Volume 26, Issue 2, 2023
Dilek Huseyinzadegan
Pages 257-273
https://doi.org/10.5840/radphilrev20231025140
On Charles Mills¡¯s ¡°Black Radical Kantianism¡±
A Story of Grief as/and/or Gratitude
In this remembrance essay I reflect on my seventeen years of friendship and apprenticeship with Charles W. Mills. I focus on Mills¡¯s ¡°Black Radical Kantianism,¡± (2018) situating it in light of his earlier work on Kant, history of philosophy, political philosophy, and race, and demonstrating the lasting impact of Mills¡¯s work especially on Kant Studies and Kantian moral-legal-political philosophy. In this analysis, I both acknowledge Mills¡¯s radicalization of Kantianism as a major win toward making white supremacy visible in Kant Studies and political philosophy and remain skeptical of Mills¡¯s strategy of revising liberalism and especially Kantianism for reparative justice projects. After all, holding multiple and seemingly contradictory truths at once is something I have learned from Charles, as it will become clear.