Pluralizing Philosophy’s Past: New Reflections in the History of Philosophy

Description

This collection of 15 accessible essays on neglected philosophical figures and traditions aims to provide readers with concrete access points to less familiar philosophical sources and methods. Showcasing the latest research by both up-and-coming and well-established scholars, each essay focuses on a particular topic relevant to the pluralization of the history of philosophy and offers advice for incorporating the figure, theme, or approach into the philosophy classroom. Foreword About the Book Contents Notes on Contributors Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Pluralizing Philosophy’s Past: Three Approaches 1.2 Pluralizing Philosophical Pedagogy 1.3 Aims and Overview of the Present Volume References Chapter 2: Anne Conway on Substance and Individuals 2.1 Conway’s “Monism” 2.2 Created Individuals and Divine Justice 2.3 Type Monism, Type-Switching, and Universal Salvation 2.4 An Attack on Substance Dualism References Chapter 3: Du Bois on the Centralized Organization of Science 3.1 Introduction 3.2 The Atlanta Sociology Laboratory 3.3 Advantages and Disadvantages of Du Bois’ System 3.4 Concluding Thoughts 3.5 Du Bois’ Social Epistemology of Science in the Classroom References Chapter 4: A New Perspective on Old Ideas in González de Salas’s Nueva idea de la tragedia antigua 4.1 Introduction 4.1.1 Women in Early Modern Spanish Theater 4.2 Salas’s Nueva Idea 4.2.1 Methodology: Sentimiento Interior 4.3 Sullivan’s Concepts 4.4 Women Actors as Bodies in Action 4.5 Conclusion and Pedagogical Relevance 4.5.1 Suggested Group Activities 4.5.2 Suggested Written Assignment (Optional) References Chapter 5: Developing Political Realism: Some Ideas from Classical China 5.1 Separating Morality and Politics 5.2 Subjective Decisions and Resentment 5.3 Developing a Sense of Law’s Inevitability 5.4 Teaching Shen Dao References Chapter 6: Philosopher of Samarqand: Abū Manṣūr al-Māturīdī’s Theory of Properties 6.1 Introduction: al-Māturīdī in Context 6.2 Al-Māturīdī’s Metaphysics: An Early Trope Theorist? 6.3 Using al-Māturīdī in the Philosophy Classroom References Chapter 7: Toward a Critical History of Philosophy: Hannah Arendt and the Critique of the Meditative Tradition 7.1 Introduction: Arendt as Historian of Philosophy 7.2 Arendt on Thinking and the Crisis of Modernity 7.3 On the Socratic Tradition and the Purported Decline of Thinking in the Medieval Meditative Tradition 7.4 Conclusion: Arendt’s Relevance to the Task of Pluralizing the Tradition References Chapter 8: “Pervading the Sable Veil”: Phillis Wheatley as Early Modern Philosopher of Religion 8.1 From Poetry to Philosophy 8.2 Wheatley’s Philosophy of Religion 8.3 Conclusion and Pedagogy References Chapter 9: The Waters of Which We Have Spoken: Reading Marguerite Porete as Substance Metaphysics 9.1 Introduction 9.2 Porete’s “Mixed Metaphors” 9.3 Concluding Thoughts 9.4 Teaching Marguerite Porete References Chapter 10: Two Dogmas of Enlightenment Scholarship 10.1 Introduction 10.2 The Received Narrative 10.2.1 An RN Case Study: Descartes in the Classroom 10.2.2 Supplanting RN: Cavendish’s Fantastical Worlds 10.3 A New Narrative 10.4 Humanistic Reason References Chapter 11: “Novel Philosophy”: Mapping a Path for a Woman in the Radical Enlightenment 11.1 Reflection: Approaching Philosophy Through Fiction 11.2 Excerpts from The Weight of Ink 11.2.1 Crossing London Bridge 11.2.2 “Here I Begin” 11.2.3 Final Letter Chapter 12: Teaching Comparative History of Political Philosophy 12.1 The Textbooks 12.2 The Challenge 12.3 Concluding Thoughts References Chapter 13: Doing Philosophy in Nineteenth-Century West Africa 13.1 Introduction 13.2 Excluding Africa from the Annals of Philosophy 13.3 Two Obstacles to a Better Narrative 13.3.1 The First Obstacle 13.3.2 The Second Obstacle 13.4 Overcoming Exclusion: Bringing African Thinkers Back In 13.5 Illustrations 13.6 On Teaching Philosophy References Chapter 14: Ibn Taymiyya’s “Common-Sense” Philosophy 14.1 Introduction 14.2 Plantinga’s Reidianism 14.3 Ibn Taymiyya’s Fiṭra-Based Epistemology 14.4 Ibn Taymiyya and Contemporary Reidianism 14.5 Taymiyyan “Common-Sense” Methodology 14.6 Conclusion: Teaching Ibn Taymiyya References Chapter 15: From Meditation to Contemplation: Broadening the Borders of Philosophy in the Thirteenth to Fifteenth Centuries 15.1 Sensation and Imagination 15.2 The Meditative Tradition 15.3 Clear Eyes, Full Hearts: Women’s Bodies and Reception of Truth 15.4 Contemplation as a Paradoxically Receptive Activity 15.5 Meditation and Contemplation in the Twenty-First-Century Classroom References Primary Texts Secondary Texts Chapter 16: Notes for an Indigenous Political Philosophy in New Spain: On the Figure of Nezahualcóyotl 16.1 Introduction 16.2 Some Conceptual Issues 16.3 On the Figure of Nezahualcóyotl: Elements of a Political Philosophy in Pomar and Alva Ixtlilxóchitl 16.3.1 Pomar, Tloque Nahuaque, and the “Civility” of Texcoco 16.3.2 Alva Ixtlilxóchitl, Nezahualcóyotl, and the “Good Governance” of Texcoco 16.4 Teaching Indigenous Philosophy References Index