Rethinking the concept of life. A dialogue with non-Western perspectives
Position Details (PhD Program)
In this Rethinking the concept of life. A dialogue with non-Western perspectives project at University of Dundee we want to investigate the metaphysical concept of life, as explored in philosophies of (neo-)vitalism, Lebensphilosophie or the phenomenological tradition, from distinctly non-Western perspectives.
Context of Rethinking the concept of life. A dialogue with non-Western perspectives Rethinking the concept of life. A dialogue with non-Western perspectives project at University of Dundee University of Dundee
We are currently experiencing a resurgence of interest in metaphysical concepts that often remain stuck in Western modes of thinking.
The framework of decolonisation, understood as either a political process (with the aim of political emancipation) and/or an epistemological process (with the aim of ‘decolonising the mind’) is to guide this investigation into the metaphysical concept of life.
- For example, it has been suggested that the concept of ‘the animal’ emerges through the afterlives of slavery and the colonial encounters of indigenous peoples, that affect human and nonhuman forms of life. What other black or indigenous experiences can shed light on the concept of ‘life’? What other metaphysical structures, ontological beliefs or epistemological stances can aid our understanding of what it means to be alive? What social and political practices should follow from this understanding of life?