Lecture
Lecture Prof. Pascah Mungwini: Philosophy and our present moment in history
On the occasion of UNESCO World Philosophy Day 2024, Wageningen University hosted a public lecture by Professor Pascah Mungwini entitled ‘Philosophy and our present moment in history: a perspective from the global South’. The public lecture took place on November 21 from 10.00-11.30 hrs (GMT+1) at Wageningen University Campus.
Philosophy and our present moment in history: a perspective from the global South
In this presentation I proceed from the perspective that we study philosophy not only to understand its enthralling ideas and theories but also and more importantly to continue to find out how to practice philosophy in a manner that can make a difference in this world. In other words, the main concern should not simply be to grasp that which has already been established by some of philosophy’s greatest minds but to go beyond and open the window into that which is yet to be explored and that which has been excluded or occluded and to which intellectual debt is owed. I argue that critical expositions and enquiries into the ideological substratum of modern philosophy including the quest for transformative engagements places on philosophers the responsibility to continue to reflect on our relationship with history and with the world. This is an ethical imperative we cannot shirk and for which we must be prepared to confront our own philosophical allergies. I pay attention to these and similar issues that drive the need for transformative engagements through the lens of African philosophy and to illuminate other intellectual pathways.
Pascah Mungwini
Pascah Mungwini is a Professor of Philosophy in the Department of Philosophy, Practical & Systematic Theology, University of South Africa. His most recent publications include the book African Philosophy: Emancipation and Practice (Bloomsbury Publishing, London, 2022).
Registration of the lecture
This UNESCO lecture was hosted by WUR and organised in collaboration with
- Stellenbosch University, South Africa (Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences)
- University of Ghana, Ghana (Department of Philosophy and Classics)
- University of Gondar, Ethiopia
- University of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa (School of Religion, Philosophy and Classics)
- University of Limpopo, South Africa (Department of cultural and political studies)
- University of South Africa, South Africa (Department of Anthropology and Archaeology & Department of Philosophy, Practical & Systematic Theology)
- University of Pretoria, South Africa (Department of Philosophy)
- African Studies Centre Leiden, Netherlands (Leiden University)
Organizers at WUR: Knowledge Technology and Innovation Group (Birgit Boogaard) and the Philosophy Group (Rachel Ankeny).
For more information, kindly contact Naomie Tieks: naomie.tieks@wur.nl