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Work #1211 · Late

Critique of Black Reason

Achille Mbembe
2013 (French), 2017 (English) · French
Postcolonial-political-philosophical theory · Postcolonial theory / Africana philosophy / Critical race theory

Mbembe's 2013 critique of the racial-philosophical foundations of modernity — Blackness as political-philosophical category

Attribute Fingerprint

Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.

Attribute Critique of Black Reason (Late)
Time · Extent Infinite
Time · Ontological Status Substantival
Time · Grain Continuous
Time · Freedom Non-Deterministic
Time · Traversability Linear
Time · Dimensionality One
Time · Direction Uni-directional
Space · Extent Infinite
Space · Ontological Status Substantival
Space · Curvature Flat
Space · Dimensionality Three
Space · Locality Non-Local
Matter · Extent Infinite
Matter · Ontological Status Substantival
Matter · Conservation Conserved
Matter · Dimensionality Three
Matter · Locality Non-Local
Observer · Time Instance Single
Observer · Space Instance Single
Observer · Knowledge Extent Partial
Observer · Knowledge Retainment Partial
Observer · Physicality Embodied
Observer · Agency Active
Observer · Number Plural
Observer · Metaphysical Agency None
Observer · Moral Authority Community
Observer · Theological Method
Energy · Extent Infinite
Energy · Ontological Status Substantival
Energy · Conservation Conserved
Energy · Dispersibility Irreversible
Information · Ontological Status Substantival
Information · Cosmic Conservation Variable
Information · Personal Conservation Variable
Information · Granularity Discrete

Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence

What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.

Time

Critique of Black Reason

The 2013 contemporary moment of critical-theoretical engagement with race and modernity.

Space

Critique of Black Reason

The global-historical setting of modern racial-philosophical construction.

Matter

Critique of Black Reason

The embodied subjects whose racial-philosophical categorisation the book examines.

Observer

Critique of Black Reason

Mbembe as proper Africana-philosophical theorist.

Energy

Critique of Black Reason

The intellectual-political energies of contemporary Africana philosophy.

Information

Critique of Black Reason

The systematic theoretical content of the racial-philosophical critique.

Internal Tensions

Where each work's argument pulls against itself.

Critique of Black Reason

Critique of Black Reason has been widely cited as foundational contemporary critical-race-theoretical work; defenders see major contribution to the proper philosophical analysis of race and modernity, critics question some specific philosophical-historical claims.