Fugitive Thought: Prison Movements, Race, And The Meaning Of Justice - Softcover

Michael Hames-García

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0816643148 ISBN 13: 9780816643141

Publisher: Univ Of Minnesota Press, 2004

Synopsis

Looks to the philosophy and experience of prisoners to reinvigorate our concepts of justice, solidarity, and freedom

In Fugitive Thought, Michael Hames-García argues that writings by prisoners are instances of practical social theory that seek to transform the world. Unlike other authors who have studied prisons or legal theory, Hames-García views prisoners as political and social thinkers whose ideas are as valuable as those of lawyers and philosophers.

As key moral terms like “justice,” “solidarity,” and “freedom” have come under suspicion in the post–Civil Rights era, political discussions on the Left have reached an impasse. Fugitive Thought reexamines and reinvigorates these concepts through a fresh approach to philosophies of justice and freedom, combining the study of legal theory and of prison literature to show how the critiques and moral visions of dissidents and participants in prison movements can contribute to the shaping and realization of workable ethical conceptions. Fugitive Thought focuses on writings by black and Latina/o lawyers and prisoners to flesh out the philosophical underpinnings of ethical claims within legal theory and prison activism.

About this title

About the Author

Michael Hames-García is associate professor of English and of philosophy, interpretation, and culture at Binghamton University, State University of New York.

Edition details

• Publisher: Univ Of Minnesota Press
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0816643148
• ISBN 13: 9780816643141
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 408