interestingly put, ken- the venues make all the difference ... i would be more circumspect around boko haram ideologues, or anywhere in the sahara these days, than i am here in my little corner of east lansing'.
perhaps the abrahamic traditions are still deep in western academia, in the name of those who have assimilated and transformed them, as m.h. abrams argued for romanticism in his book natural supernaturalism: romantic theory and the critical tradition.
heidegger's educational foundations, for example, are in christian theology and the marriage of that with ancient greek and husserlain thought, along with his own independent reflections, may be said to have given us his master work being and time, itself fundamental to his huge influence on thought in various disciplines.
i wonder if its possible to adequately grasp the provenance and echoes of derrida's use of the image of the circle in his influential essay structure, sign and play in the discourse of the human sciences without reference to the use of similar images in christian thought.
Stephen hawking is compelled to invoke an old christian mystical concept in the last paragraph of his a brief history of time , on how a grasp of few summative physics concepts could lead people to know the mind of God.
is it possible to adequately appreciate hegel and his influence without understanding his christian roots, how he transformed those roots which were then further transformed by others? his idea of Geist-spirit/mind, as working itself out in history- i wonder what it may owe to augustine's city of God and the concept of the holy spirit.
on humans and animals, we may be animals, but we are certainly not identical with the other animals who have not built the kind of civilizations that we have. is that a line drawn by human beings or by nature?
perhaps what might be more clearly in dispute might be the idea of humans beings as superior to animals.
thanks for the beautiful ideas and particularly for this which i will look into and chew on-
'recent critical work very much is pushing notions that animals share traits, emotional psychic etc, with humans... major critics are now writing in that direction. cajetan iheka is writing about it. the whole field of animal rights is burgeoning. we can discuss this calmly, looking at this film or novel, that theoretical philosophical text, without impediment.
On Mon, 11 Feb 2019 at 23:32, Harrow, Kenneth <harrow@msu.edu> wrote:
--good questions toyin. there are lines between entities when they are drawn. they are not "god-given," let's say. anyway, recent critical work very much is pushing notions that animals share traits, emotional psychic etc, with humans. it isn't my field, but major critics are now writing in that direction. cajetan iheka is writing about it. the whole field of animal rights is burgeoning.
anyway, it isn't that the three major western religions are gone,but that their "cultural capital" in the realm of knowledge--epistemology and ontology--has been supplanted by scientific/enlightenment values. that was althusser's point quite a while ago, and if anything it is more true than ever.meanwhile, popular values, grounded in faith, seems stronger than ever as well.so i guess we have to define which audience we are addressing: an educated or a non-educated one.now, african religious beliefs had been denigrated by colonial discourses. i believe firmly that is changing, that scholars are now looking at how african religious beliefs function in defining values, in opening new possibilities for studying philosophical questions, like being, free from the wretched baggage of colonial thinking or its christian political agendas.
we surely are in a new age; but no new age comes without fighting off and rejecting the old, which is what your question about abrahamic religions suggests to me.
and we can discuss this calmly, looking at this film or novel, that theoretical philosophical text, without impediment. while at the same time, to open those questions in public venues might indeed risk exposing us to attacks.
the venues make all the difference (thinking of that pakistani girl condemned to death for christian beliefs) and i would be more circumspect around boko haram ideologues, or anywhere in the sahara these days, than i am here in my little corner of east lansing.ken
kenneth harrow
professor emeritus
dept of english
michigan state university
517 803-8839
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Harrow, Kenneth <harrow@msu.edu>
Sent: Monday, February 11, 2019 12:03 PM
To: Yoruba Affairs; usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - The Emergence of Animism in Contemporary Western Philosophy :Work in Progressecocriticism is now effacing the ontological lines between the human and non human. old school thinking about animism, as understood along anthropological lines, is no longer respectable, which goes along with the end of abrahamic religions as defining any meaningful priorities of value.ken
kenneth harrow
professor emeritus
dept of english
michigan state university
517 803-8839
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju <toyin.adepoju@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, February 11, 2019 11:26 AM
To: usaafricadialogue; Yoruba Affairs
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - The Emergence of Animism in Contemporary Western Philosophy :Work in Progress----I used to think Western philosophy and Western academic scholarship uniformly saw animism as a primitive style of thinking until I read such sources as the Wikipedia essays on animism and panpsychism.
What are the implications of such re-examinations for African thought, the value of whose animistic character is highly contested between philosophy and Abrahamic religions?
More forthcoming.
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
No comments:
Post a Comment