Philosophy Faculty Work

Title

Global Ethics, Epistemic Colonialism, and Paths to More Democratic Knowledges

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2018

Publication Title

Radical Philosophy Review

Volume Number

21

Issue Number

2

DOI

10.5840/radphilrev20182679

Abstract

In recent decades, the literature of global ethics has promoted greater and more rigorous attention to transnational moral responsibilities. This essay argues, however, that prominent global-ethics anthologies remain burdened by Eurocentric/colonialist elements that contradict efforts to build more ethical transnational communities. Drawing on scholars of coloniality, including Enrique Dussel, Anibal Quijano, and Linda Tuhiwai Smith, the essay traces colonialist elements in deep structures of prominent global ethics texts. It examines how, even when texts argue for aid to the poor, these elements foster tendencies in the affluent world to detach from and dehumanize people on the other side of global hierarchies. They also deprive academic readers of the insights of grassroots global-justice struggles. The essay concludes by sketching some directions that those of us who study and teach global ethics might pursue in order to unsettle colonialist baggage and cultivate skills and relationships more conducive to ethical global communities.

ISSN

1388-4441

First Page

299

Last Page

324

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