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Two Types of Neo-Kantianism. The Case of W. E. B. Du Bois’s and Alain L. Locke’s Race Theories

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Published/Copyright: September 27, 2023

Abstract

The paper uses the Neo-Kantian distinction between Natural and Human sciences and its methodological implications to navigate W. E. B. Du Bois’s and Alain L. Locke’s theories of race. In tracing a continuity between these two figures, the paper also shows how their respective reliance on Neo-Kantian categories leads them to different results. The goal is to show how, while Du Bois’s Neo-Kantianism is best understood as a Diltheyan Neo-Kantianism of the psycho-physical unity of human nature influenced by an anti-metaphysical orientation, Locke’s Neo-Kantianism can be seen as a Neo-Kantianism whose focus is the rejection of causality and of the causal nexus between biological and non-biological traits.


Corresponding author: Massimo Cisternino, University of Oregon Graduate School, Philosophy, 1295 University of Oregon, 97403-1219, Eugene, Oregon, USA, E-mail:

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Received: 2023-04-17
Accepted: 2023-09-11
Published Online: 2023-09-27
Published in Print: 2024-04-25

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