The Black Book

This thought-provoking and much overdue book is a wonderful exploration of problems raised in the thought of Ludwig Wittgenstein and a host of challenges from Africana philosophy. Its leitmotif, language-games, and the publicity of language in black bring one of the pillars of Anglo-Analytical philosophy under the eye-opening lens of potentiated double consciousness. . . . It’s a must read, if but to learn, with probing rigor, what it means to think and to enjoy doing so. -- Lewis R. Gordon, Professor of Philosophy and Africana Studies, University of Connecticut
The Black Book will captivate scholars of Wittgenstein and African American philosophy. Jones shows how much these scholars can gain from each other. Arguing for African American grammar or logic, Jones provides a framework for addressing deep metaphysical questions that have very practical political and moral implications. Jones’s exegetical work is meticulous and his arguments original and provocative. -- Peg O'Connor, author of Oppression and Responsibility: A Wittgensteinian Approach to Social Practices and Moral Theory and Morality and Our Complicated Form of Life: Feminist Wittgensteinian Metaethics
Richard Jones’s The Black Book offers African American philosophers a Wittgensteinian lens for recognizing how one might be captivated and mystified by deeply entrenched semiotic perspectives. Jones then sets out to convince philosophers and their students to abandon such ‘multiple deceptions.’ The Black Book delivers a hopeful and creative read. -- Donna M. Reeves, lecturer, University of Colorado at Denver