Silvia Paciaroni explores Prof Jacoby Carter’s work on insurrectionist ethics, and, in particular, his forthcoming chapter: “Death by a Thousand Cuts: Insurrectionist Ethics in a Present less Oppressive than the Past,” from Insurrectionist Ethics: Radical Perspectives on Social Justice.

Current position: Associate Professor of Philosophy, and Chair of the Department of Philosophy at Howard University

Education: Ph.D. in Philosophy, Purdue University

Affiliations: Director of the Alain Leroy Locke Society, Co-editor of the African American Philosophy and the African Diaspora

Selected books:

‘African American Contributions to the Americas’ Cultures: A Critical Edition of Lectures by Alain Locke’ ()

‘Philosophic Values and World Citizenship: Locke to Obama and Beyond’ [co-edited] ()

‘Insurrectionist Ethics: Radical Perspectives on Social Justice’ [co-edited] (forthcoming)

Areas of specialisation: African American Philosophy, Social and Political Philosophy, Africana philosophy, value theory (applied ethics), philosophy of race and pragmatism, especially, the philosophy of Alain Locke.

find Prof Carter on…

academia.edu

opp’s insurrectionist ethics course: sitting three

Professor Carter has kindly agreed to lead the third sitting of opp’s Insurrectionist Ethics online course. This lecture will focus on Chapter 2: “An Insurrectionist Ethic: Critical Pragmatism and Philosophia nata ex conatu” from Professor Lee A. McBride’s Ethics and Insurrection: A Pragmatism for the Oppressed.

Phil People

Recommended Work

[Book Chapter] Death by a Thousand Cuts: Insurrectionist Ethics in a Present less Oppressive than the Past”, in Insurrectionist Ethics: Radical Perspectives on Social Justice (forthcoming)

In this chapter, Prof Carter offers an enlightening new analysis of ‘insurrectionist ethics.’ His clear and persuasive piece offers a detailed explanation of the essential conditions that make up this concept while calling attention to the oppressive context in which the idea of insurrectionist ethics arises.

“Insurrectionist ethics 1) prescribes individual or coordinated actions on behalf of the oppressed 2) in direct opposition to oppressive institutions, structures, systems or conditions of control 3) that generates a duty to insurrect or resist oppression 4) informed by a rejection of customary morality that gives warrant to seemingly impossible forms of oppositional being that make seemingly absurd valuations understandable 5) motivated by a transvaluation of putative norms and values, or 6) predicated on radical reconceptualization of social, political and moral conceptions 7) aimed at radical transformation, abolition, or liberation from oppression.
”

— p.24

Within this broader set up, I focus upon points 4,5, and 7, which stem from an attentive analysis of the role that context plays in generating the idea of insurrectionist ethics.

Prof Carter’s remarks begin with context, initiating the shape of the chapter’s argument. His idea, simple and yet often overlooked, is that social justice is merely an ideal, presenting visions not currently actualised in our society. Thus, in spite of a hegemonically dominant understanding that ‘we’ live in a just, liberal society, Prof Carter underlines that justice is not a crucial characteristic of the world people actually inhabit.

Carter points out that oppressive systems, which fundamentally constitute our society, impose upon living beings moral codes which inevitably restrict any universal application of justice as a coherent, practised concept. In this sense, oppression takes away from subordinated groups theapplication to give it instead more to thus-construed dominating groups, while at the same working to convince everyone effectively enough that they do live in a just system. Depicting justice as coherently, consistently, and ‘justly’ practised in an oppressive society is misleading, and furthermore detrimental in actuality to a struggle for equality: revolt appears immoral in a seemingly moral world. Insurrectionist ethics, then, arisesin response to the worldly demand that oppressed groups justify their actions that fight the ideologically hidden injustice and immoralities that run throughout the structures and systems of oppressive societies.

Looking closely, we find the extra burden placed upon oppressed groups to justify their actions to live equally and freely. The “severe ethical constraints” (p. 2) placed upon their lives ensure both discrimination and the lack of tools to conceptualise related injustices. In this sense, insurrectionist ethics is anti-ethical as it challenges the present normative framework:

The immoral nature of the present state of affairs rules out the possibility of appealing to the moral sense of the oppressors in order to fight for equality. They cannot appeal to the oppressor’s sense of justice if that already includes and justifies oppression of certain categories. Crucially, Carter advances the idea that the oppressive hierarchies are not created and maintained accidentally, mistakenly, or by miscalculation in an otherwise just system, but rather are carved out purposively to preserve that very social order.

In this deviant moral environment,Prof Carter argues for a transvaluation of values: to completely transform values that support oppression to abolish the systems they uphold.“The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house” (A. Lorde, in Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches. Trumansburg, NY: Crossing Press, 106-109). Thus, Prof Carter notes:

The new values are the tools that radically change existing (im)moral norms. Transvaluation is central to insurrectionist ethics and requires a total conversion of what it means to be virtuous. The oppressive values can no longer be considered an acceptable, even if not dominant, moral norm at any level. A paradigm shift makes room for the perception of and appropriate response to oppression: seeking to end it. Prof Carter succinctly and powerfully states that transvaluation, then:

“Both the duty to resist and normative framework of insurrectionist ethics are anti-ethical, that is, they arise and function within a normative context that places an unreasonable and unfulfillable normative demand on the oppressed.
”

— p.7

“Liberation, for the insurrectionist, neither requests nor requires the moral approval of oppressors.
”

— p.16

“is a refusal to accept the parameters on ethical conduct prescribed and enforced by the beneficiaries of an unjust status quo. But more than that it is an effort to reimagine values and virtuous conduct that may promote a realizable liberation and freedom for the oppressed”

— p.17

The creation and promotion of values in favour of the dominant and in disqualification of any subordinated groups should be seen as a telling sign of that immoral oppressive action. If attributing virtuous qualities to certain values does not necessarily entail that those values are in reality virtuous, we must more finely hone our collective reasoning powers to discern less oppressive ways forward.

Recognising the role that present values play in maintaining oppressive systems (for example, an articulation of humanity which favours white, heterosexual men) motivates action against those systems. What causes insurrectionist actions is Awareness that flawed values are dominant in society leads to insurrectionist action and ethos Once again, existing values cannot be used to justify insurrectionist actions, precisely because those values exist to support oppression, other than by being transvaluated.This leads Prof Carter to assert that abolition is crucial to insurrectionist ethics: truly fighting against and ending oppression requires the ‘radical’ abolition of the (actual current) system and hierarchies, and the creation of a new widely participatory moral framework.

Prof Carter's analysis of insurrectionist ethics highlights the oppressive context in which the concept arises, and the need for a transvaluation of values and radical transformation in order to fight against oppressive institutions and systems. ‘Insurrectionist ethics’ prescribes actions on behalf of the oppressed that oppose oppression while aiming for liberation, rejecting any customary morality that disallows actual resistance. This ethic is necessary in, and a symptom of, a society where justice is not currently actualized and where oppressive systems restrict a universal practise of justice— where appealing to the moral sense of the oppressors is not possible due to the immorality of the existing social order. Keep this in mind.

Insurrectionist ethics calls you to question, see, and rise up to fight against oppressive systems and institutions that seek to control and dominate: reject oppressive status quo, refuse to accept injustices and discrimination,transvaluate values, radically reconceptualize the ‘just’ and ‘moral’ in our society and in our philosophy.