Course Info

Browse the Course Catalog Course Search

Course Info for PHIL - 232 - 01, Spring 2023
Class number: 3030 Title: Europe as a Philosophical Idea Department: Philosophy
Career: Undergraduate Component: Lecture Session: Regular
Instructor's Permission Required: No Grading Basis: Regular Units: 1.00
Enrollment limited to 29 Current enrollment: 11 Available seats: 18
Start date: Wednesday, January 25, 2023 End date: Friday, May 12, 2023 Mode of Instruction: In Person
Schedule: M: 1:30PM-4:10PM, MC - 303 Instructor(s): De Schryver, Carmen
Prerequisite(s): None
Distribution Requirement: Meets Humanities Requirement
Course Description:
Current assumptions about the history of philosophy, both in and outside of academia, by and large depict that history as "Western". This has led to the charge that philosophy is deeply Eurocentric, and it lies behind the various demands to decolonize philosophy. In this course, we will unpack this charge by tracing the philosophical idea of Europe in Kantian and post-Kantian European philosophy. The second half of the course builds on this foundation by engaging with a variety of decolonial critiques. We will consider Césaire's foundational Discourse on Colonialism before turning to considerations of how the "Orient"; "Africa" and "Latin America" have been fabricated by and within European colonialist and philosophical discourse. Finally, we will consider various routes out of philosophy's colonialist entanglements.