In this meeting we discussed the “Appendix: Philosophy and Praxis” from Enrique Dussel’s Philosophy of Liberation. Puja presented a brief overview of this section emphasizing the role of philosophy with ideology and praxis, the influence and relative determination of praxis in shaping a philosophical system, the role of the organic philosopher converting through critical thinking in a philosopher of liberation and Dussel’s use of Nicaragua as a geopolitical example of an affirmation of a political exteriority. The discussion started with the question of the relationship of nationalism in the example of Nicaragua as an exteriority. We asked: In what sense is Nicaragua an exteriority? What is been affirmed? Is exteriority part of dialectic? In what consist the liberation of Nicaragua? How the liberation of Nicaragua expresses a form of analectic affirmation? We asked if this liberation and affirmation was an expression of hope at the beginning of the Sardinista’s Revolution in Nicaragua at the end of the 70s, considering this appendix was an address given in the 1980. In this sense, we discuss the geopolitics of the relationship of Nicaragua and the US, and whether is in this context that one can read a relationship of the new revolutionary movement as a form of political exteriority. Part of the struggle of discussing this section is to understand the relationship between totality and exteriority, and in what degree Dussel differs from Levinas philosophy of alterity.
The discussion moved to
question Dussel category of utopia, its role, meaning and potential danger of
falling in the future in reinstituting a new system of domination of one group
over another. Besides the question and the critique, we also attempted to
understand the relationship of utopia with Dussel’s Proyecto and praxis. In
this sense, utopia can be understood as a necessary moment of affirmation that
opens the possibility of working towards a proyecto.
One question that arise
in the discussion was whether Dussel’s conceptualization of totality is
encompassing and universal, or whether one can read Dussel’s metaphysical
system as composed of different systems of totality. Is Dussel’s
conceptualization of totality undermining the existence of multiple systems of
oppressions and their intersections? There is space, however, to interpret
Dussel as opening the possibility of a more intersectional analysis of systems
of oppression as seen in page 188 when he asserts: “The oppressed are
considered historically and socially as a class, geopolitically as a nation,
sexually as repressed by macho ideology and practices, pedagogically as
alienated and completely enclosed by an idolatrous fetishism.”
We close the discussion
with questions about the relationship of the organic intellectual with the
oppressed, and specifically we questioned Dussel’s claim that an organic
intellectual, once converted to the liberation of the oppressed assumes their
class. The discussion stem from this passage: “To be ‘organic’ (arrow e) with
the historical subject means to resolutely acquire a class position with an
oppressed people; it means to become involved in and form part of the popular
movement of the working class or of marginal groups […]” (p.190) We questioned: In
what sense Dussel means that the organic philosopher assumes the class of
the oppressed? Is it in a Marxist sense? Does this requires to give up
privileges and what type of commitment, risk and sacrifices this entails? Additionally,
we questioned and discussed the relationship of the intellectual with communities
and social movements. Does being an organic intellectual means the philosopher
needs to belong or be in a committed relationship with the oppressed?