Hello everyone,
All this week we’re going to be “stepping back” so to speak.
For the last few months, we’ve learned about happiness, finance, and habits. We’ve read from the wisdom of the ancients and heard from modern philosophers trying to make the future a better place than the present.
Regardless of where you turn, however, there is something uncomfortable about the world of philosophy.
So many of the theories, events, and words which remain in philosophy’s accessible modern dictionary come from, well, men.
And until very recently, there has been a preservation and selection bias within academic institutions toward men, well men from Europe, well men from Europe that conform to some sort of judeo-christian worldview. Especially men that affirm a cisgender perhaps even patriarchal outlook.
And even the ideas which have been preserved outside of Western Colonialism often still somehow orient around a central, male figure.
I write this in the United States where this is especially true.
In my country there have been intense and intentional efforts to
Erase linguistic, cultural, and philosophical memory of Indigenous and First Generation People Groups.
Prevent the preservation, continuation, and amplification of Black (specifically African-American) Philosophy
Exclude women, non-white, and often non-Protestant thought in the halls of academia
An institutional bias of WASP voices, and intense exclusion of all others
And these just scratch the surface.
So all of this week we’re going to be considering a few of the macro-efforts which have excluded certain voices from the books of history and philosophy.
This will enable us to work from a common place of empathy and understanding for those perspectives of the past which have been (often violently) muted.
Then, next week, we will work together to mine some of those voices and amplify them as loud as we can! For the first time in a long time there is both access to this long marginalized knowledge, and a community of solidarity primed to accept and share it.
We’ve heard from some of them before, but over the next few weeks we want to find as many as we can and put them on display.
My experience has shown me that the voices we often exclude in institutional philosophy are the ones we need the most. (Ironically, western institutional philosophy owes its very existence to preservation efforts in places like Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon during Europe’s darkest days.)
Many of these now quieted voices remind us of our connectedness to the earth. Our need for each other. How to lead a happy life. How to love well. How to live in harmony with ourselves and world. How to build a politic which is fair and sustainable.
This will potentially be tough for one of two reasons.
First, you might not want to hear or accept some of the facts which will be presented over the next two weeks. (It’s hard, I want to turn away, a lot.)
Second, these essays could trigger or traumatize those for whom the words aren’t just facts on a page, but embodied real-life experience.
To that end, I will do my best to take it small chunks at a time.
Beyond that, I’ll do my best to provide context and awareness about the material to be covered so as to prevent exposure to historical events that might be sensitive for some readers.
We are going to conclude with a group exercise—On Thursday, October 21 with a thread. We’re going to open it up and ask you to share about your traditions, your philosophies, your worldview, your background, so we can honor that which is sacred in you, and cultivate our empathy for one another.
If you know someone who practices, follows, or represents an often overlooked philosophy, tradition, or community please invite them along so we can learn from and celebrate with them.
Until tomorrow friends,
Matt
Who Owns Philosophy?