Stokes Hall North 229
Philosophy of Race
Africana Philosophy
Alain Leroy Locke
Pragmatism
I come to Boston College after several years at Howard University, including as Chair of the Department. Prior to that, I taught at the City University of New York: John Jay College of Criminal Justice. My work began with a focus on American pragmatism, specifically in figures such as John Dewey and Alain Leroy Locke. My current research interests include Africana philosophy, social and political philosophy, value theory (applied ethics), philosophy of race and pragmatism. I am also the Director of the Alain Leroy Locke Society and editor of the African American Philosophy and the African Diaspora Book Series (Palgrave/Macmillan). My most recent publications include Insurrectionist Ethics: Radical Perspectives on Social Justice (Palgrave/Macmillan, 2023) and Philosophizing the Americas (Fordham University Press, 2024).
In 2024-2025, Prof. Carter will be on research leave as a Fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies Historically Black College or University (HBCU).
Carter, J. A. and Estevez, H. A. eds. Philosophizing the Americas: An Inter-American Discourse. New York: Fordham University Press 2024.
Carter, J. A. and Scriven, D. eds. Insurrectionist Ethics: Radical Perspectives on Social Justice. New York: Palgrave 2023.
Carter, J. A. African American Contributions to the Americas’ Cultures: A Critical Edition of Lectures by Alain Locke. New York: Palgrave Macmillan 2016.
Carter, J. A. 2014. Does “race” have a future or should the future have “races”? Reconstruction or eliminativism in a pragmatist philosophy of race. Transactions of the Charles S. Pierce Society 50:1 29–47.
Carter, J. A. 2013. The insurrectionist challenge to pragmatism and Maria W. Stewart’s feminist insurrectionist ethics. Transactions of the Charles S. Pierce Society 49:1 54–73.