Cornel West (Contemporary Sociologist) - Term Paper Example

West travels comfortably between diverse dimensions and aspects of the Northern America globe (Yancy, 87). West focuses on four traditions in managing his thought. These four traditions include pragmatism, existentialism, Christianity and cultural Marxism. The theory of commodification and market expansion by Marx happens to be the main component in West’s theory as well. However, he focuses upon the critical Marxian outlook on culture. From the pragmatism form of tradition, West considers the idea of practical values rising from the collective conversation.

West considers expediency as a major philosophy in the American democratic experimentation. West considers the ideas of subjective authenticity and passionate absurdity from existentialism form of tradition. From Christianity form of tradition, he considers love for oneself and others and the prophetic outcry for clemency and fairness (Allan, 343). Early years and education Cornel West was born in June 1953 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. West grew up in the isolated area of Glen Elder neighborhood in the outer edge of Sacramento, California.

West recalls his life in the predominately- proletarian community and he remembers that most people felt positive by life ahead of them. It was a land of enjoyable single-family homes and baseball diamonds even for those black families with modest means in isolated neighborhood. In his early age, the themes of love, community and struggle permeated in him and occupied a pivotal place in his mind. In this regard, West received unconditional love and affirmation from his family members and relatives, together with the black church emphasis upon the community, black cultural uniqueness and its effort to fight with misery (Cowan, 2).

In his youth age, Cornel admired the preaching of Shiloh Baptist Church, Pastor Willie P. Cooke, revered Martin Luther King Jr., and came to political awareness by attentively listening to Black Panther meetings. He took the lifelong certainty that politics should put together the best available theory with tangible policies from the Panthers (Gary, 3). In his teenage age, West developed interest in the work of Soren Kierkegaard, which encouraged him to study philosophy in the university. In the year 1970, he enrolled in Harvard as a student at a time when the Ivy League was beginning to accommodate African Americans (Cowan, 2).

At the age of twenty, West joined Princeton University for a doctoral program in philosophy. He became anxious since he thought that the Princeton philosophers would destabilize his Christian faith, misuse him of his desirability to Wittgenstein and look down on his equally strong attraction to Frankfurt School neo-Marxism. His consultant, Richard Rorty, took a pragmatic historicist turn that armored West's obligations to anti-foundationalism. Richard argued that Marx's misappropriation of historical consciousness and appraise were critically of capitalism.

Ethical values of individuality and democracy, despite his attacks on moral reason portrayed his actions (Gary, 5). West returned to Union seminary in the year 1987 but in the year 1988, he moved to Princeton University as a professor of Religion and Director of Afro-American studies. Princeton University asked Cornel what would take to get him and he replied that it would take a serious dedication to build an important black studies program. He gave six years to novelist Toni Morrison, in building one