspending Philosophy (page 34) 3 Living in a Broken World (page 57) 4 Lewis Gordon on Antiblack Racism (page 80) 5 Criticizing Marcel's Reflective Method (page 101) Conclusion (page 113) Notes (page 123) Bibliography (page 155) Index (page 173)