Justice, difference, and the possibility of metaphysics: Towards a North American philosophy of liberation

What happened in New York City on September 11, 2001, creates an urgent need for a turn to practical reason, to ethics, to critique, and to a radical, transformative theory and praxis. Contemplation, speculation, pure theory, and contemplative metaphysics in philosophy, while necessary and valuable, are not sufficient in dealing with such an infamous crime against humanity. The central idea running through this paper and much of my work is that there is an essential link between rationality and radicalism. The aim of this paper is to explore this link in an argument sketched in three parts: self-appropriation as the pearl of great price in philosophy; a critical theory of society; and a metaphysics and philosophy of religion that are both contemplative and political - a threefold radicality, if you like. This argument seeks to show negatively how the post-modern critique of rationality misfires, and positively how a post-imperial phenomenology, critical theory, and metaphysics/philosophy of religion can do justice to and recognize difference and the otherness of nature, other human beings (especially the exploited and marginalized), being itself, and God.