Gordon Lewis - African Philosophy: Origins and Interpretations

‘African Philosophy: Origins and Interpretations’ presentation at the online conference Translation and Interpretation The Case for Comparative Philosophy 10th and 11th May 2022 Online project supported by British Academy in partnership with the universities of Exeter, Oxford, Cardiff, Pune, Strasbourg, Bern, München, Vilnius, Hong Kong, Connecticut, & Harvard Convenors: Ionut Moise and Tadas Snuviškis Comparative Philosophy begins on the margins and footnotes of translators and commentators (e.g., Neoplatonic Commentators of Aristotle). It originates in ‘conceptual translation’ and often ends up as an ‘independent and totally creative reflection’. This workshop gathers a series of Classicists, Indologists, Comparative Religionists and Comparative Philosophers, to debate the ‘problem of translation’ and how it affects and alter readers’ own philosophical understanding. In other words, how translators change from being ‘close readers’ to becoming ‘comparative philosophers’ and ‘independent thinkers.’ This workshop aims to draw a canon for, or rather critique the feasibility of comparative philosophy. Presentations are conversational and informal, and will be, with your permission, broadcast on YouTube for field dissemination. Gordon Lewis. Philosopher at the University of Connecticut, Gordon works in the areas of Africana philosophy, existentialism, phenomenology, social and political theory, postcolonial thought, theories of race and racism, philosophies of liberation, aesthetics, philosophy of education, and philosophy of religion. He has written particularly and extensively on Africana and black existentialism, postcolonial phenomenology, race, and racism, and on the works and thought of W. E. B. Du Bois and Frantz Fanon. His most recent book is: What Fanon Said: A Philosophical Introduction to His Life and Thought. photo courtesy: Critical Legal Thinking