Alain Locke's Critical Pragmatism as Applied to Race and Culture

Pragmatists reject philosophical approaches and claims to knowledge that have no practical application. Knowledge must be useful. Ultimately, the pragmatist is able to commit to only those problems or inquiries that affect community, the answers of which have some usefulness to the world. Pragmatists often claim that this approach works for those interested in keeping philosophy’s focus on communities. Even though pragmatism claims this virtue, one might wonder whether it is susceptible to what it seeks to reject. This chapter presents Alain Locke’s critical pragmatism as a response to pragmatism’s limitation for solving communal problems. In fleshing out Locke’s critical pragmatism, I appeal to his thought on race and culture.