Category Archives: Vanished Voices

Vanished Voices Lecture Series 23-24

Vanished Voices Lecture Series

Modern Scholars Give Platform to Historically Marginalized Philosophers

Africana Philosophy with Dr. Dwight K. Lewis, Jr.

Dr. Dwight K. Lewis, Jr. giving a talk at CofC. Photo Credit Priscilla Thomas.

The Department of Philosophy and German hosted the first Vanished Voices Lecture Series talk in October. Thanks to a grant from the German Embassy, we were able to invite Dr. Dwight K. Lewis, Jr. (University of Minnesota—Twin Cities) to give a lecture titled “Black in Germany: Anton Wilhelm Amo.”

The lecture abstract: Anton Wilhelm Amo (c. 1700 – c. 1750), the first West African to obtain an advanced degree at a European university – graduated from the University of Wittenberg (1734) in Germany, then lectured on natural philosophy at three German universities and published three philosophical texts. Because of this lived experience, Amo exists as a provocation to our central reality and the history of philosophy. In this talk, I elaborate on this provocation through Amo’s life, philosophy, and current position in global activism, e.g., the renaming of Mohrenstraße to Anton-Wilhelm-Amo-Straße.

Image of Anton Wilhelm Amo

Professor Dwight K. Lewis, Jr.’s research and teaching focus on the history of early modern philosophy, philosophy of race, and Africana philosophy, with a focus on the philosophy of Anton Wilhelm Amo (c. 1700-c. 1750). You can learn more about Professor Lewis and his research on Amo from this interview with Eidolon, or check out his podcast Larger, Freer, More Loving.

Happiness, Passions, and Character with Dr. Marcy Lascano

Portrait by Maurice Quentin de La Tour

In April, the department hosted Dr. Marcy Lascano (University of Kansas) for the second talk of the 23-24 Vanished Voices Lecture Series.

The lecture abstract: This talk will address these two essential aspects of Du Châtelet’s Discourse on Happiness. First, what is Du Châtelet’s account of happiness? The first pages of the Discourse lead one in different directions concerning her theory of the nature of happiness. I will argue that an analysis of the text provides evidence for ultimately interpreting her account as a version of hedonism rather than a desire-based or a pluralist account of happiness. While her view is hedonistic, it will be shown that her emphasis on passions as uniquely capable of sustaining long-term pleasure is unique. This emphasis makes her version of hedonism more psychologically nuanced than more typical versions of the view.

The second aspect of her account concerns what Du Châtelet calls the “great machines of happiness.” Du Châtelet lists five things related to happiness: freedom from prejudice, health, virtue, having tastes and passions, and being susceptible to illusions. Here, it will be argued that Du Châtelet’s great machines of happiness are best understood as the features of a person’s physical or psychological constitution or orientation toward the world that enable her to achieve happiness.

Thanks to the Vanished Voices Lecture Series Fund, the department can support these guest speakers presenting for the benefit of students and the community. Please reach out if you would like to learn more about how you can help support the Vanished Voices Lecture Series’s mission.

Vanished Voices

Vanished Voices

New Lecture Series Launch by the Department

The Department of Philosophy has launched an exciting new lecture series this academic year: Vanished Voices. The inspiration for this new series is described by Dr. Deborah Boyle, a trailblazer in the field of women and philosophy, “I want students to know that if you look beyond the traditional philosophical genres and include novels, plays and poetry, you’ll see that there were many more people doing philosophy than the men that are usually taught about. And many of them were innovative women who were making history in philosophy in their time.”

Dr. Boyle’s professional work has sought to illuminate the marginalized voices in the field of philosophy. From her 2018 book The Well-Ordered Universe: The Philosophy of Margaret Cavendish to her recently released Mary Shepherd: A Guide, Dr. Boyle has been recontextualizing philosophical history that has often silenced important thinkers.

This academic year, the Vanished Voices Lecture Series held two talks. The first took place in the fall, entitled “‘The Complicate Being Self’: Mary Shepherd and the Difference Between Self and Mind,” and was presented by the department’s visiting assistant professor, Dr. Manuel Fasko, . Reflecting on his guest lecture and the importance of this series, he says, “It was a pleasure and honor to open the ‘Vanished Voices Lecture Series’ at College of Charleston, which was well attended by faculty and students alike. It is great to see that College of Charleston is participating and promoting the effort to right this wrong. Female thinkers have been part of philosophy since its inception. Their contributions were systematically neglected and ignored from the 19th century onwards, when philosophy became the university subject it is today. It has only been relatively recently that scholars have started to recover these vanished voices and incorporate them in their research and teaching. This is an effort that is ongoing. Thus, it is an excellent initiative by the College of Charleston to support and engage in this cutting-edge endeavor of correcting how we look at the past – and, in doing so, ultimately contribute to a more equitable future.”

The second guest lecture, “Demons, Doubts, and the Struggles of Knowing,” was presented by Dr. Christia Mercer, Gustave M. Berne Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University. Professor Mercer suggested that, while the contributions of early modern women philosophers to the development of modern thought is now widely acknowledged, late medieval women’s influence has yet to be reckoned with. In a wide ranging, and art-filled (!) talk, Professor Mercer showed how Teresa of Ávila’s arguments about achieving clear and distinct ideas influence Descartes and how philosophers need to be more sensitive to a variety of ways philosophy has been done throughout history.

Planning has already begun on the next Vanished Voices Lecture that will be held in Fall 2023 at the college. The focus will be on the African philosopher Anton Wilhelm Amo who was active in northern Europe in the 18th Century. Amo taught at the University of Halle, then at the University of Jena before an increasinlgly racist culture forced him to leave. In that time he wrote two philosophical books whose significance has only recently been re-recognized. Berlin initiated a decolonization campaign and in 2020 renamed the street, Mohrenstraße, to Anton-Wilhelm-Amo-Straße in Amo’s honor. This guest lecture will be a collaborative event with the Department of German at the College.

In addition to the lecture series, Dr. Boyle crafted a special topics course with visiting professor, Dr. Manuel Fasko, this spring – Recovering Vanished Voices: Women Philosophers of the 17th-19th Centuries. The course confronts the established androcentric narrative of the history of philosophy and draws from works by women philosophers such as Margaret Cavendish (1623–1673), Anne Conway (1631-1679), Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1648–95), Mary Astell (1666–1731), Emilie du Châtelet (1706­–1749), Mary Shepherd (1777–1847), Sojourner Truth (c.1797–1883), or Constance Naden (1858-1889). Studying these thinkers will lead to discussions on their contributions to well-known philosophical problems such as the mind-body-problem or raise new questions, such as the role of women in philosophy or society more generally. The course aims for students to become a part of the effort to let these previously vanished voices be heard, thereby changing the way we look at the past, and, in doing so, ultimately shaping the future.

We look forward to sharing this valuable and ongoing work in the history of philosophy!