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Camden Philosophical Society: Philosophy From Outside the Western Tradition Continued
Tuesday, August 19, 2025 @ 3:30 pm – 5:30 pm
At its next regular gathering, on Tuesday, Aug. 19, the Camden Philosophical Society will continue its consideration of non-Western philosophies with readings and videos exploring the theme of decolonization introduced by Souleymane Diagne in Ink of the Scholars, the source of our reading for July.
The August 19 session will, as usual, be a hybrid gathering from 3:30-5:30 pm EDT on the third Tuesday of the month. All are welcome to participate, in-person at the Picker Room of the Camden Public Library or by Zoom. That goes for visitors, as well as year-rounders in Maine, and friends of the society wherever you may be.
If you wish to participate via Zoom, please email saramiller@usa.net. You will receive a Zoom invitation on the day of the meeting. Click on the “Join Zoom Meeting” link in that invitation at the time of the event.
The readings to be discussed begin with the first and then the concluding pages of Martinican poet Aime Cesaire’s classic, Discourse on Colonialism, pp. 31–53 and 74–78 (the first three and the last chapter, though the chapters in the link aren’t numbered) The work can be found here: https://files.libcom.org/files/zz_aime_cesaire_robin_d.g._kelley_discourse_on_colbook4me.org_.pdf . Cesaire, along with Leopold Senghor, the first president of Senegal, was a founder of the post-war Negritude movement, a movement now undergoing renewed attention, at least in part as a result of Diagne’s work.
We also look again to Diagne’s Ink of the Scholars to consider an excerpt of his brief introduction to issues in African political thought, pp. 74–77. The book can be found here: https://publication.codesria.org/index.php/pub/catalog/view/40/164/4959 . These few pages are very rich in all they offer for discussion. The short explanation of palaver in Wikipedia – “Palaver (custom)” – provides helpful context, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palaver_(custom) .
We will consider also Diagne’s video lecture, “Decolonizing the History of Philosophy,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63FHJZBlWrs. As well as developing themes introduced by last month’s video, “Philosophy from the Rest of the World,” some themes covered in this lecture helpfully clarify issues raised in last month’s discussion of Ink of the Scholars.
Additionally, for a provocative meditation on what the colonial legacy of the West has done to the possibility of freedom, as well as suggesting what it might mean to decolonize freedom, we consider philosopher Lewis Gordon’s interview with Natalie Etoke presented by the youtube channel, The Philosopher, in a video titled, “Black Existential Freedom” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyzjnT8fYDs . We recommend the first 29 minutes and 15 seconds of this video (not extending to the Q and A).
In his discussion of consensual democracy in the reading given above, Diagne appeals to the work of African philosopher Kwasi Wiredu, who died a few years ago. Participants who want to dig further can flesh out their understanding of this topic — challenging for the critique offered of our own assumptions about multiparty democracy — by reviewing Wiredu’s short article, “Democracy and Consensus in African Political Thought,” https://them.polylog.org/2/fwk-en.htm.