ABSTRACT
Bringing something as Herculean as Western philosophy to account is no mean feat, and a dominant response centres on its indistinct edges. Western philosophy is not separate from violence: philosophy is not merely a neutral entity awaiting academic contemplation. Yancy notes that Western philosophical does not focus comfortably on issues such as race and that its superior idea of itself through its inherited whiteness limits its sight. It is through African American philosophy as what he terms a 'gift' of occasional discomfort that the West can, somewhat ironically, come to see its blindness. There is a common suspicion evident in the contributions of the grand Western narrative. Peters reiterates both Heidegger's and Derrida's respective positions on this problem, reminding that Western philosophy cannot get to its own ontology through its rational method.
