Black Universals and Alain Locke's Notion of Value

Alain Locke's relationship to philosophy is, as Leonard Harris has remarked, one of the “enigmas” of his life (Harris 1989, 10). On the one hand, Locke was drawn to philosophy early in his undergraduate education. At Harvard he quickly chose philosophy as his major, taking classes with William James and Josiah Royce, thus getting a grounding in American pragmatism. Jeffrey Stewart recounts the story of Locke meeting the then giant of American philosophy George Herbert Palmer, going on to say that Locke's “choice of courses with Palmer suggests that he may have been attracted to philosophy because of its vision of a universal discourse that all men, regardless of race, could participate in” (Stewart 2018, 64).After Harvard, Locke continued his education at Oxford from 1907 to 1910 as the first Black Rhodes Scholar. He then went to Berlin, staying there from 1910 to 1911. He took classes with Georg Simmel on Johann Fichte's philosophy; he was also a student of the Kantian Benno Erdman. When Locke began his doctorate in philosophy at Harvard in 1916, we know that the works of Franz Brentano, Christian von Ehrenfels, and Alexius von Meinong, the “Austrian” school of value, were influential. His advisor was Ralph Barton Perry, a value theorist. Locke was, as we know, the first Black American man to receive a doctorate in philosophy from Harvard in 1918, and only the second Black American man to receive a doctorate in philosophy in the United States. After graduation, Locke spent the better part of his career in the Philosophy Department at Howard University, chairing the department for more than 40 years, though his tenure there was interrupted by his dismissal in 1925 and reinstatement in 1928.Yet, during that time period, Locke only published a few pieces that are explicitly in philosophy. At the same time, Locke was prolific in his literary and cultural criticism and work on race. Why Locke published so rarely in philosophy is, as Christopher Buck has also remarked, “strange” (Buck 2010, 226). Jeffrey Stewart and Leonard Harris's work during the 1980s unearthed a few more unpublished papers and lectures, which have given us a slightly fuller picture of Locke's philosophical work. Locke's focus in his published and unpublished philosophical work is value theory and pluralism. The work on pluralism has been commented upon.1 By contrast, the work on value theory has received less comment.2 The prose in these essays is rather dry,3 standing in stark contrast to Locke's writing in The New Negro and to his aesthetic and social criticism. Compounding the style of the prose is the technical vocabulary of these essays, influenced by both pragmatism and the “Austrian” school.Locke's first published paper in philosophy, the only one in the field he was trained in, was written at the relatively late age of 50 in 1935. It draws on his dissertation and is titled “Values and Imperatives.” The paper considers shifts in value, known as transvaluation, central to a theory of value. The essay is prefaced by what Locke calls a “psychograph.” Asked to provide a brief account of himself to accompany his essay, the psychograph was his response. In it, Locke appears to give a reason for his sparse philosophical production. He states that he is “a cultural cosmopolitan, but perforce an advocate of cultural racialism as a defensive counter-move for the American Negro, and accordingly more of a philosophical mid-wife to a generation of younger Negro poets, writers, artists than a professional philosopher” (312).Locke here declares that a pragmatic advocacy of “cultural racialism” is the reason for his sparse philosophical production, his desire diverted from professional philosophy to philosophical midwifery. The figure of Locke as midwife to a younger generation of “Negro poets, writers, artists” is well known. Yet the psychograph prefaces the first essay in which Locke is a professional philosopher. Within the rhetoric of the psychograph, this statement doesn't quite function as the apology that it seems to be. What, then, is the relationship of this psychograph to the essay that follows? Scholars have not read Locke's psychograph in conjunction with the essay, preferring by and large to comment upon the psychograph as a stand-alone piece. Curiously, Leonard Harris reproduces the psychograph in his introduction to The Philosophy of Alain Locke but does not include it with the essay itself.For Stewart, Locke had moved to philosophy as a young undergraduate because of a “universality” that appeared to transcend race. For the mature Locke, the existence of race can't be schematized into the relationship of a particular to a universal. What is the relationship of race to universality in Locke? What happens when it is a Black subject that voices a universal?In this paper, I contend with these questions by reading Locke's psychograph alongside “Values and Imperatives.” In the first part of this essay, I offer a reading that relates these ostensibly distinct texts. In the psychograph, as I show, the desire of the Black philosophical subject is produced as always already liable to circumstantial change. The universal is voiced through these shifts. “Values and Imperatives” carries this argument forward, making the case for functional rather than metaphysical universals. In the second part of this essay, I situate the psychograph and “Values and Imperatives” a for philosophical that during the and to the of in and the United States. The first of these was in Philosophy in by the to in the works of and the of philosophical and from for his was by and then George and William American the and philosophy, in on the Locke's was published in the one of and American Philosophy and It is by the that he is the only Black man to and because his an to the subject of philosophy, rather than an of the Locke also in his for a philosophical that provide a of the philosophy. a reading that the and philosophy, I that in Locke it is the Black philosophical subject is to functional which for a subject of universality and I an of this in the part of the essay by at a that during a meeting of The American on Locke In that Locke and a young Locke in a that as a that Locke's of a functional we into Locke's us the of we the universality and in the of philosophical by of race. this paper that an of the Black subject to a subject from which to the universal that he had the “cultural when he was a and Locke a student in George at Locke to an essay to his titled American Philosophy and with Stewart has that Locke's with and the had spent time in and a of with both in to Locke's of (Stewart 2018, In Locke was a on “Negro and writing a of which was then an with the of and both Locke to Locke spent and writing “Values and Imperatives” for and to essays, as I have with a The essays were to be Locke, as he is to a of is also in the brief that Locke's psychograph, he as one of his of Locke may have been the of this a that he give The of this which to us with of an of a the in which the of Black life always already more For taking the life I know the of a of the and of race reading us the of this Locke's suggests that life to the of a but we know Locke Locke's of his of was an of his that he it to it that same it was an to we Locke with the of writing a of as he his For Stewart, Locke in a that he both and was also received figure as that subject that its not know Locke to What we say is that in his Locke a subject rather than one of the of is the of the Locke's psychograph this has a and reading of Locke's psychograph as a in which the of is always also draws to the of psychograph For a psychograph was a through the of a not Locke this of the the more of the as a for we in that he the rather than The subject of a not with the subject of an What we in Locke's psychograph is the of the of desire in a psychograph with the of a philosophical subject for desire and the of that desire are not to as the in but I have as the of with a are The first is the subject to that be in the and the subject desire be The second is, of what the subject to and it appears have to thus an in the of this philosophical The of a from the into an is not for Locke, an that be by the which suggests the of the of a It has produced a Locke in the figure of a which a an desire and its with of by and with the at the the of it by as a Negro a and of American and by reason of the making more of a than a more of a than a The here of is as a of is a of that is not an by with the are in which one the The is that the be It is thus not quite a desire but a that this has the of at Harvard, to the of Palmer, and attracted by the of and the of in I to work but was to doctorate in At more by the of but of the of the philosophy of value. the in and an relationship to the as and Locke's a subject in which the of by the figure of the of Locke's of his time at Harvard as an undergraduate and student and his time at Oxford are both the race that he had to contend with and his Locke to his race then appears as the reason for a his and philosophical and his but because of race in and in but by a of to of the of and with and a cultural cosmopolitan, but perforce an advocate of cultural racialism as a defensive counter-move for the American Negro, and accordingly more of a philosophical mid-wife to a generation of younger Negro poets, writers, artists than a professional philosopher. rhetoric of the philosophical subject from its desire to a It is in the of the conjunction that the of value, because of race, is for this subject is with not its The in the of in Locke to a desire by the because the of a Black man were by say that the of race thus an Locke it is the of the philosophical subject through that to the universal. Locke's is a to Locke to be a race in the “Negro to the United to which we also include American philosophy then, with this psychograph, that I into its as cultural pluralism and value with a not to the American of Locke's as a of to the of which Locke to from a to a cultural pluralism. thus as a this the of the of the to the psychograph to the philosophical that Locke us that he his In the essay that is as the to in a that and and In this of one has to with the of and the is by then also read this as a not to the as cultural to “Negro In the that this the to contend with the of race as a of that the of rather than that in of an For cultural pluralism is the of as and of as For Locke, the of race than only in of us to “Values and Imperatives.” Locke with the that it seems to are in of life and not of of time, and and thus of rather than not be so universal as to the of an but may be the of a its and into not Locke had read The had been well by one of the in Locke also spent his in during the and not Locke read this with universal is as a seems to we read this first the of the we the In the into its as cultural pluralism and value In the of the essay may be the of a its and into here is a through which appears as is a that Locke in his aesthetic criticism and in these philosophical to what appears to be an the and the an that Locke is to from the first in that all are of Locke with this that all to this of he then by that philosophy to The figure of that was at work in Locke's psychograph is also in in the philosophical work. philosophy of is the that carries the of the to the by Locke by the in which the figure of a that is at work in the writing these it that the essay philosophical is with the of is to the of the first of Locke shifts to the of and the of American of American have been so to and the of and that have been to have at the of value, have which has into a as as the have in a and which has been as In we not to for we by more that these as well as the more and that as well as as I we that not in is this through but through of and in and Locke's of the of the be The Black has had to contend with from the is not as in the as the Locke then shifts from the of the be that as it may Locke's of in as the is that as it it seems that we are at to the that account of of value and the in a philosophical to from a of then into the of a does in a the and then of the figure of an to then to the for which had been in for on to that in metaphysical Locke's to these questions is, Brentano, to a in of the unpublished Locke the metaphysical of and value that the of and that we as give to and also a the and the Locke that the reason and and the and does not that are with Locke suggests that is a of He for in and has always been in the to be drawn is as that is the work of the and and Locke on to that which be is a read Locke here as a to from the of in philosophy, which has been to the subject in the the In of a is by what we Locke, the that what What is I a that that that that that to this and does not to and also that and by the the of the field of in that all are that is to that are and The of had essays in the that on the of what are are and so Locke calls his His account is by and large on the of philosophy, and rather than “Values and Locke does not on the of what a value he on a value the philosophical of and as Locke that these are not for Locke are not only but also in of He the of that an aesthetic that a be as and that a be For Locke, the of and is to value. It is a in an it is a to Locke thus the argument that are in what he calls The of a value is the of a as and as and have of but are rather also say to particular Locke a of value, in which are into an and an value a of these the value and as and for the and and for On Locke's functional a is not but rather an to The functional of these is of rather than Locke, its a of that is rather than for an a of an It is in this of that Locke the of and rather than in of metaphysical is in the of these for that Locke shifts to the social and Locke that value, when it has a has a to as a of the and at the of the into Locke suggests that the to value in a and that are in not in the could be Locke, that all are of the same rather than then it be to the as an and rather than the of the of one value we then is that are not so by as by the of In Locke that to value in desire is and it is more to as a of the an “a of the in as the of of was Locke suggests that a in of value and at to at the of By the of and thus for also Locke that a of be which both the of the that a subject with and a and Locke's here is to value from value with his Josiah of to had when from to a of that to the as the for was the to in and to that through the It is only when for one the for in a he to and for Locke, a and to that be to of on For Locke, this which thus also be the and of through and Locke this to for in and had so a been to it, in At the of the essay, Locke that we have of of of be and of and is a here for philosophy this is an of the of than for Locke's is that an of that and it it from value What Locke for in is that is in the of that have to the of “cultural and value pluralism of He thus that is to to an less and less at the is that the by functional and Locke here to in to The figure of that Locke also the essay, a and a is may have we are and in of value a has these a for the and of generation Locke in his essay is not so a American in his a that by the of a a the to Locke's on a rather than explicitly carries with it the of an What we for in the universality of the that Locke are the through which are as the theory is the to a universal is not as as it for with the metaphysical for the the and the with voiced in his essays on value in of the of is given more in his unpublished he in a carries a to one himself as the of all he is by the of the of the of it the of functional universals. For Locke, is a first for which the is to and The second is to through of and which to a functional us Locke's the in philosophical that began during the In published the first of in took his from a in philosophy that the of to at the United University, in titled and In this that there is an and value in to the of a through work. of that that philosophy, as a be from its to the of to philosophical work. a of reading the in the both in the of as reading a philosophical work and in the of the that philosophical we read the of the in the that as to into the all the from are there is a in the He is that he has his from the of his but he to give his and a of this the a his In to a philosophical life to the philosophy, case be in a The of this for is that philosophy in the influenced by his that the philosophy is only as a by that all philosophical work is a life in the and He that life of a to an of his are that are to the He to the life and his philosophy as an of the what he calls a philosophical work of the that it, that a is thus to the of the same in works that are with what is universal and there is all the from are he of philosophy as and and not that philosophy is more the than the He the with all that are to in than and that are subject to the work. that a of by not more is thus better to the the as explicitly and the of that in argument is is a his argument that only the of a philosophical is to give a of work and his that a of in the philosophical The of reading is not the same as the of to the of in a work. were published the and and in the United by then the value and of was for philosophical to offer a of this In the philosophical to a in to philosophical the of philosophy for a and philosophy. He that has been at in these is in the first to give the an of what as the of philosophy and what have to central in of He an account that the in the second and as a from the have been to to the which and have had in a particular to of in his first offer of is the only one that the into the he in the of his The and of the by and published in and the George and William offer a American in titled American and the essays which were his of the that had In Christian a of the writing of these that of the and of a and of of his life as to to have been in his may as value both to the and to his as the to which the field of is also to may and in a of the to which not of are by of a philosophical to to and of a as these all with to of the in philosophy through the of the of the The that through all of these is the which with that the of a the in more a than of and had pieces by of the of American philosophy, George and Ralph Barton It with a by George Herbert Palmer, Locke's first philosophy and American and be the these It to the of American on the with which the the American as philosopher” and and published only as his by writing that not published from a vision of and a for to a account of for which the is only to the but to it The is as the then, we are to read the as the and through which the be of is only by Alain Locke's the the and the philosophical is not one of and us to What happens when the subject of philosophical is a Black In what happens when the of is the of the particular and had to universality in the of a philosopher. For this is an from the of the the could be as a of to and the For a an be as an life is of a more for the Black for be by of a into a Locke, the of as a a that a philosophical with and thus the of desire in to It is from this that Locke a functional universal that is on and thus The philosophical subject and its and are through It is the Black subject this the of and the of this Locke to a to a is, as I in the for the subject in of universality and Locke's thus a of from metaphysical to functional to in value and rather than from metaphysical of with a on in of the of the New for a titled in the to be published in the The American Scholar. with the were in its and Locke, the and and The were then an for and and the of the the and only then a at the and an and and were the young in the all in early Locke was the by then in his is that this taking during the and and in the of both and in on and in a better life as the of the as the the and the United and the United these is not there and the of the is so is the of in is the of as a the of the the of a the of and so Locke is quickly interrupted when he does to The to in is also to a For the men, the in the and is the Locke the of that had so the Locke of and has us to the which the which have been upon us by the in and in the of The by the that Locke to and to change. The which have been upon Locke is then he to his a pragmatic of this he that in the generation the that be from a for have a the Locke, it seems and thus the relationship and the had for Locke is a in the He on to say that for this the of have to to the from to by of the of American the on by In what have an of the of one as For Locke, the of the subject had thus to the of the to a in in stark contrast with the subject with the subject of the that Locke had Locke's statement that the of doesn't the in, It is a Locke's that have been to be in the by the and had the was Locke's to a subject of that for the younger have been as because he of age the of the of which began the of in the United began in with the had been and during the and for the of is not in this a comment in the of for that is a the that the was in the of and the may well have been a and say that have had in the United from the Yet Locke's these men, as the only in the and as the only and only man in the its Locke to at the he quickly for a is not time of from the of the meeting be read as the to the of the Black a was trained in value at the of the that the pragmatism of American is for of the same is which Locke because the was a of this It be to the of that Black have received the a that both and a Black here the of a with this brief by Locke in to a is a better of the in value for Locke for the and that had for of the the in the to the in value because of of with the subject of the of as a a subject for which the and are a subject are always a philosophical subject of the of and Locke's in and his is to Locke's to a universal as a “Negro race in of the the of The New Negro the What which the of a His Negro to American and a figure and of the Yet Locke is not with the he He in the with the same Negro to American and and a of this paper in In the as in and What the of the is a which a it a that be schematized and but is rather a functional and to be in and the social we a that be by a Black in are and rather than the race of the this in “Values and the only paper in the field that he was trained in, Locke a psychograph, to be as a to the essay that as is to the of race and reading Locke's at in relationship to philosophy. then Locke's into at the of Black a of philosophical universals

American philosophy · Art history · Contemporary philosophy · Epistemology · Pragmatism · Value (mathematics · Classics · History · Philosophy · Political Philosophy and Ethics · Political Theory and Influence · Seventeenth-Century Political and Philosophical Thought

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