Towards A Postmodern Ethic: A Foucauldian Reconstruction of the Epistemology and Metaphysics of Cornel West

"Towards a Postmodern Ethic" is project in constructive philosophical ethics. The goal is to construct a postmodern ethic of radical freedom showing how African Americans have agency in their own ontological construction. This dissertation argues that ethical theories are undergirded by certain epistemological and metaphysical assumptions. As a result, this project examines the early philosophical work of Cornel West and argues that his epistemology and metaphysics are foundational for an ethic of radical freedom. I present the epistemology of Cornel West in light of his "radical historicism," which contends that truth is historically and contextually situated. I present the metaphysics of Cornel West in light of his genealogy of modern racism and his notion of individuality and radical democracy. Regarding the genealogy of modern racism, West examines the "conditions for the possibility of white supremacy," which he believes is the impetus for modernity. Individuality and radical democracy highlight both the dignity of persons and the power to change one's reality. After examining West's epistemology and metaphysics, I then use Michel Foucault's archaeology and genealogy to reconstruct West's radical historicism, his genealogy of modern racism, and his notion of individuality and radical democracy. More specifically, I use Foucault's assessment of power/knowledge relations to reconstruct West's radical historicism, and I use Foucault's discussion of discursive and nondiscursive discourses to reconstruct West's genealogy of modern racism. And finally, I use Foucault's concept of "the technology of the self" to reconstruct West's individuality and radical democracy. The final chapter is my own constructive work, where I introduce three trajectories I think precipitate radical freedom. These trajectories are radical subjectivity, radical epistemology, and radical ontology.