Prof. Cornel West delivers the 2024 Gifford Lecture Series at the
University of Edinburgh, titled ‘A Jazz-soaked Philosophy for our
Catastrophic Times: From Socrates to Coltrane’. This is the first of six
lectures, titled ‘Philosophic Prelude’.
In this first lecture, Prof. West asks: How do we emerge from the bleakness of our catastrophic times?
He
summarises: ‘In seeking a way forward, I will proceed on three
philosophic levels – the genealogical, existential and pedagogical. The
genealogical, or historical, level of my analysis will set the stage,
and my period will be broadly the Age of Europe (1492-1945) and Age of
America (1945-2024). The existential level of my analysis will embrace
the lived experiences of struggling, suffering creatures. The
pedagogical level will be classical in character and musical in content.
My overall theme will resonate with the three pillars of jazz – blues
(tragicomic catastrophe lyrically expressed), swing (myopic time opened
to new possibilities) and improvisation (practical wisdom and timely
interventions unleashed).’
Prof. West is the
Dietrich Bonhoeffer Professor of Philosophy & Christian Practice,
Union Theological Seminary, New York. His teaching and publications
focus on roles of race, gender, and class struggle in American society,
synthesizing influences from Christianity, the Black Church, democratic
socialism, left-wing populism, neopragmatism and transcendentalism. A
musician and spoken word artist, Prof. West has collaborated with acts
across the rap, hip-hop and funk genres, as well as appearing in the
Matrix series and many documentary films.
The prestigious
Gifford Lectureships, held at the Universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow,
Aberdeen, and St Andrews, have been delivered annually since 1888 by a
succession of distinguished international scholars. The Lectureships
were established by Adam Lord Gifford (1820-1887) to ‘promote and
diffuse the study of Natural Theology in the widest sense of the term –
in other words, the knowledge of God’, and have enabled a most notable
field of scholars to contribute to the advancement of theological
thought.
Watch the rest of the lectures here.
Read more about the lectures through the blogs.
Find out more on past and future Gifford Lectures on the website.Please note that the captions have been automatically generated.