Aztec Philosophy: Understanding a World in Motion

Maffie, James

doi:10.5876/9781607322238

Cited by 182 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…We also argue that ethnoontology can connect ontological debates in academic philosophy to applied questions about local livelihoods and sustainability in global contexts. Ethnoontology therefore complements developments in African (e.g., Gyekye, 1995), Asian (e.g., Asakura, 2011), and Indigenous American (e.g., Maffie, 2014) philosophy that emphasize the need to broaden the geographical scope of metaphysical and ontological debates in academic philosophy.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Ethnoontology: Ways of world‐building across cultures

Ludwig

Weiskopf

2019

Philosophy Compass

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This article outlines a program of ethnoontology that brings together empirical research in the ethnosciences with ontological debates in philosophy. First, we survey empirical evidence from heterogeneous cultural contexts and disciplines.Second, we propose a model of cross-cultural relations between ontologies beyond a simple divide between universalist and relativist models. Third, we argue for an integrative model of ontology building that synthesizes insights from different fields such as biological taxonomy, cognitive science, cultural anthropology, and political ecology. We conclude by arguing that a program of ethnoontology provides philosophers both with insights about traditional issues such as debates about natural kinds and with novel strategies for connecting philosophy with pressing global issues such as the conservation of local environments and the self-determination of Indigenous communities.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Ethnoontology: Ways of world‐building across cultures

Ludwig

Weiskopf

2019

Philosophy Compass

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“…42 As an example, take Miguel León-Portilla's seminal La filosofía náhuatl (1956) in which he used the hallowed and revered Western category of "philosophy" to describe the critical reflective capacities of the group of people often referred to as the Aztecs, and thereby "brought upon himself a firestorm of calumny and condemnation," as Jim Maffie put it. 43 This type of philosophical recovery stirred the ire of those who are invested in the primitive status of indigenous peoples. How could these savages and heathens, who worship a feathered serpent and practiced human sacrifice, be said to practice philosophy?…”

Section: Comparative Philosophy As a Solution Tomentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative Philosophy and Decolonial Struggle: The Epistemic Injustice of Colonization and Liberation of Human Reason

Silva¹

2019

The Southern J of Philosophy

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This essay explores the extent to which comparative philosophy can assist decolonial struggle. In order to accomplish this task, I offer not only a description of philosophy's colonization but also an account of how this discipline remains subject to the coloniality of knowledge. In short, insofar as race, gender, class, and sexuality are considered irrelevant or accidental to the production of philosophical knowledge, professional philosophy replicates, if not continues, what Rajeev Bhargava terms the epistemic injustice of colonialism. One response to the colonization of philosophy is "diversification" by means of putting into conversation philosophers, systems, and ideas from differing cultures or regions throughout the world. While a step forward, insofar as philosophical comparisons occur primarily on an East-West axis, philosophers are not necessarily addressing the biases, prejudices, racism, and exceptionalism endemic to their discipline. In fact, such a directionality typically reinforces the sense of historical development that undergirds Western philosophy's self-understanding. This essay, therefore, offers a series of recommendations for how to radicalize comparative philosophical efforts so as to address global epistemic injustice and aid in the process of decolonization.At its most basic, explains Frantz Fanon, decolonization is the replacement of one "species" of humankind by another. "The substitution is unconditional, absolute, total, and seamless," he writes, "proof of success lies in a Grant J. Silva is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Marquette University. He works in Latin American/Latinx philosophy, the philosophy of race, and social/political philosophy. He writes on racism, immigration ethics, decolonial philosophy, the diversification of philosophy, and liberatory thought.

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“…These matters have come to the forefront of Inka research (e.g., Alberti and Marshall 2009;Bray 2009Bray , 2015Wilkinson 2013), to a lesser extent, Aztec studies (Maffie 2014), and recent research on the Achaemenid empire (Khatchadourian 2016). In the process of those investigations, scholars have become increasingly engaged in the interaction among thought, organization, and material practice.…”

Section: Materiality and Agencymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…From the broad array of possibilities, a few ideas can be highlighted. First, in the Americas, both Aztec and Inka philosophies held that the material and the spiritual were part of a single unified reality (see Maffie 2014;D'Altroy 2015b). For the Aztecs, a single, self-generating, vivifying energy or force, called teotl, created everything else-out of its own being.…”

Section: Materiality and Agencymentioning

confidence: 99%

Empires reconsidered: current archaeological approaches

D'Altroy

2018

asian archaeol

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The ancient empires are frequently examined through the lenses of theoretical models, which both provide conceptual frameworks and pose series of questions that permit cross-cultural comparisons. This paper summarizes the salient features of some of the more influential models that have been applied to archaeological inquiry over the last several decades, including the coreperiphery, world systems, territorial-hegemonic, and IEMP approaches. It then examines the shifts in theoretical orientation that have arisen since the emergence of post-colonial, experiential, and materiality theory, along with the selective infusion of philosophical questions about existence, vitality, and space-time. It further explores how advances in technical analytical capacities, for example through GIS and bioarchaeology, have created hitherto unavailable data sets that are reframing the kinds of theoretical questions raised in the investigation of ancient empires.

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Aztec Philosophy: Understanding a World in Motion

Cited by 182 publications

References 4 publications

Ethnoontology: Ways of world‐building across cultures

Ethnoontology: Ways of world‐building across cultures

Comparative Philosophy and Decolonial Struggle: The Epistemic Injustice of Colonization and Liberation of Human Reason

Empires reconsidered: current archaeological approaches

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