Title

Remedying defective or deficient political agency: Cornel West's uses of the tragic

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

8-4-2006

Publication Title

New Political Science

DOI

10.1080/0739314042000217034

ISSN

1469-9931

Abstract

American culture has often been seen, particularly from the standpoint of Europe, as lacking a sense of the tragic. On the European view, this tragic deficit is the reason that Americans are more likely to act intemperately or with hubris. A critique of American culture for its lack of conscious engagement with tragedy figures prominently in the work of Cornel West. He argues that a broader American receptiveness to the tragedies of American history and life will result in a greater commitment to participate in public life for the purpose of relieving unnecessary suffering. In the first place, he sees tragedy as a means of fostering hopefulness and counteracting the tendency of citizens, particularly African‐Americans, to retreat to privatized modes of despair. Tragedy also functions in West's thought as a means of fostering a sense of solidarity across class and racial lines. Lastly, tragedy can heighten the appreciation of left intellectuals for the existential dimensions of political and social agency.

Comments

Copyright and Open Access: https://v2.sherpa.ac.uk/id/publication/5888

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