Artikel

Comparatieve filosofie zonder cultuur: enkele historische reflecties over dekolonisatie in de filosofie

---

Samenvatting

Although comparative philosophy (also commonly referred to as “transcultural” or “intercultural” philosophy) would at first sight seem to present itself as a highly suitable if not ideal discursive space for contributing to the decolonization of philosophical knowledge, my paper argues that this relatively recent subdiscipline of academic philosophy has generally failed to reflect on its own historical entanglement with colonialism as well as practices of epistemic exclusion intrinsically related to processes and experiences of colonization. My argument is focused on analyzing how the very notion of “culture” (and “civilization”) can be read as a symptom of, rather than a solution for, this overall lack of historical self-awareness and uses examples drawn from specific subfields within the discipline of comparative philosophy (African, Chinese, Latin-American) to call attention to the latter’s profound entanglement with comparative religion and ethnography, fields of knowledge which are quite simply impossible to separate from colonialism. In doing so, I offer some reflections on the implications of arriving at a better understanding of the history of the comparative endeavor for calls to decolonize the practice of philosophy more generally speaking.

Hoe citeren:

Van Den Stock, A., (2023) “Comparatieve filosofie zonder cultuur: enkele historische reflecties over dekolonisatie in de filosofie”, Ethiek en Maatschappij 25(1), 35–58. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/em.94652