Orality in Philosophy

Prof. Souleymane Bachir Diagne (WoC Guest Professor), Prof. Anke Graneß (U Freiburg), Lindokuhle Shabane & Prof. Norman Sieroka (RTG Contradiction Studies)

06/06/2024 6:00 pm –8:00 pm

U Bremen CART 067 & online

The role of orality in philosophy is an old and intriguing topic. Some have claimed that philosophy cannot exist as an oral tradition because sophisticated thought presupposes a written form. Others (including Plato) have claimed that writing destroys memory. Still others have formulated central statements in catchy aphorisms and proverbs that are easy to memorise and immediately invite you to unfold their meaning: „You cannot enter the same river twice.“ Fortunately, however, we can enter into discussion with Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Anke Graneß & Lindokuhle Shabane, to unfold the role of orality in philosophy, especially in an African context where oral traditions have always played a crucial role.

Guests
Prof. Dr. Souleyman Bachir Diagne | WoC International Guest Professor
Prof. Anke Graneß | U Freiburg
Lindokuhle Shabane | RTG Contradiction Studies

Moderation
Prof. Norman Sieroka | RTG Contradiction Studies

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Back to overview
paradox

“The basis of law is not an idea as a systematic unified principle but a paradox.”

Andreas Fischer-Lescano
name contradiction

“Contradiction becomes real where someone names contradiction.”

Ingo H. Warnke
Afterlife of colonialism

“Contradiction comes in many different forms. None is so debilitating than when the coloniser transitions, textually not politically, to decoloniality without taking the responsibility for the afterlife of colonialism, which they continue to benefit from. Self-examination and self-interrogation of the relations of coloniality, a necessity, seem nearly impossible for the coloniser who continues to act as beneficiary, masked in the new-found language of White fragility, devoid of an ethical responsibility of the very system of White domination they claim to be against.” (Black Consciousness and the Politics of the Flesh)

Rozena Maart
decolonial scholarship

“Creating decentralizing and decolonizing scholarship on contradiction, contradictory phenomena, and contradicting processes is a challenging task.”

Kerstin Knopf
sustained engagement

“The history of Western philosophy can be understood as a sustained engagement with contradiction.”

Norman Sieroka