The Self

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Language ◽  
Human Life ◽  
The Self ◽  
Western Philosophy ◽  
African Philosophy ◽  
The West ◽  
Philosophy Of Psychology ◽  
History Of ◽  
Past Experiences ◽  
Striking Contrast

This book is about the ways that the concept of an ‘I’ or a ‘self’ has been developed at different times in the history of western philosophy; it also offers a striking contrast case, the ‘interconnected’ self, who appears in some expressions of African philosophy. If ‘human being’ is a biological classification, ‘I’ is a mental one. What I’s do is think. The most common theme across western accounts of ‘I’s that think’ is that they are self-conscious. A second theme (in the west) is that selves have unity: There is one self who recalls past experiences and anticipates future actions. Despite being self-conscious selves, it has proven difficult to say what a self is without paradox. Normally, the object of consciousness pre-exists the consciousness, but we cannot be a self without being self-conscious, so it seems that a self and the consciousness thereof must be coeval. How can we be self-aware and yet have no idea of what a self is? (It cannot just be a body, since a live human body might not be able to think.) The essays in this volume engage many philosophical resources—metaphysics, epistemology, phenomenology, philosophy of psychology and philosophy of language—to illuminate these puzzles. The Reflections present attempts to approach some aspects of these puzzles scientifically and also provide a sense of how central they are to human life.

Introduction

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Patricia Kitcher
Keyword(s):  
Western Philosophy ◽  
African Philosophy ◽  
Intimate Relation ◽  
History Of ◽  
Striking Contrast

No philosophical dictum is better known than Descartes’s assertion about the intimate relation between thinking and existing. What remains unknown is how we are to understand the “I” who thinks and exists. This book is about the ways that the concept of an “I” or a “self” has been developed and deployed at different times in the history of western philosophy. It also offers a striking contrast case, the “interconnected” self, who appears in some expressions of African philosophy. Appealing to philosophy to illuminate the concept of a “self” may seem unnecessary. Anyone who can read this book is a self, so why ...

Integrating African Philosophy into the Western Philosophy Curriculum

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-43
Author(s):  
Luis Cordeiro-Rodrigues ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Ancient Philosophy ◽  
Western Philosophy ◽  
African Philosophy ◽  
The West ◽  
History Of

In the last three years, there has been a worldwide increase in integrating African philosophy into the philosophy curricula. Nevertheless, given that African philosophy has been largely neglected by Western academia, many philosophers in the West who do wish to integrate it are unaware of how to do it. This article aims at addressing this issue by offering some recommendations on how to integrate African philosophy into the curricula. Particularly, it offers recommendations based on how the history of ancient philosophy, metaphilosophy, ethics and political philosophy have become integrated. Additionally, there is a recommendation for how to make an entirely new module based on African political philosophy.

Westerse filosofie en de koorddans tussen geloof en weten

2021 ◽  
Vol 113 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-234
Author(s):  
Pieter Pekelharing
Keyword(s):  
Collective Learning ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
Western Philosophy ◽  
Crucial Importance ◽  
The West ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Axial Age ◽  
Modern Thought ◽  
History Of ◽  
Nature And Society

Abstract Western philosophy and the tightrope between faith and knowledge In Auch eine Geschichte der Philosophie (2019), Habermas develops a new view of the history of philosophy. Dating philosophy back to the axial age, he presents its history as the result of a collective learning process, spanning a period of three millennia. In this new approach he highlights the crucial importance of faith and religion which resulted in a specific constellation of belief and knowledge that, though unique to the West, has universal import, and led to greater ‘reasonable freedom (Vernüftige Freiheit). In Habermas’ view The West’s Judeo-Christian heritage was not a passing phase in the emergence of modern thought and politics, but contributed its essential core. Though sympathetic to the idea of learning processes spanning many centuries, one may ask whether reasoning and learning processes always tend to lead, as Habermas claims, in the direction of greater freedom instead of its opposite. In this respect Habermas could have learnt more from the sceptical tradition in philosophy and its persistent interest in the various ways in which reasoning processes are non-cognitively embedded in human nature and society and influence the direction these processes take.

Literature, Japanese philosophy in modern

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Anderer
Keyword(s):  
Japanese Literature ◽  
The Self ◽  
Confucian Ethics ◽  
Western Philosophy ◽  
Literary Aesthetics ◽  
Modern Japanese Literature ◽  
Buddhist Practice ◽  
History Of ◽  
Academic Philosophy ◽  
And Function

Since the last quarter of the nineteenth century, virtually all major lines of Western thought and the works of both major and minor Western philosophers have been explored and used by Japanese writers in an effort to forge a modern Japanese literature. The history of translation alone reveals a concern to bring over synoptic summaries of Western philosophy, as well as the primary works of specific thinkers. Academic philosophy as a discipline of advanced study was established in the 1880s, the decade which corresponds to the beginnings of widespread literary reform and the often-cited creation of the first modern Japanese novel, Futabatei’s Ukigumo (Floating Cloud) in 1889. However, Japanese novelists, dramatists, poets and critics did not assimilate philosophical influences naïvely or passively, nor was Japanese literature made over in the shape of specific Western ideas regarding the nature and function of the self, society or literary aesthetics. Indeed, the avid translation and discussion of Western ideas frequently provoked a nativist reaction or modification. The revival of traditional tropes, the language of Confucian ethics, Buddhist practice and Shintō legends), itself often reflects the pervasive presence of Western ideas on the modern literary scene.

Whither Philosophy in Africa?

1998 ◽  
pp. 43-50
Author(s):  
Moses Akin Makinde
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Economic Situation ◽  
Western Philosophy ◽  
African Philosophy ◽  
African Continent ◽  
World Congress ◽  
The West ◽  
Great Expectations ◽  
The World ◽  
Positive Work

This paper examines the position of philosophy in Africa from the time African and expatriate philosophers engaged in the debate on whether or not there was a uniquely African Philosophy. I argue that where this debate, prompted by the earlier writings of some colonial anthropologists, was going on, there was serious teaching, although not writing, of Western Philosophy. Major writings focused on the African Philosophy question. However, positive work was done after the publication of positive work on African Philosophy, leading to the abandonment of serious publication on Western Philosophy. In spite of this, the presence of expatriate staff in many departments of philosophy between 1975 and 1984 led to great expectations of the discipline on the African continent, as shown in my published work in 1987. Unfortunately, philosophy in Africa has been deteriorating since the end of the 1980's due to neglect and lack of funding by military governments (e.g., Nigeria). In addition to the bad economic situation which led to an exodus of prominent philosophers from Africa to the West, pioneering philosophers have retired and died. These unfortunate developments leave a bleak future for philosophy in Africa, as there may be no experienced philosophers to supervise undergraduate students, leaving a lack of viable replacements for the older philosophers. While resolution of this problem appears difficult, this paper is written in hope that the World Congress might intervene to counteract this desperate situation.

Bonds of Trust

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. 289-309
Author(s):  
Max Schaefer ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Life ◽  
Western Philosophy ◽  
Reciprocal Relations ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Insight Into

This paper seeks to address whether human life harbours the possibility of a gratuitous or non-reciprocal form of trust. To address this issue, I take up Descartes’ account of the cogito as the essence of all appearing. With his interpretation of Descartes’ account of the cogito as an immanent and affective mode of appearing, I maintain that Henry provides the transcendental foundation for a non-reciprocal form of trust, which the history of Western philosophy has largely covered over by forgetting this aspect of Descartes’ thought. I demonstrate that Heidegger’s reading of Descartes serves as a pre-eminent example of this. Because Heidegger overlooks Descartes’ insight into the essence of appearing, and reduces this essence to the finite transcendence of the world, I maintain that Heidegger reduces trust to reciprocal relations of understanding between beings of shared contexts of significance.

Medicine and Old Age

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susannah Ottaway
Keyword(s):  
Social History ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Medical Texts ◽  
The West ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of Old Age ◽  
Male Ageing ◽  
Human Life Span

This article attempts to pull together recent developments and to summarize our knowledge of old age. It primarily focuses on the history of ageing in the West and compares it with other cultures. It concerns the limits and possible extension of the human life span. It includes discussion almost exclusively on male ageing. There are a few medical texts written specifically on female ageing and these focus primarily on menopause. Most studies of the history of ageing, and certainly those most relevant to the history of medicine deal with the demographic and social history of old age and a few larger works have framed the discussion of old age history more generally as centred on the question of continuity versus change in the historical expectations and experiences of old age. There is currently a burgeoning literature on pensions and on old age institutions.

E.V. Ilyenkov and Creative Soviet Theory: An Introduction to ‘Dialectics of the Ideal’

2012 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Levant
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Philosophy ◽  
Western Philosophy ◽  
The West ◽  
History Of ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Original Reading ◽  
The Ideal

Abstract This article aims to introduce E.V. Ilyenkov’s ‘Dialectics of the Ideal’, first published in unabridged form in 2009, to an English-speaking readership. It does this in three ways: First, it contextualises his intervention in the history of Soviet and post-Soviet philosophy, offering a window into the subterranean tradition of creative theory that existed on the margins and in opposition to official Diamat. It explains what distinguishes Ilyenkov’s philosophy from the crude materialism of Diamat, and examines his relationship to four central figures from the pre-Diamat period: Deborin, Lukács, Vygotsky, and Lenin. Second, it situates his concept of the ideal in relation to the history of Western philosophy, noting Ilyenkov’s original reading of Marx through both Hegel and Spinoza, his criticism of Western theorists who identify the ideal with language, and his effort to articulate an anti-dualist conception of subjectivity. Third, it examines Ilyenkov’s reception in the West, previous efforts to publish his work in the West, including the so-called ‘Italian Affair’, as well as existing scholarship on Ilyenkov in English.

scholarly journals Critical reception of Russell's 'History of western philosophy' and 'Wisdom of the West'

2020 ◽  
pp. 119-126
Author(s):  
Jasmina Pljakić-Nikšić
Keyword(s):  
Critical Reception ◽  
Bertrand Russell ◽  
Western Philosophy ◽  
Western Civilization ◽  
The Political ◽  
The West ◽  
Scientific Disciplines ◽  
History Of

In this paper, the author critically considers the reception of one of the greatest thinkers of modern Western civilization, Bertrand Russell (1872-1970), analyzing his epochal works "History of Western Philosophy", "Wisdom of the West" and other writings. In addition to his other works in logic, mathematics and other scientific disciplines, I paid special attention to the political and legal dimension.

scholarly journals Meditative Revolutions? A Preliminary Approach to US Buddhist Anarchist Literature

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 160-179
Author(s):  
Enrique Galvan-Alvarez
Keyword(s):  
Social Transformation ◽  
Zen Buddhism ◽  
The Self ◽  
The West ◽  
Technologies Of The Self ◽  
Buddhist Tradition ◽  
Buddhist Practice ◽  
History Of ◽  
Revolutionary Praxis ◽  
The Way

This article discusses the various shapes, inner structures and roles given to transformative and liberative practices in the work of US Buddhist anarchist authors (1960-2010). Unlike their Chinese and Japanese predecessors, who focused more on discursive parallelisms between Buddhism and anarchism or on historical instances of antiauthoritarianism within the Buddhist tradition(s), US Buddhist anarchists seem to favour practice and experience. This emphasis, characteristic of the way Buddhism has been introduced to the West,sometimes masks the way meditative techniques were used in traditional Buddhist contexts as oppressive technologies of the self. Whereas the emphasis on the inherently revolutionary nature of Buddhist practice represents a radical departure from the way those practices have been conceptualised throughout Buddhist history, it also involves the danger of considering Buddhist practice as an ahistorical sine qua non for social transformation. This is due to the fact that most early Buddhist anarchist writers based their ideas on a highly idealised, Orientalist imagination of Zen Buddhism(s). However, recent contributions based on other traditions have offered a more nuanced, albeit still developing picture. By assessing a number of instances from different US Buddhist anarchist writers, the article traces the brief history of the idea that meditation is revolutionary praxis, while also deconstructing and complicating it through historical and textual analysis.

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