Nolan Harris Jr Independent Study January 8, 2013

Sartre and Baldwin: Transgressing the Boundaries o !a"ial !ealis# The "onne"tion I want to illustrate $etween these two thin%ers&that is, Jean'(aul Sartre and Ja#es Baldwin&is that o a %ind o li$eration ro# essential "ategories )essentialist #etaphysi"s*+ ,or Sartre, as propounded in Existentialism and Human Emotions, atheisti" e-istentialis# is #a%ing a radi"al departure ro# the "on"ept o .od+ Sartre writes that $oth the atheisti" and theisti" "on"eptions o e-istentialis# ta%e as their irst prin"iple the idea that existence precedes essence+ That is, hu#an $eings, in the irst instan"e, are thrown into the world, they show up in the uni/erse, and only a terwards do they go a$out #a%ing "hoi"es and a"ting in the world so as to "onstitute what #ight $e ter#ed their essen"e+ Histori"ally, in theology and philosophy, this idea was in/erted&essen"e pre"eded e-isten"e+ There was&it was thought, as ar $a"% as (lato&so#e ideal, eternal, or uni/ersal ideality that pres"ri$ed what things, whi"h a"tually e-isted in the pheno#enal world, were+ There was supposedly so#e i-ed, essential nature a$out these pheno#enal things, whi"h de ined the#+ Sartre wants to push $a"% against that idea and state that $e"ause there is no .od ro# who# su"h essen"es "an issue, #an is ree, alone, and responsi$le or what and who she is+ 0t the outset, she is nothing )$e"ause "ons"iousness, whi"h she is, is a nothing*, and only a ter "hoosing and a"ting, hen"e e-isting, does she $egin to "onstru"t and "reate who and what it is she shall $e+ Thus, essen"e ta%es on two /ery di erent "on"eptions in these or#ulations+ The histori"al essence precedes existence or#ulation posits an ideal or uni/ersal, eternal thingness )1uiddity* that #a%es so#ething what it is+ In the "ase o hu#ans, then, this

Nolan Harris Jr Independent Study January 8, 2013

a""ount would propose so#ething "alled 2hu#an nature3+ This would $e an intrinsi", essential eature&or set o eatures&that "ir"u#s"ri$ed what it #eant to $e hu#an4 how one a"ted, li/ed, thought and so on+ There is no es"ape, or #eans $y whi"h to alter it, $e"ause $y its /ery de inition, the hu#an was pres"ri$ed $y this essential "hara"ter+ In a sense, then, the hu#an $eing would $e lo"%ed into this #ode o $eing+ .od )or so#e eternal real# $eyond our uni/erse, perhaps* would, histori"ally spea%ing, pres"ri$e this essen"e+ Howe/er, on the e-istentialist a""ount, espousing the in/ersion, e-isten"e pre"edes essen"e, there is no .od )in atheisti" e-istentialis#* to pres"ri$e this uni/ersal, eternal hu#an nature+ Sin"e there is no .od, the only $eing who "an $e said to pres"ri$e this essen"e, i there is one, is the hu#an $eing hersel )hen"e, 5su$6e"ti/ity #ust $e the starting point,7 as Sartre writes*+ The "o#pelling #o/e #ade here is that, no longer is essen"e "on"ei/ed o as an i##uta$le "ategory that, ro# eternity, was wor%ed out and de ined or all ti#e+ Instead, essen"e is dyna#i"+ Hu#anity "an "reate and re"reate itsel + No longer is hu#anity lo"%ed in, and ore/er i##ured $y, an essential hu#an nature+ I we ha/e reedo#, i we "an and #ust "hoose and a"t in this world )as part o our orlornness*, then we "an ha/e no re"ourse to eternal /erities that, prior to our e-isten"e, #andated that we should a"t, li/e, $eha/e and the li%e, in so#e prearranged way+ The or#er, "lassi"al notion o essen"e, ser/ed to a$sol/e us o any responsi$ility+ .i/en that e-istentialis# denies deter#inis# and espouses hu#an reedo# and dignity, it a""epts, with intense appre"iation and "o##it#ent, the utter responsi$ility that #ust $e ours+ No longer are we a$le to i#pute "redit or dishonor or our a"tions and words to

Nolan Harris Jr Independent Study January 8, 2013

so#e hu#an nature, whi"h says that we will or #ust a"t, spea% or li/e in a "ertain, predeter#ined way+ No+ 8e ha/e reedo#+ 8e "an "hoose+ 0nd i we "an ele"t one way, we "an "hoose otherwise+ This has power ul i#pli"ations or Baldwin and his atta"% on ra"e, as he wor%s in his writing and a"ti/is# to e-pose its internal "ontradi"tions+ Pace ra"e $eing theori9ed as a so"ial "onstru"t, the "lassi"al idea o ra"e posits "ertain natural kinds or types o hu#an $eing+ !a"e as an idea supposes that these %inds ha/e natures, essential eatures, that distinguish the# ro# the other ra"es or types o hu#an $eings+ :harles ;ills, in his 1<<8 Blackness Visible: Essays on Philosophy and Race, des"ri$es a 5#etaphysi"s o ra"e7 and details the position o the racial realist, a person who
in the #ost #ini#al sense = thinks it is o$6e"ti/ely the "ase&independent o hu#an $elie &that there are natural hu#an ra"es4 in other words, that ra"es are natural %inds+ In the stronger, #ore interesting sense, a ra"ial realist will also $elie/e that the di eren"es $etween ra"es are not "on ined to the super i"ial #orphologi"al "hara"teristi"s o s%in "olor, hair type and a"ial eatures, $ut e-tend to signi i"ant #oral, intelle"tual, "hara"terologi"al, and spiritual "hara"teristi"s also, that there are ra"ial essen"es+ )>?'@*

The ra"ial realist is the person who asserts that ra"es e-ist and that they o""ur in the natural order+ This is the person against who# Baldwin is elo1uently and persistently "ontending+ This is also the /iew that, a""ording to ;ills,
or the past ew hundred years, has $een the do#inant position on ra"e4 that is, people ha/e $elie/ed that there are natural $iologi"al di eren"es a#ong ra"es and that these di eren"es run deeper than #ere phenotypi"al traits+ )>@*

This ra"ial realis#&whi"h, indeed, is an essentialist do"trine )against whi"h an e-istentialist would rail*&is atta"%ed $y Baldwin in his 1<@3 essay, The Fire Next Time+ Baldwin argues in the irst se"tion o the te-t&an open letter to his nephew&that,
the $la"% #an has un"tioned in the white #an3s world as a ixed star, as an immo!able

Nolan Harris Jr Independent Study January 8, 2013 pillar: and as he #o/es out o his pla"e, hea/en and earth are sha%en to their oundations+ )"B#E, 2<>*1

I#pli"it in this "lai# is Baldwin3s re"ognition o the %ind o ra"ial #etaphysi"s that has $een "onstru"ted and presented as natural, eternal, and, in so#e "ases, di/inely inspired+ ,or Baldwin reali9es that the so'"alled 5negro3s pla"e7 in 0#eri"an so"iety is predi"ated upon a dyna#i" relationship $etween $la"%ness and whiteness as essentialist "ategories+ 2 Indeed, in order or whiteness to assert its superiority, its putati/e innate, natural hege#ony, it #ust "ontrast itsel against so#e other "ategory+ Baldwin, then, reali9es the i#pli"ations o transgressing the $oundaries o ra"ial realis#: whiteness as an ontologi"al "ategory o identity, predi"ated upon natural essen"es, is distur$ed and ulti#ately elled $y the assertion o a %ind o sub!ersi!e blackness&a $la"%ness in re$ellion against the a$surdity o ra"ial realis#+ That is, in 0#eri"a, at the ti#e Baldwin is writing, the Negro3s struggle or re"ognition and e1uality &this #o/ing 5out o his pla"e7&indeli$ly #ars and /itiates the ra"ial realist ontology as Negros $egin asserting their hu#anity in a way that de#ands ull, e-press re"ogni9ed+ 0nd, o "ourse, the re"ognition o the ull hu#anity, "iti9enship, and #oral worth o Negros&legally, politi"ally and so"ially&would $e tanta#ount to a "ontradi"tion: i ra"ial realists $elie/e that their a""ount o reality is true, how "an there e/er $e the reali9ation o its untruthA :an the o$6e"ti/e truth o ra"ial realis# $e su$6e"t to e#endationA It see#s, then, that the ra"ial realist ontology is "ast into a "riti"al "ontradi"tion: either the Negro is eternally deter#ined )$y .od, or nature* to $e innately
1

B#phasis #ine+

Bli9a$eth C+ Spel#an, in her essay, $Race$ and the %abor o &dentity, writes a$out Baldwin3s in"isi/e and insight ul analysis o the radi"al dependen"e o whiteness on $la"%ness, and how this identity dependen"e, as it were, re1uired wor%, poli"ing, and #onitoring to #aintain the oppression and su$6e"tion o the dispri/ileged+

>

Nolan Harris Jr Independent Study January 8, 2013

in erior in e/ery way3, or she is not+ The re/olutionary i#port, then, o the :i/il !ights ;o/e#ent should $e lo"ated 6ust as #u"h in its ontologi"al "hallenges to the hege#oni" ra"ial realist ontology that, in part, "o#prised white supre#a"ist ideology in 0#eri"a and a$road, as it is in the pra"ti"al, non'/iolent protest that was the hall#ar% o that struggle+ ,urther#ore, Baldwin is a har$inger&in a long tradition o su"h /isionaries&o this %ind trans or#ation o 0#eri"an so"iety and the assu#ptions on whi"h it rested+ Dn1uestiona$ly, his was a pro6e"t o asserting the unda#ental hu#anity o Negros& doing so $y "hallenging the un'reality o the white ra"ial realist3s assu#ptions+ Indeed, in the "on"lusion o his open letter to his nephew, Baldwin writes, 5that we ENegros in 0#eri"aF, with lo/e, shall or"e our $rothers to see the#sel/es as they are, to "ease leeing ro# reality and $egin to "hange it+ )JB:B, 2<>*7 The upshot, then, is Baldwin3s re"ognition o the essentialist nature o the ra"ial realist ontology+ The e-istentialist ontology posits hu#an $eings&no dou$t, always "ontending with their own a"ti"ity&who #ust, howe/er, a"t and "hoose their $eing )trans"ending their a"ti"ity*+ Hu#an $eings are not "on"ei/ed as 5 i-ed7 or 5i##o/a$le7 "reatures on the e-istentialist a""ount+ There ore, any a""ount that see%s to $ind any hu#an $eing, any reedo#, any "ons"iousness, in the ossi ied ties o eternality, is an e/asion )a #o/e o $ad aith* o the true reality o the hu#an situation+ 8e are all
3

0s had $een pre/iously held $y the Supre#e :ourt, 6ust a little o/er a "entury $e ore the pu$li"ation o Baldwin3s The Fire Next Time, when :hie Justi"e !oger B+ Taney, writing the #a6ority opinion in the 18?G 'red (cott ! (and ord "ase, reported that, sin"e the ti#e o the dra ting o the "onstitution $y the ounders, the negro ra"e, had $een regarded as $eings o an in erior order, and altogether un it to asso"iate with the white ra"e either in so"ial or politi"al relations, and so ar in erior that they had no rights )hich the )hite man )as bound to respect* Indeed only persons o certain races )and, one #ight add, persons o a spe"i i" gender, at this ti#e*&and o "ourse spe"ies #e#$ership does not ne"essarily entail personhood&were dee#ed worthy o the dignity o "iti9enship and thus appro$ation o their unda#ental hu#anity+

Nolan Harris Jr Independent Study January 8, 2013

5"onde#ned to $e ree7 as Sartre puts it+ !a"ial realis#, in the end, essentialist do"trine that it is, does nothing $ut i##ure those it dee#s in erior within the walls o un reedo#+

+orks #onsulted Baldwin, Ja#es 0+ #ollected Essays+ New Hor%: Ii$rary o 0#eri"a, 1<<8+ (rint+

Nolan Harris Jr Independent Study January 8, 2013

;ills, :harles 8+ Blackness Visible: Essays on Philosophy and Race+ Itha"a, NH: :ornell D(, 1<<8+ (rint+ Sartre, Jean'(aul+ Existentialism and Human Emotions+ New Hor%: :itadel, 2000+ (rint+ ,or the purposes o this dis"ussion, 6ust the irst "hapter, Sartre3s de ense and e-pli"ation o e-istentialis#, was "onsulted+ JS"ott /+ Sand ord+J (cott !* (and ord+ N+p+, n+d+ 8e$+ 08 Jan+ 2013+ Khttp:LLwww+law+"ornell+eduLsup"tLht#lLhistori"sLDSS:M:!M00@0M03<3MNO+h t#lP Spel#an, Bli9a$eth C+ JJ!a"eJ and the Ia$or o Identity+J The (ub,ect o #are: Feminist Perspecti!es on 'ependency+ Bd+ B/a ,eder+ Qittay and Bllen Q+ ,eder+ Ianha#, ;R: !ow#an S Iittle ield, 2002+ 33>'>G+ (rint+

TThis te-t was e#ended on ;onday, 0pril 22, 2013+