| Title: | Decolonial Philosophy |
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| Course Section Number: | GHL-310-01 |
| Department: | Global Health |
| Description: | Although the colonization of the Americas in 1492 represented a paradigm shift in the ways that people conceived of science, ethics, politics, and economics, its significance in shaping the modern world has been largely ignored by Western European philosophers. This obliviousness is not coincidental. According to the Eurocentric view, modernity results from the historical unfolding of Europe, and it represents a moment of rational maturity such that human beings can self-govern. This course will expose what decolonial philosopher Enrique Dussel calls the "myth of modernity," which means that the Eurocentric view of modernity not only emerges from but also serves to justify colonial violence against non-European peoples. We will show that the Eurocentric view of modernity relies on a developmentalist conception of history which situates Western European peoples as historically developed and non-European peoples as historically backwards. The "myth of modernity" thus implies that while Western European peoples can self-govern, non-European peoples must be governed by others, thereby justifying colonial practices of land dispossession, enslavement, and serfdom. We will also explore the ways in which the "myth of modernity" informs the self-conception of colonized peoples at the most intimate levels of our racial, gendered, and sexual selves. We will end by considering various liberation projects, including the option of emancipatory violence. In addition to juxtaposing canonical philosophical discourses about the idea of modernity alongside decolonial discourses from the global south, we will also incorporate literary works that capture the experience of colonization and its implications for our conception of modernity. GHL-310-01=PHI-319-02=BLS-280-01=HSP-217-01 |
| Credits: | 1.00 |
| Start Date: | August 23, 2023 |
| End Date: | December 16, 2023 |
| Meeting Information: |
08/24/2023-12/14/2023 Lecture Tuesday, Thursday 02:40PM - 03:55PM, Hays Science, Room 321
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| Faculty: | Montiel, Jorge |
| Requisite Courses: | Pre-req: PHI-110 or PHI-242 |
Course Status & Cross-Listings
| Cross-list Group Capacity: | 18 |
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| Cross-list Group Student Count: | 13 |
| Calculated Course Status: | OPEN |
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