Benjamin Lectures mit Tommie Shelby - Die politische Ethik der Unterdrückten: Über Freiheit, Solidarität und Selbstachtung

Program

Wednesday, June 18 - Race and Class in the Political Ethics of the Oppressed

This introductory lecture serves to prepare the following argument. It has three main aims: First, it establishes the idea of a political ethics of the oppressed and clarifies where to locate it within philosophy. Second, it clarifies the Black Radical tradition 's understanding of oppression based on race and class. For this, she draws on the writings of Richard Wright. And third, she opens up a general understanding of solidarity among the oppressed and the role that such solidarity plays in just political causes.

Thursday, 19.06. - Solidarity, Politics and Intellect

The second lecture examines the role intellectuals should play when the oppressed group to which they themselves belong struggles for liberation. Drawing on W. E. B. Du Bois and Richard Wright, it asks whether intellectuals should subordinate their interest in art and the mind to political resistance to injustice. She also examines the deep-seated tension that exists between the specific inclinations of intellectuals and the demands of political solidarity. The question is how (if at all) this tension can be resolved or diminished.

Friday, 20.06. - Respect for oneself and the intrinsic value of protest

The third and final lecture critically examines the importance of self-respect for a political ethics of the oppressed. This is done not least with regard to solidarity and public protest. Sometimes, in the face of unjust treatment, risky acts of resistance are necessary - even if it is foreseeable that such rebellion will not improve social conditions and will also have personal consequences. The lecture draws on Richard Wright's insights to explain why such risks are sometimes unavoidable anyway, not only to preserve one's dignity but also to fight the tendency to surrender to injustice.

Tommie Shelby is Lee Simpkins Family Professor of Arts and Sciences and the Caldwell Titcomb Professor in the Department of African and African American Studies and the Department of Philosophy at Harvard University. His works combine fundamental philosophical questions about belonging, solidarity and the possibilities of overcoming racist conditions with a precise knowledge of the Black radical tradition. Tommie Shelby is the author of The Idea of Prison Abolition (Princeton University Press, 2022), Dark Ghettos: Injustice, Dissent, and Reform (Harvard University Press, 2016), and We Who Are Dark: The Philosophical Foundations of Black Solidarity (Harvard University Press, 2005). In addition, he co-edited the volume Hip Hop and Philosophy (Open Court, 2005)

The Walter Benjamin Lectures are organized by the Centre for Social Critique at the Humboldt University of Berlin in cooperation with the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation. The language is English with simultaneous translation into German.

For more information: https://criticaltheoryinberlin.de/benjamin_lectures/the-political-ethics-of-the-oppressed-on-freedom-solidarity-and-self-respect/