African Philosophies
Two recent book purchases. Curiosity and wonder are not limited by geography. Philosophy springs up wherever minds are moved by wonder.
My teaching career began with ancient Mediterranean philosophy and American (U.S.) philosophy. In grad school I mentioned that to a German philosopher who laughed at me and said there was no philosophy in America.
It would have been more correct to say that he was not curious enough to ask what philosophy had rooted in the soil of this continent.
Over the decades of my university career I’ve enjoyed teaching Ancient Greek thought and American Transcendentalist and Pragmatist philosophies, but I’ve also loved developing new courses in the other philosophies of the Americas, and in classical philosophies of India, China, Japan, and beyond.
In recent years some colleagues and I have been reading all the African philosophers we can find. Naturally, we often run into problems of translation. But that makes every new book we can read a newfound treasure. The ideas are often old and deeply rooted, but new to my eyes. And what is new to me sparks wonder, curiosity, and new appreciation and admiration.
Pictured: Africana Philosophy by Peter Adamson and Chile Jeffers (Oxford University Press, 2025) and An African History of Africa, by Zeinab Badawi (Mariner Books, 2024) 📚🌍
