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Philosophy Then

Out of Europe

Peter Adamson wants us to recategorise philosophies.

Recently Jay Garfield and Bryan Van Norden wrote an opinion piece for the New York Times entitled ‘If Philosophy Won’t Diversify, Let’s Call It What It Really Is’ (May 11, 2016). They argued that philosophy departments unwilling or unable to devote attention to philosophy from other cultures may as well just rename themselves ‘Department of European and American Philosophy’. I do research in Islamic philosophy, and am covering non-European traditions, starting with India, in my podcast on the history of philosophy, so I am much in sympathy with their provocative plea for truth in advertising. But along with other recent developments having to do with the limits of Europe, I did get to wondering: what exactly do they mean by the phrase ‘European and American philosophy’?

An obvious answer might be, ‘philosophy that has been produced on the soil of Europe or America.’ But that doesn’t seem to be what Garfield and Van Norden mean.

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