Yancy and Caputo in 2015

[George Yancy, John D. Caputo: Looking White In the Face; July 02

2015 NYT http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/07/02/looking-white-in-the-face/]

G.Y.: Is there a version of philosophy that binds us philosophers to the real, one
that requires risking our necks for the least of these? J.D.C.: That is the attraction
of postmodern philosophy to me, which is a philosophy of radical pluralism. It
theorizes alterity, calls for unrelenting sensitivity to difference, and teaches us
about the danger of our own power, our freedom, our we. I think that philosophy
is not only a work of the mind but also of the heart, and it deals with
ultimate matters about which we cannot be disinterested observers. So at
a certain point in my career I decided to let my heart have a word, to write in a
more heartfelt way, which of course is to push against the protocols of the
academy. That is why I advised my graduate students, only half in jest, that it
would be too risky for them to write like that, and safer to wait until they were
tenured full professors! Furthermore,we do not merely write, we teach. Teaching
means interacting in a fully embodied and engaged way with young people
at a very precious moment in their life when they are most ready to hear something
different.HerephilosophyprofessorsbrushupagainstwhatIconsiderthereligiousandpropheticqualityoftheir
work,eveniftheyresistthosewords.Ourworkisavocationbeforeitisaformofemployment.Ofcourse,thisis
possibleinanyphilosophicalstyleortradition,butthisisthespecialattractionofContinentalphilosophyforme.
Thisstyleofthinkingeruptedinthe19thcenturywithKierkegaardandNietzsche,whowrotewiththeirblood,as
wesay,andtheyoungMarx,andstretchedfromphenomenologytopoststructuralisminthe20thcentury,andcame
toaheadunder the name of postmodernism, the affirmation of difference and

plurality in a dizzying, digitalized world. This tradition speaks from the

heart, speaks to the heart. Icametophilosophythroughreligionandtheologyandasaresult

philosophyhasalwayshadasalvificandpropheticqualityforme.Ithasalwaysbeenawaytosavemyself,evenas
inantiquityphilosophydidnotmeananacademicspecialtybutawayoflivingwisely.Thisisallthreatenedtoday
by the professionalization of the university, of our teaching and our writing. G.Y.: The 20th century French
philosopher JeanFranois Lyotard claimed that postmodernism involved a resistance toward and critical
questioning ofmetanarratives big stories like the Enlightenment, the march ofscientific progress, or the
supremacyoftheWest,thatlegitimatenationsorcultures.Ithink postmodernism has tremendous
value in terms of critically engaging racism . Yet metanarratives are also powerful, and
resistanttobeingundone.Besidesencouragingwhitepeopletobecomemorethoughtful,howdowedothedeeper
ethicalworkofdwellingnearoneanother,recognizingoursharedhumanity?J.D.C.:Emancipation is

a prophetic call that never stops calling. If we take it as a meta-narrative,

then we run the danger of being lulled into a myth of progress, and we
have seen how successful the right has been in reversing progress in civil
rights and fair elections. But if I am dubious about meta-narratives, I am
not dubious about prophetic action, which lies in singular sustained acts
of resistance. Ihaveseveraltimesusedtheexampleof Rosa Parks.She did not one day,
out of the blue, refuse to give up her seat and move to the back of the
bus, nor was she even the first one to do that. What she did that day was
another in a long line of acts of resistance, but this one worked. This one

linkedasLyotardwouldputit.ItsetoffacitywidebusboycottinMontgomery,Ala.,whichwasledbyayoung
pastornooneeverheardofwhoranalocalchurch,afellownamedMartinLutherKingJr. The rest is
history a history the right would like to undo. SoRosaParksdidtherightthingatthe
righttimeintherightplace. She set off the perfect storm for racists! I have a

hope against hope not in meta-narratives but in singular actions like that.
Singular, but consistent and resolute.