Fausto Cesar Quizhpe Gualan

The Status of Oral Traditions in the History of Philosophy: Methodological Considerations

7.-9. September 2023, Universität Hildesheim

Fausto Cesar Quizhpe Gualan

Indigenous Philosophy:

Concrete Subject, “Object”, Epistemic Situation and Method

The proposal of the conference regarding indigenous philosophy is delimited with respect to four specific aspects: concrete subject, “object”, epistemic situation and method. The first two aspects constitute a negative moment, a moment of criticism. And, the subsequent ones constitute a positive, reconstructive moment. To sum up: 1. Concrete subject. We propose to analyze the concrete subject in order to refer to a collective —specifically, Kichwa— of colonial origin in Latin America that reflects on its decolonization or liberation, with respect to a wide range of long-lasting dominations, of approximately five centuries. This proposal intends to contradict the tradition of Greco-Roman individualistic philosophy and its academic corollaries. 2. “Object”. Regarding the “object,” we reflect on the Eurocentric theoretical construction of the indigenous “object”, which is a reification of the indigenous subject that subsequently leads to a denial or qualification of the indigenous world as non-philosophical; thereby we postulate a critique of fields of knowledge such as the following: colonial chronicles, theology, ethnology, or anthropology. 3. Epistemic situation: Here we propose a philosophical reversion, a decolonization, a liberation, and so on. Through a reconstruction of indigenous philosophy as a subject, and outside of Eurocentric categorical frameworks, i.e., placing the discernment of life/death at the center of our reflection. To this end, an indigenous philosophical matrix of biotic nature is postulated through categories such as Pachamama or Sumak Kawsay. 4. Method: Through an interdisciplinary, antidisciplinary and transdisciplinary perspective, we finally arrive at a philosophical reversion. This can be summarized as follows: interdisciplinarity is an instrument that allows the recurrence of an interaction of various fields of knowledge; the antidisciplinary is understood as epistemic anarchy, which, in turn, allows taking subjects generally discarded by philosophy as interlocutors; the transdisciplinary is as a dynamic construction of knowledge centered on life, a negation of the Greco-Roman philosophy that has a cloistered itself in the study of canonical texts and which is devoid of a concrete subject of flesh and blood; finally, philosophical reversion takes place as a theoretical and practical product centered on life.

Fausto Cesar Quizhpe Gualan currently works at the Área de Derecho, Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar (UASB) in Equador. He does research in Indigenous Philosophy, Ethics, Philosophy of Science and Social and Political Philosophy. His publications include Blanquitud y Sumak Kawsay (2022), Mukuna, Ética del cuidado de la vida Sumak Kawsay (in Revista Direitos Sociais e Políticas Públicas, 2021).