Remaining in the Cave

This paper critiques the chasm between public and political philosophy in the Western tradition and argues that this chasm persists in Western-centric understandings of public philosophy. Both views remain committed to the notion of the philosopher as intellectually superior to and distinct from the public. This ignores what we take to be a promising and central theme in Africana philosophy: a commitment to liberation and resistance to Black dehumanization pursued with the public, rather than for (or in spite of) it. This conception mirrors what Sylvia Wynter calls Black humanist praxis, which is illustrated in various examples from the continent of Africa and across the African diaspora. Africana philosophy serves as a model for public philosophy because it is driven by the desire to remain in the cave where the philosopher is an enlightened participant in a broader, heterogeneous social, political, and philosophical movement.