Elvira Basevich
Biographic Data
| ID | 938564 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Elvira Basevich |
| GIVEN NAMES | Elvira |
| FAMILY NAME | Basevich |
| SIGNATURE | BASEVICH E |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Massachusetts Lowell |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6324-9482 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 13 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 0 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 13 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2017 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 0 |
Making conceptual space for care work in dignitarian socialism
American Reconstruction and the Abolition of Second Slavery
To highlight the promise of Jordan Pascoe’s Kant’s Theory of Labour , my comments concern the diagnostic and prescriptive dimensions of the book’s excellent intersectional critique of dependent labour relations. The diagnostic dimension of Pascoe’s critique establishes that the organisation of dependent labour relations is a neglected problem of Kantian justice. The prescriptive dimension offers solutions to this problem but is underdeveloped. To…
What is a black radical Kantianism without Du Bois? On method, principle, and abolition democracy
The late Charles W. Mills advances a powerful critique of political liberalism, asserting the centrality of racial subordination in modernity. Mills proposes an alternative approach to normative political theorizing: a “black radical Kantianism” (BRK) (1997, pp. 11–19; 2015; 2017, pp. 209–15). He maintains that Kant had pioneered modern scientific racism that rationalized slavery and colonial expansion (Lu-Adler, 2023, pp. 87–88; Mills, 2014, p. …
A paradigm shift in normative political theory
The Gender Politics of Physical Beauty and Racial Integration
In response to D. C. Matthew's article “Racial Integration and the Problem of Relational Devaluation,” I assess the politics of physical beauty in the intersection between the categories of race and gender. I scrutinize Matthew's contention that being perceived to be physically attractive reliably results in either good treatment or high self-esteem. I argue that, on the contrary, gender can function as a means of social control, in which the app…
The Promise and Limit of Kant’s Theory of Justice
This article applies Charles W. Mills’ notion of the domination contract to develop a Kantian theory of justice. The concept of domination underlying the domination contract is best understood as structural domination, which unjustifiably authorizes institutions and labour practices to weaken vulnerable groups’ public standing as free, equal and independent citizens. Though Kant’s theory of justice captures why structural domination of any kind c…
Self-Respect and Self-Segregation
In this article, I develop W. E. B. Du Bois’s concept of double consciousness to demonstrate the limitations of Kant’s and Rawls’s models of self-respect. I argue that neither Kant nor Rawls can explain what self-respect and resistance to oppression warrants under the conditions of violent and systematic racial exclusion. I defend Du Bois’s proposal of voluntary black self-segregation during the Jim Crow era and explain why Du Bois believes that …
What is an Anti-Racist Philosophy of Race and History
In this article, I defend the pragmatic relevance of race in history. Kant and Hegel's racist development thesis assumes that nonwhite, non-European racial groups are defective practical agents. In response, philosophers have opted to drop race from a theory of history and progress. They posit that denying its pragmatic relevance amounts to anti-racist egalitarianism. I dub this tactic “colorblind cosmopolitanism” and offer grounds for its reject…
Reckoning With Kant on Race
This essay develops Kant’s theory of reform to theorize racial justice reform. I assess the function of Kant’s philosophy of race as part of his nonideal theory of justice, which offers a racist pragmatic anthropology that uses the concept of race to determine the practical effectiveness of legislative reason. His philosophy of race defends a teleological account of the natural history of the human species to fulfill the requirements of justice a…
W. E. B. Du Bois’s Socialism
W. E. B. Du Bois’s socialism has provoked debate for decades. His democratic theory and critique of political economy champions democratic socialism. In this article, I offer a philosophical reconstruction of the normative foundation of his democratic socialism in three steps. First, I argue that his philosophy of the modern democratic state supports the people’s advance of the principle of free and equal citizenship or civic equality. Next, I pr…
W. E. B. Du Bois's Critique of American Democracy during the Jim Crow Era
W.E.B. Du Bois’s critique of Radical Reconstruction (1865–77)
In this essay, I argue that Hegel’s model of ethical life ( Sittlichkeit) is normatively gripping for Du Bois’s critique of Radical Reconstruction. My argument proceeds in three steps. First, I use Du Bois’s insights to explain the nature of progressive political change in historical time, an account Hegel lacks. I reconstruct the normative basis of Du Bois's political critique by articulating the three essential features of public reasoning qua …
Joseph Brodsky at Queens College (Or, Me at Work)
Joseph Brodsky at Queens College (Or, Me at Work) Elvira Basevich Note from the author: The poems below are selections from a book-length cycle of poems that in part retrace my mother's journey as a half-Jewish, half-Uyghur refugee from the Soviet Union during Perestroika, while very pregnant with me. My mother gives birth to me along the way in the city of Vienna in the summer of 1989. The collection is tentatively titled How to Love the World: …
No prominent works on this page.
Joseph Brodsky at Queens College (Or, Me at Work)
Joseph Brodsky at Queens College (Or, Me at Work) Elvira Basevich Note from the author: The poems below are selections from a book-length cycle of poems that in part retrace my mother's journey as a half-Jewish, half-Uyghur refugee from the Soviet Union during Perestroika, while very pregnant with me. My mother gives birth to me along the way in the city of Vienna in the summer of 1989. The collection is tentatively titled How to Love the World: …
W. E. B. Du Bois's Critique of American Democracy during the Jim Crow Era
W.E.B. Du Bois’s critique of Radical Reconstruction (1865–77)
In this essay, I argue that Hegel’s model of ethical life ( Sittlichkeit) is normatively gripping for Du Bois’s critique of Radical Reconstruction. My argument proceeds in three steps. First, I use Du Bois’s insights to explain the nature of progressive political change in historical time, an account Hegel lacks. I reconstruct the normative basis of Du Bois's political critique by articulating the three essential features of public reasoning qua …
Reckoning With Kant on Race
This essay develops Kant’s theory of reform to theorize racial justice reform. I assess the function of Kant’s philosophy of race as part of his nonideal theory of justice, which offers a racist pragmatic anthropology that uses the concept of race to determine the practical effectiveness of legislative reason. His philosophy of race defends a teleological account of the natural history of the human species to fulfill the requirements of justice a…
W. E. B. Du Bois’s Socialism
W. E. B. Du Bois’s socialism has provoked debate for decades. His democratic theory and critique of political economy champions democratic socialism. In this article, I offer a philosophical reconstruction of the normative foundation of his democratic socialism in three steps. First, I argue that his philosophy of the modern democratic state supports the people’s advance of the principle of free and equal citizenship or civic equality. Next, I pr…
The Promise and Limit of Kant’s Theory of Justice
This article applies Charles W. Mills’ notion of the domination contract to develop a Kantian theory of justice. The concept of domination underlying the domination contract is best understood as structural domination, which unjustifiably authorizes institutions and labour practices to weaken vulnerable groups’ public standing as free, equal and independent citizens. Though Kant’s theory of justice captures why structural domination of any kind c…
Self-Respect and Self-Segregation
In this article, I develop W. E. B. Du Bois’s concept of double consciousness to demonstrate the limitations of Kant’s and Rawls’s models of self-respect. I argue that neither Kant nor Rawls can explain what self-respect and resistance to oppression warrants under the conditions of violent and systematic racial exclusion. I defend Du Bois’s proposal of voluntary black self-segregation during the Jim Crow era and explain why Du Bois believes that …
What is an Anti-Racist Philosophy of Race and History
In this article, I defend the pragmatic relevance of race in history. Kant and Hegel's racist development thesis assumes that nonwhite, non-European racial groups are defective practical agents. In response, philosophers have opted to drop race from a theory of history and progress. They posit that denying its pragmatic relevance amounts to anti-racist egalitarianism. I dub this tactic “colorblind cosmopolitanism” and offer grounds for its reject…
The Gender Politics of Physical Beauty and Racial Integration
In response to D. C. Matthew's article “Racial Integration and the Problem of Relational Devaluation,” I assess the politics of physical beauty in the intersection between the categories of race and gender. I scrutinize Matthew's contention that being perceived to be physically attractive reliably results in either good treatment or high self-esteem. I argue that, on the contrary, gender can function as a means of social control, in which the app…
American Reconstruction and the Abolition of Second Slavery
To highlight the promise of Jordan Pascoe’s Kant’s Theory of Labour , my comments concern the diagnostic and prescriptive dimensions of the book’s excellent intersectional critique of dependent labour relations. The diagnostic dimension of Pascoe’s critique establishes that the organisation of dependent labour relations is a neglected problem of Kantian justice. The prescriptive dimension offers solutions to this problem but is underdeveloped. To…
What is a black radical Kantianism without Du Bois? On method, principle, and abolition democracy
The late Charles W. Mills advances a powerful critique of political liberalism, asserting the centrality of racial subordination in modernity. Mills proposes an alternative approach to normative political theorizing: a “black radical Kantianism” (BRK) (1997, pp. 11–19; 2015; 2017, pp. 209–15). He maintains that Kant had pioneered modern scientific racism that rationalized slavery and colonial expansion (Lu-Adler, 2023, pp. 87–88; Mills, 2014, p. …
A paradigm shift in normative political theory
Making conceptual space for care work in dignitarian socialism
Political science (12 works) · Sociology (12 works) · Law (11 works) · Politics (10 works) · Philosophy (8 works) · Political Philosophy and Ethics (7 works) · Gender Studies (6 works) · Critical Theory and Philosophy (5 works) · Epistemology (5 works) · Law and economics (5 works)