Abendvortrag von Prof. Dr. Felwine Sarr

"Epistemologies of the Non-Logos"

Abendvortrag von Prof. Dr. Felwine Sarr

externe SeiteAnne-Marie Bryan Distinguished Professor of Romance Studies at Duke Universitycall_made/Gastprofessor für französische Literatur und Kultur der ETH Zürich im Herbstsemster 2021

Datum und Zeit: 20. Oktober 2021, 18:15-19:45 Uhr
Ort: ETH Zürich, Haldeneggsteig 4, IFW A 36
Der Vortrag findet auf Englisch statt.

In this lecture, I propose to rethink the plurality of journeys of human thinking, starting from the idea of equality in principle of the different traditions of thought or discursive practices, while acknowledging their incommensurability. This leads us to consider these different traditions of thought, from their horizons, and the configurations of the thinkable which they propose; as unique journeys of the mind which have developed concurrently, shaped by the cultures from which they originate.

The epistemological questions of what is knowledge? How knowledge are produced? For which purposes? are fundamentals. The questions I will explore in the lecture are these ones: What do non-discursive ways of thinking teach us about reality? Can we envisage an epistemology of the senses? Can we consider Arts, dance, theater, and bodies as sites of knowledge?

The idea is to recognize an epistemological pluralism which acknowledges the particularity of science and its efficiency, while contesting its pretention to the monopoly of truth, and its aim to disqualify other forms of knowledge. The aim is not to attribute the same value to all types of knowledge, but to allow a pragmatic discussion between multiple criteria of validity. The idea is not to immediately disqualify knowledges that are outside of the scientific canon. It means allowing a constellation of various types of knowledge that interact and that are complementary. Knowledges that can be translated one into another, avoiding fragmentation and the non-communicability of the multiple types of knowledge. Furthermore, this entails going beyond the idea that knowledges are situated and exclusively depend on the conditions of their production.