Philosophy-in-Place and the provenance of dialogue

Abstract

Dialogue, as a concept, is often seen as both central to and a prerequisite for philosophical understanding, especially across cultural divides. I wish to reposition dialogue from being a force for unity and transcendence, to being a force for distinction and immanence. This creative tension is possible only when one takes a place-based approach to philosophy, that is, when one recognises that concepts have their own provenance, a provenance which was defined and developed as questions were raised in an environment of productive inter-traditional tension. Philosophical traditions are constructed as they (to use Deleuze and Guattari's terms) deterritorialise and reterritorialise thought, that is, as they transform concepts into usable markers of philosophical life. I will resist the impulse to move to the meta-level of ‘conversation’, which serves only to obscure the productive tension between traditions. Attending to the place of philosophy, on the other hand, makes possible both a more thorough self-critical attitude, and the possibility of a productive encounter with philosophy- in-place. African philosophy, I will argue, provides a useful and instructive space in which to rethink dialogue. If we focus on the differences between traditions (what I will term ‘thought-lives’), we will make dialogue productive, rather than regarding it as just a prior condition to reason or as a liberal ideal.