Socioeconomic status plays no small part in the whiteness of Philosphy. Philosophy (in the professional sense) is almost entirely academic, and thus is also heavily tied to affluence. This part in...
Socioeconomic status plays no small part in the whiteness of Philosphy. Philosophy (in the professional sense) is almost entirely academic, and thus is also heavily tied to affluence.
This part in particular really got me thinking though:
Our openness to reconsidering the boundaries of our discipline seems only to extend as far as the set of people we have already deemed adequate to represent it.
This in particular seems to be common in many fields, but especially in the social sciences.
One manifestation of this appears in the 'education is the best path out of poverty' politics. You don't need an education to get out of poverty, you need money.
It's also a broader cultural problem that humanity has yet to work out. We'll readily accept our own culture's norms and reject others almost instinctively.
The overwhelming “whiteness” of philosophy has been discussed by many, and has continued to be an ongoing problem in our field. In recent years, there have been admirable attempts to change this, but I think we have largely gone about this in the wrong way.
We want to attract more people of color to philosophy, but we want people to do philosophy in line with the preexisting conceptions in our departments of what philosophy is and should do. This is a problem.
There's also this unwillingness to study and recognize philosophy that was made elsewhere than the west. African philosophy is a fascinating topic that I'm not versed enough in, as well as...
There's also this unwillingness to study and recognize philosophy that was made elsewhere than the west. African philosophy is a fascinating topic that I'm not versed enough in, as well as currents influenced by eastern school of thoughts.
Socioeconomic status plays no small part in the whiteness of Philosphy. Philosophy (in the professional sense) is almost entirely academic, and thus is also heavily tied to affluence.
This part in particular really got me thinking though:
This in particular seems to be common in many fields, but especially in the social sciences.
One manifestation of this appears in the 'education is the best path out of poverty' politics. You don't need an education to get out of poverty, you need money.
It's also a broader cultural problem that humanity has yet to work out. We'll readily accept our own culture's norms and reject others almost instinctively.
There's also this unwillingness to study and recognize philosophy that was made elsewhere than the west. African philosophy is a fascinating topic that I'm not versed enough in, as well as currents influenced by eastern school of thoughts.