In 1980, West earned a Ph.D. from Princeton, where he was influenced by Richard Rorty's neopragmatism. The title of his dissertation was Ethics, historicism and the Marxist tradition, which was later revised and published under the title The Ethical Dimensions of Marxist Thought. In his mid-20s, he returned to Harvard as a W. E. B. Du Bois Fellow before becoming an Assistant Professor at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. In 1984, he went to Yale Divinity School in what eventually became a joint appointment in American Studies. While at Yale, he participated in campus protests for a clerical labor union and divestment from apartheid South Africa. One of the protests resulted in his being arrested and jailed. As punishment, the University administration canceled his leave for the spring term in 1987, leading him to commute from Yale in New Haven, Connecticut, where he was teaching two classes, across the Atlantic Ocean to the University of Paris. He then returned to Union for one year before going to Princeton to become a Professor of Religion and Director of the Program in African-American Studies from 1988 to 1994.[19] After Princeton, he accepted an appointment as Professor of African-American Studies at Harvard University, with a joint appointment at the Harvard Divinity School.[20] West taught one of the University's most popular courses, an introductory class on African-American Studies.[21] In 1998, he was appointed the first Alphonse Fletcher University Professor.[22] West utilized this new position to teach in not only African-American studies, but also Divinity, Religion, and Philosophy.[20] West left Harvard after a widely publicized dispute with then-President Lawrence Summers in 2002. That year, West returned to Princeton, where he helped create “one of the world’s leading centers for African-American studies” according to Shirley Tilghman, Princeton's president in 2011.[23] In 2012, West left Princeton and returned to the seminary where he began his teaching career, Union Theological Seminary.[24] His departure from Princeton, unlike his departure from Harvard, was on good terms and he remains an emeritus professor at Princeton.[23] The recipient of more than 20 honorary degrees and an American Book Award,[5] he has written or contributed to over twenty published books. West is a long-time member of the Democratic Socialists of America, for which he now serves as Honorary Chair.[19] He is also a co-founder of the Network of Spiritual Progressives.[25] West is on the Advisory Board of the International Bridges to Justice.[26] In 2008, he received a special recognition from the World Cultural Council.[27] West is also a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity and its World Policy Council, a think tank whose purpose is to expand Alpha Phi Alpha's involvement in politics and social and current policy to encompass international concerns.[28] The New Republic literary editor Leon Wieseltier has charged him with opportunism, crass showmanship, and lack of scholarly seriousness.[29] West remains a widely cited scholar in the popular press.[30] West appears as Councillor West in both The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions and also provides the voice for this character in the video game Enter the Matrix.[31] In addition, West provides philosophical commentary on all three Matrix films in The Ultimate Matrix Collection, along with integral theorist Ken Wilber.[32] He has made several appearances in documentary films also, such as the 2008 film Examined Life, a documentary featuring several academics discussing philosophy in real-world contexts. West, "driving through Manhattan, . . . compares philosophy to jazz and blues, reminding us how intense and invigorating a life of the mind can be."[33] He also appears in conversation with Bill Withers in the Bill Withers documentary, Still Bill. West has made frequent appearances on the political talk show Real Time with Bill Maher.[34] A character based on West and events in his career appeared in the Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode Anti-Thesis, significant for introducing the recurring villain character Nicole Wallace.[35] In May 2012, West guest-starred in the sixth season of the American television comedy series 30 Rock, "What Will Happen to the Gang Next Year?".[36] On the musical front, West recorded a recitation of John Mellencamp's song "Jim Crow" for inclusion on the singer's box set On the Rural Route 7609 in 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornel_West Image By Esther (originally posted to Flickr as cornel west!!!) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

• published: 22 Nov 2014
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