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Cornel West
Professor Emeritus, Princeton University
Cornel West is a prominent and provocative democratic intellectual. He is a Professor of Philosophy and Christian Practice at Union Theological Seminary and Professor Emeritus at Princeton University. He has also taught at Yale, Harvard, and the University of Paris. Cornel West graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard in three years and obtained his M.A. and Ph.D. in Philosophy at Princeton. He has written over 20 books and has edited 13. Though he is best known for his classics, Race Matters and Democracy Matters, and for his memoir, Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud, his most recent releases, Black Prophetic Fire and Radical King, were received with critical acclaim.
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6mins
Concepts like hope, faith, and love have no material reality—save perhaps for neurons firing in the brain—yet they are the cornerstones of human well being.
11mins
America today has normalized crimes, both physical and spiritual, says Cornel West—and being indifferent to that is the worst of all evils.
9mins
Cornel West talks about everyday poets, being the best of the human species, hope, what wokeness really means, and revolution.
2mins
The great musicians—like Curtis Mayfield, Aretha Franklin and Bob Dylan—understand life in all its bristling glory: find your passion, never leave it, and become a prisoner to the hope that […]
5mins
In the face of cruelty and sorrow, there is a form of love that can propel people past feelings of bitterness and revenge and into the desire to promote justice—for […]
4mins
Or will he finally show backbone and take a firm stance? Cornel West hopes for the latter but fears the former.
3mins
The president faces a choice, Cornell West says. He can be a masterful, Machiavellian politician like Bill Clinton or a great transformative leader like Abraham Lincoln.
6mins
If we want a society that is truly great, we will need to avoid the panicky trappings and “moral constipations” of “success” and redefine life’s real questions.
6mins
For 40 years academics were duped into idolizing the idea of unfettered markets, says Cornel West, and now our society is paying a terrible price.
3mins
His third-grade teacher slapped him when he didn’t salute the flag, and he hit her back.
2mins
The President’s failing is that he is “mesmerized” by brilliant men who are too cozy with Wall Street.
34mins
Big Think sits down with the author and University Professor at Princeton University.