Tommie Shelby

Tommie Shelby is an African-American philosopher and writer. Shelby is currently Professor of the Social Sciences and of African and African American Studies and Professor of Philosophy at Harvard University. He is the second black scholar to be tenured in the Philosophy Department at Harvard. The first was Kwame Anthony Appiah, now a professor at Princeton University.

Shelby is the author of "We Who Are Dark: The Philosophical Foundations of Black Solidarity" (Harvard University Press, 2005) a philosophical treatise that attempts to dissect the history of black political thought from W.E.B. Dubois to Malcolm X and extrapolate a new theory for black political solidarity consistent with liberal values of individual liberty and autonomy. He is also the co-author of "Hip-Hop and Philosophy: Rhyme 2 Reason (Popular Culture and Philosophy)" with Derrick Darby, "Transition 99" with Henry Louis Gates Jr., K. Anthony Appiah and F. Abiola Irele and is the author of the entry on Black Nationalism in the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy On-Line.

Shelby earned his PhD in philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh with a dissertation directed by David Gauthier. Before moving to Harvard he was assistant professor of philosophy at the Ohio State University.

Shelby is the son-in-law of Harvard philosophy Thomas Scanlon.

External links

* [http://aaas.fas.harvard.edu/faculty/tommie_shelby/index.html Faculty page at Harvard.edu]
* [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0674019369 We Who Are Dark on Amazon]