Conferences by Jonathan Egid
We invite proposals for papers to be presented at an international conference entitled ‘In Search... more We invite proposals for papers to be presented at an international conference entitled ‘In Search of Zera Yacob’, to take place at Worcester College, Oxford, in May 2022. The exact dates have yet to be confirmed, subject to Covid-19 pandemic developments.
Please note that the revised submission deadline is 31 December 2021, and that the CfP is open to all researchers (rather than just graduate students and early career researchers).
In Search of Zera Yacob will be the first international and interdisciplinary conference on two remarkable philosophical texts from Ethiopia and the ongoing debate over their authorship. The Ḥatäta Zär’a Ya‛ǝqob and the Ḥatäta Walda Heywat have fascinated and puzzled alike since their discovery in 1852, both for their intrinsic philosophical interest and the ways they challenge prevalent ideas about the history of philosophy and African intellectual history. The debate also has implications for the global history of philosophy, and for understanding the relationship between colonial knowledge production and the historiography of philosophy.
Book Reviews by Jonathan Egid
Times Literary Supplement, 2023
Times Literary Supplement , 2021
Metaphysics, understood as the study of the causes of first things, of 'being qua being' or simpl... more Metaphysics, understood as the study of the causes of first things, of 'being qua being' or simply of that which goes beyond the physical realm has traditionally been seen as one of, if not the central topic of philosophy. But for the subjects of David Edmonds' lively new book, the group of philosophers, mathematicians and physicists known as the Vienna Circle, metaphysics was strictly
Times Literary Supplement, 2020
Review of JOHN STUART MILL AND THE MEANING OF
LIFE by Elijah Milgram
Times Literary Supplement, 2019
Times Literary Supplement, 2020
Papers by Jonathan Egid
Hegel bulletin, Jun 3, 2024
This article explores an episode in the reception of Hegel's philosophy of history and historiogr... more This article explores an episode in the reception of Hegel's philosophy of history and historiography of philosophy with reference to the question of the possibility of non-Western philosophy, in particular African philosophy. Section I briefly outlines the contents of the Hatäta Zär'a Ya‛ǝqob and the controversy over its authorship, focusing in particular on the argument of the Ethiopianist and scholar of Semitic languages Carlo Conti Rossini that 'rationalistic' philosophy was impossible in Ethiopia. In section II I suggest that a major component of the intellectual background to this notion of the impossibility of philosophy in Africa can be traced to Hegel's philosophy of history. To substantiate this claim I begin by providing an account of the broader historiographical shift between 1780 and 1830, in which Africa and Asia came to be excluded from the history of philosophy, and I suggest that Hegel's philosophy of history was decisive in this process. I examine how Hegel's account of history as the realization and actualization of freedom goes together with the development of cultural production culminating in philosophy, and how both of these processes (if they are really separate processes at all), can be mapped onto particular historicalgeographical populations and cultures. I suggest that, even though this was not Hegel's intention, by the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries this served as a cultural justification for political domination: those who are unfree are unfree because they are unthinking (unphilosophical), and those who are unthinking cannot be free. Finally in section III I connect this Hegelian conception to Conti Rossini's work, both his article on the Hatäta and as apologist for Italian imperialism. I conclude by reflecting on what this underexplored connection between Hegel and early twentieth-century theorists of culture might mean for attempts to construct global histories of philosophy. This article has two interconnected aims. On the one hand it explores an episode in the reception of Hegel's philosophy of history and historiography of philosophy with reference to the question of the possibility of non-Western philosophy, in
Hegel Bulletin, 2024
This article explores an episode in the reception of Hegel's philosophy of history and historiogr... more This article explores an episode in the reception of Hegel's philosophy of history and historiography of philosophy with reference to the question of the possibility of non-Western philosophy, in particular African philosophy. Section I briefly outlines the contents of the Hatäta Zär'a Ya‛ǝqob and the controversy over its authorship, focusing in particular on the argument of the Ethiopianist and scholar of Semitic languages Carlo Conti Rossini that 'rationalistic' philosophy was impossible in Ethiopia. In section II I suggest that a major component of the intellectual background to this notion of the impossibility of philosophy in Africa can be traced to Hegel's philosophy of history. To substantiate this claim I begin by providing an account of the broader historiographical shift between 1780 and 1830, in which Africa and Asia came to be excluded from the history of philosophy, and I suggest that Hegel's philosophy of history was decisive in this process. I examine how Hegel's account of history as the realization and actualization of freedom goes together with the development of cultural production culminating in philosophy, and how both of these processes (if they are really separate processes at all), can be mapped onto particular historicalgeographical populations and cultures. I suggest that, even though this was not Hegel's intention, by the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries this served as a cultural justification for political domination: those who are unfree are unfree because they are unthinking (unphilosophical), and those who are unthinking cannot be free. Finally in section III I connect this Hegelian conception to Conti Rossini's work, both his article on the Hatäta and as apologist for Italian imperialism. I conclude by reflecting on what this underexplored connection between Hegel and early twentieth-century theorists of culture might mean for attempts to construct global histories of philosophy. This article has two interconnected aims. On the one hand it explores an episode in the reception of Hegel's philosophy of history and historiography of philosophy with reference to the question of the possibility of non-Western philosophy, in
Aeon, 2023
A 17th-century classic of Ethiopian philosophy might be a fake. Does it matter, or is that just h... more A 17th-century classic of Ethiopian philosophy might be a fake. Does it matter, or is that just how philosophy works?
Perspectives: Studies in Translation Theory and Practice, 2023
How does philosophy learn to speak a new language? That is, how does some particular language com... more How does philosophy learn to speak a new language? That is, how does some particular language come to serve as the means for the expression of philosophical ideas? In this paper, I present an answer grounded in four historical case studies and suggest that this answer has broad implications for contemporary philosophy. I begin with Jonathan Rée’s account of philosophical translation into English in the sixteenth century, and the debate between philosopher-translators who wanted to acquire – wholesale or with modifications – foreign terms, and those who wished to take existing words and transform them from their ordinary to a philosophical use. I sketch how these twin processes of ‘acquisition’ and ‘transformation’ manifested themselves in philosophical translations from Greek to Latin, Greek to Arabic and both Greek and Arabic to Gə’əz and argue that comparative work in this vein could yield interesting and significant results. I suggest that not only is Rée’s approach useful for thinking about philosophical translation historically, but that philosophical translation between very different languages is important for contemporary philosophy insofar as it reveals the linguistic presuppositions of philosophical theories expressed in some particular language, and that this constitutes an argument against the prevailing monolingualism in philosophy.
Perspectives, 2022
How does philosophy learn to speak a new language? That is, how does some particular language com... more How does philosophy learn to speak a new language? That is, how does some particular language come to serve as the means for the expression of philosophical ideas? In this paper, I present an answer grounded in four historical case studies and suggest that this answer has broad implications for contemporary philosophy. I begin with Jonathan Rée’s account of philosophical translation into English in the sixteenth century, and the debate between philosopher-translators who wanted to acquire–wholesale or with modifications–foreign terms, and those who wished to take existing words and transform them from their ordinary to a philosophical use. I sketch how these twin processes of ‘acquisition’ and ‘transformation’ manifested themselves in philosophical translations from Greek to Latin, Greek to Arabic and both Greek and Arabic to Gə’əz and argue that comparative work in this vein could yield interesting and significant results. I suggest that not only is Rée’s approach useful for thinking about philosophical translation historically, but that philosophical translation between very different languages is important for contemporary philosophy insofar as it reveals the linguistic presuppositions of philosophical theories expressed in some particular language, and that this constitutes an argument against the prevailing monolingualism in philosophy
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Conferences by Jonathan Egid
Please note that the revised submission deadline is 31 December 2021, and that the CfP is open to all researchers (rather than just graduate students and early career researchers).
In Search of Zera Yacob will be the first international and interdisciplinary conference on two remarkable philosophical texts from Ethiopia and the ongoing debate over their authorship. The Ḥatäta Zär’a Ya‛ǝqob and the Ḥatäta Walda Heywat have fascinated and puzzled alike since their discovery in 1852, both for their intrinsic philosophical interest and the ways they challenge prevalent ideas about the history of philosophy and African intellectual history. The debate also has implications for the global history of philosophy, and for understanding the relationship between colonial knowledge production and the historiography of philosophy.
Book Reviews by Jonathan Egid
Papers by Jonathan Egid
Please note that the revised submission deadline is 31 December 2021, and that the CfP is open to all researchers (rather than just graduate students and early career researchers).
In Search of Zera Yacob will be the first international and interdisciplinary conference on two remarkable philosophical texts from Ethiopia and the ongoing debate over their authorship. The Ḥatäta Zär’a Ya‛ǝqob and the Ḥatäta Walda Heywat have fascinated and puzzled alike since their discovery in 1852, both for their intrinsic philosophical interest and the ways they challenge prevalent ideas about the history of philosophy and African intellectual history. The debate also has implications for the global history of philosophy, and for understanding the relationship between colonial knowledge production and the historiography of philosophy.
This volume breaks new ground for the study of these texts, presenting a clear account of the most up-to-date scholarship the ways they works are being investigated by contemporary philosophers, philologists, and historians.
While the authorship question is addressed in the volume, it is not the sole locus of discussion. The near-exclusive focus on this question over the last century has obscured scholarly interest in the texts’ philosophical and literary qualities in their own right. Accordingly, this volume begins to fill this gap, exploring the texts' implications for the global history of philosophy and transnational intellectual history of the 17th century.