Dialectical Idealism and African American Philosophers of the 19th Century

• In Event: Frederick Douglass and the American Political Tradition

Abstract

In this essay, we examine dialectical idealism as a particular historical form of African-American philosophy in the 19th century. We explore a number of African American philosophers who held to a religious orientation that was ontologically founded on dialectical idealism, they nevertheless maintained a keen interest and commitment to scientific progress and theoretical advancements. This philosophical trend (which included Frederick Douglass, Alexander Crummell, James McCune and David Walker) offered a philosophy of racial advancement or racial uplift against the prevailing material context of capitalist exploitation and white supremacy. They adopted dialectical idealism as a response to the dominant forms of racist ideology grounded on mechanical materialism. This trend interestingly overlaps with themes and principles of both the American Transcendentalists and the St. Louis Hegelians.

Author

• Stephen C. Ferguson, North Carolina State University