Glo•Phi Newsletter 2024/01
by Leon Krings
GloPhi Newsletter 01/2024
Welcome to our very first Newsletter!
Our work at the Campus of Hildesheim University has just begun and we are already planning a host of projects and events! But first, we would like to introduce ourselves and our research to give you a basic idea of our plans for the coming months. For the most up-to-date news and links to our social media, visit our website.
We are a Center for Advanced Studies located at Hildesheim University in Northern Germany. Our aim is to pluralize the canon of philosophy by combining methodologies from both cross-cultural and decolonial theory. As a Center for Advanced Studies, we invite scholars from around the globe to discuss a broad range of issues related to philosophizing in a globalized world. The first phase of our project focuses on Africa and South America, though we will also include philosophical perspectives from other areas. One of the guiding principles of our work is philosophizing with, not just about different traditions of thought.
Team members (left to right): Abbed Kanoor (managing director), Birgit Benzing (coordinator), Lara Hofner (PhD), Leon Krings (communications), Jordan Kynes (translator), Anke Graness (principal investigator), Monika Rohmer (postdoc), Rolf Elberfeld (principal investigator), Sool Park (principal investigator)
Lecture Series
What is Philosophy?A Critical Polylogue with Philosophers from Africa
What is philosophy? Reflection on the nature of philosophizing has occupied philosophers from the very beginning. In the European tradition alone, we have divergent ideas and understandings of what philosophizing is. But how must the existing perspectives on what philosophy is be supplemented and critically reconsidered if we include concepts of philosophizing from other cultures and regions – for example from Africa, Asia or Latin America? How can we succeed today in clarifying and discussing concepts of philosophy in a global context? How can we promote fruitful exchange between representatives who speak from an established hegemonic philosophical tradition of the Global North and representatives who speak from marginalized and inferiorized regions, such as Africa, and thus face the additional challenges of philosophizing against the background of dealing with racist stereotypes, colonialism and neo-colonialism? What does this do to philosophizing? What consequences does this have for the understanding of philosophy?
First Lecture (in German)
Katrin Wille (Universität Hildesheim):Philosophie als Praxis des Unterscheidens
(English translation below)
Mit Unterscheidungen zu arbeiten und über Unterscheidungen nachzudenken ist in der Philosophie in einem bestimmten Sinne eine Selbstverständlichkeit. Und wie immer bei Selbstverständlichkeiten, ist es nicht einfach zu sagen, warum man sie befragen sollte und wie man sie, wo sie doch überall wirksam sind, sinnvoll zum Gegenstand machen kann. Was ist also gemeint, wenn Philosophie als Praxis des Unterscheidens verstanden wird? Dies soll im Vortrag gezeigt werden und auch, was für Möglichkeiten sich auftun, wenn auf die Fragen „Was ist Philosophie?“ und „Was ist Philosophie in einer globalisierten Welt?“ mit der Entfaltung von Philosophie als Praxis des Unterscheidens geantwortet wird.
Apl. Prof. Dr. Katrin Wille arbeitet am Institut für Philosophie in Hildesheim. Derzeit ist sie besonders fasziniert von der Bedeutung von Unbestimmtheit in Theorie und Lebenswelt („Unbestimmtheitsforschung“) und davon, unter dem Titel „Feminismus als Unterscheidungskritik“ die Unterscheidungsreflexivität feministischer Forschung stark zu machen und außerdem von dem Projekt Demokratie als Lebensform (Hetzel, Wille: Demokratie als Lebensform. Schwerpunkthelft der Allgemeinen Zeitschrift für Philosophie 48.2 2023). Ihre methodischen Bezugspunkte sind dabei immer die Philosophie des Pragmatismus wie die dialektische Philosophie Hegels.
Katrin Wille (Hildesheim University):Philosophy as a Practice of Distinction-Making
In philosophy, working with and thinking about distinctions is in a certain sense self-evident. As always with supposed self-certainties, it is not easy to say why they should be questioned and, how they can be made into a subject of investigation given that they are everywhere at work. What exactly is meant by philosophy as a practice of distinction-making? This will be shown in the presentation, along with the possibilities which emerge when the questions “What is philosophy?” and “What is philosophy in a globalized world?” are answered with the development of philosophy as a practice of distinction-making.
Apl. Prof. Dr. Katrin Wille works at the Institute of Philosophy in Hildesheim. Currently, she is particularly fascinated by the significance of indeterminacy in theory and the lifeworld (“indeterminacy research”). This extends to her work on “Feminism as a critique of distinction”, which seeks to strengthen the reflexivity of distinction in feminist research, as well as on the project “Democracy as a Form of Life” (Hetzel, Wille: Demokratie als Lebensform. Focus issue of the Allgemeine Zeitschrift für Philosophie 48.2 2023). Her methodological points of reference are always the philosophy of pragmatism and the dialectical philosophy of Hegel.
Upcoming Lectures
14.11.
21.11.
28.11.
05.12.
19.12.
09.01.
16.01.
23.01.
30.01.
06.02.
Alena Rettová: Language in African Philosophy
Albert Kasanda: Towards a Decolonial Political Philosophy
Andreas Hetzel:
Philosophie als „Arbeit an einem selbst“ und an Beziehungen zu anderen
Abosede Ipadeola: Feminist African Philosophy: New Issues and Perspectives
Edwin Etieyibo / Hanétha Vété-Congolo:
An African-Carribean Dialogue on Philosophy
Sool Park: (Un)übersetzbar: Was ist die Sprache der Philosophie?
Abbed Kanoor: Rethinking Philosophy: Where is the Frontier?
Lars Leeten: Skeptisches Philosophieren
Tanella Boni: Poetry and Philosophy: Where is the Frontier?
Wilfred Lajul: The Relevance of Proverbs in African Philosophy: Philosophizing from an African Perspective
Panel Discussion on Philosophy in a Globalized World
Videos of the lectures will be posted at our YouTube Channel!
News from other Projects
Lecture SeriesDecolonial Aesthetic Practices?
07. – 09. November 2024
Cultural Campus
Hildesheim University
DFG Research Training Group 2477 "Aesthetic Practice"
The international conference convenes scholars and practitioners from various fields to explore the interplay between theory and practice within decolonial frameworks.
Program Overview
Speakers and Abstracts
Book Recommendation
Chike Jeffers (ed.)
Listening to Ourselves:A Multilingual Anthology of African Philosophy
From the publisher:
"A groundbreaking contribution to the discipline of philosophy, this volume presents a collection of philosophical essays written in indigenous African languages by professional African philosophers with English translations on the facing pages—demonstrating the linguistic and conceptual resources of African languages for a distinctly African philosophy. Hailing from five different countries and writing in six different languages, the seven authors featured include some of the most prominent African philosophers of our time. They address a range of topics, including the nature of truth, different ways of conceiving time, the linguistic status of proverbs, how naming practices work, gender equality and inequality in traditional society, the relationship between language and thought, and the extent to which morality is universal or culturally variable."
SUNY Press Website
New Books Radio Interview
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