Leonard Harris

Leonard Harris is a professor of philosophy at Purdue University, where he has directed the Philosophy and Literature Ph.D. program and the African American Studies and Research Center. Previously, he taught at Morgan State University, establishing a Philosophy for Children Center there. He also taught at the University of the District of Columbia and Livingston College, Rutgers University. Harris is a prominent figure in critical pragmatism and developed the concept of "struggle philosophy," which incorporates an "ethics of insurrection," "advocacy aesthetics," and views racism as "necro-being." He has played a key role in reviving contemporary interest in Alain LeRoy Locke, the "Dean" of the Harlem Renaissance. Harris is a board member of the Alain L. Locke Society and a founding member of the Philosophy Born of Struggle Association. His notable publications include "A Philosophy of Struggle: The Leonard Harris Reader" (2020), "Philosophy Born of Struggle: Afro-American Philosophy from 1917" (1984/2021), and "Racism" (1999). He has received several awards, including the Herbert Schneider Award (2018) for his contributions to American Philosophy and the Franz Fanon Lifetime Achievement Award (2014) from the Caribbean Philosophical Association.