Ethics and Insurrection: A Pragmatism for the Oppressed [Hardcover]

Ethics and Insurrectionarticulates an ethical position that takes critical pragmatism and Harrisian insurrectionist philosophy seriously. It suggests that there are values and norms that create boundaries that confine, reduce and circumscribe the actions we allow ourselves to consider. McBride argues that an insurrectionist ethos is integral in the disavowing of norms and traditions that justify or perpetuate oppression and that we must throw our faith behind something, some set of values, if we want a chance at shaping a future.

This book encourages us to (re)imagine and shape futures with less subjection, less degradation. It urges us to interrogate and deconstruct those intervening background assumptions that authorize and reinforce the subordination of stigmatized groups. It implores us to pursue new conceptions of personhood and humanity, conceptions that forefront reciprocity and solidarity-conceptions that do not cast groups of human beings as inherently subhuman or naturally bereft of honor. And finallyEthics and Insurrectionbeseeches us to form new coalitions and bonds of trust, to engage in those forms of collective action likely to shape a better future.

InEthics and Insurrection, Lee McBride III brings together Deweyan pragmatic ethical naturalism and insurrectionist ethics. The result is a demystification of philosophy on behalf of those whose voices are ignored by standard philosophical discourse and a proposal to replace that discourse with a pragmatism for the oppressed. Dwayne A. Tunstall, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Grand Valley State University, USA

Philosophical pragmatism today sometimes runs the risk of being bogged down in endless academic debates. To paraphrase James, we are now at a stage where it l³-