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

Please register for digital participation.

Back to overview
driver

“Contradictions are an important driver of scientific practice and knowledge.”

Norman Sieroka
limits

“Resistance is a democratic right, sometimes a duty. With literature we can find models for this right and think about its limits.”

Gisela Febel
Bhabha on enlightenment and coloniality

“Homi Bhabha says about the contradiction between the ideals of the enlightenment, claims to democracy and solidarity and simultaneous colonization and ongoing coloniality: ‘That ideological tension, visible in the history of the West as a despotic power, at the very moment of the birth of democracy and modernity, has not been adequately written in a contradictory and contrapuntal discourse of tradition.’”

Kerstin Knopf
l’illusion d’une unité

“Foucault speaks of contradiction as l’illusion d’une unité.”

Ingo H. Warnke
city

“The city is a laboratory not only of modernity, but also of contradiction.”

Julia Lossau