EARL MCKENZIE

The Caribbean cannot hope to develop great thinkers unless it nurtures them, and in all the great civilizations I know about philosophy has been the main nursery for the development of these transformative persons. In this book McKenzie tells the story of how he developed his convictions about the importance of this discipline, and how he decided to become an academic philosopher and a teacher and researcher in the subject, and especially in the exploration of the virtually unknown area of Caribbean Philosophy. He describes some of the challenges he faced in a social and intellectual environment that is unaccustomed to this subject, and how he tried to overcome his loneliness by seeking company in the writings of thinkers such as Marcus Garvey, Frantz Fanon, C.L.R. James and Édouard Glissant, in the creative writings of Lorna Goodison and Earl Lovelace, in the thinking of Rastafari, the art of Edna Manley, and in the proverbs of Jamaica. Loneliness of a Caribbean Philosopher offers an apologia for academic philosophy as a part of the West Indian intellectual tradition.