Event Details
Title: Anton Wilhelm Amo: disrupting dominance
Abstract: Anton Wilhelm Amo (c. 1700 – c. 1750) – born in West Africa, enslaved, and then gifted to the Duke of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel – became the first African to earn an advanced degree at a European university. He went on to teach philosophy at the Universities of Halle and Jena. On the 16th of April, 1734, at the University of Wittenberg, he defended his dissertation, De Humanae Mentis Apatheia (On the Impassivity of the Human Mind), in which Amo investigates the logical inconsistencies in René Descartes’ (1596 – 1650) res cogitans (mind) and res extensa (body) distinction and interaction by maintaining that (1) the mind does not sense material things nor does it (2) contain the faculty of sensing. Because of his lived experience, Amo exists as a provocation to our central reality, the history of philosophy, and academia in general. 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 or the THE FACULTY OF SENSING Thinking With, Through, and by Anton Wilhelm Amo exhibition at Art Association of Braunschweig.
Bio: Dwight K Lewis Jr is an assistant professor in the department of philosophy, the Stephen Setterberg Faculty Fellow in Philosophy, and a co-founder/co-director of the Center for Canon Expansion and Change at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. His research interrogates philosophy through a historical lens; he focuses on the Early Modern Period, Africana Philosophy, the Philosophical Canon, and society at large. He attempts to live his life as James Baldwin says, “larger, freer, and more loving”, for himself and in relation to his community, both locally and globally. Larger, Freer, More Loving is also the name of his podcast with Matt LaVine. Enjoy life! Love yourself!
Please join the Philosophy department for this talk at 4:40 p.m. on Wednesday, Mar. 6th, in the Davis Court space located in Markim Hall. All are welcome. Refreshments will be served.
