CONTRASTIVE AND CONTRADICTORY VALUATIONS OF EPISTEMES IN WESTERN CULTURE

These questions, however, could be understood as more complex than has just been described above. The mainstream tradition of Western philosophy from the Pre-Socratics to Derrida and after, enjoys prestige that ensures it is the system in terms of which the educational system is organised-agreeably a very loose statement. But I wonder how commonplace is the experience of people being expected to, being trained to, or actually reading Kant, Descartes, Aristotle or even Plato for inspiration, relaxation or for using their ideas as a means of exploring questions in or for directing their lives? And yet, these philosophers are discussing issues that touch on the very tissue of daily human existence but they have not been instutionalised in that way.

One major Western thinker who seems to be an exception is Freud on account of the massive impact he has had on how people conceive of the mind and of relationships. On the other hand, people in Europe and North America who are disposed to go great thinkers forideas relative to the business of living , it seems to me, are more likely to go to Asian and esoteric Western thought.

We have heard of Madonna's fascination with the Jewish mysticism of the Kabala, The Beatles' fascination with a particular school of Indian mediation, but I wonder if we shall ever hear of people's fascination with Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Hegel, Descartes, Wittgenstein etc, even though the Asian thinkers and the Kabala are much more counter intuitive, less close to conventional common sense than the Western philosophers?

NETWORKS OF EPISTEMES WITHIN AND BETWEEN WESTERN,AFRICAN AND ASIAN THOUGHT

Along these lines, therefore, all divinatory systems are marginalised systems, whether Ifa or astrology which is to a significant degree Middle Eastern and European in origin and in current application.

The Hermetic tradition, which is a tradition of knowledge that has existed as an undercurrent of Western thought since the Renaissance, and which integrates astrology, alchemy, magic and the more modern Neo-Pagan and Wiccan traditions which emerged in Europe in the 19th and twentieth centuries are marginalised traditions. I expect Indian philosophy enjoys a lot of prestige in India and in the West, but I wonder to what degree, if any, Indian and any other educational systems are organised in terms of the fundamental goals that run through that philosophy, goals, which as far as I can see from my limited understanding, are fundamentally different from that of Western thought and Western education. If I am correct in my scepticism, Indian philosophy in its Classical and perhaps most distinctive form, is a marginalised system within India.

The study and practice of Indian systems such as Buddhism, Vedanta and Yoga is
very strong in the West, both within academia and outside it, where they are vigorously practiced. To what degree, however, are Western educational systems influenced by the fundamental postulates of these Indian systems, particularly about the nature of mind and its relationship with the universe? When they are adapted for use in Western institutions to what degree, are , what is ,in my view, their fundamentally transformative and transcendental motivations incorporated, and to what degree are they modified to accommodate more limited conceptions of reality which are dominant in mainstream Western thought?

DYNAMIC HIERACHIES OF EPISTEMES

The question of what constitutes a marginalised as different from a dominant from of knowledge is understood here in term of its relationship to the dominant episteme in global terms as represented by Western high culture. The manner in which this culture interprets the character of the world and how it is best understood, and the implicit or explicit evaluation of the relative significance of various ways of arriving at knowledge in relation to this dominant
paradigm is the dominant means of studying reality in the world today.

As far as I know, the official approaches to the universe, those that are dominant in educational systems and those publicly acknowledged in public communication, in all continents, are structured by this culture which has its origins in Europe, specifically Europe as it emerged after the Scientific Revolution of the seventeenth century. Every other conception of the world and of epistemological procedures, whether in the West, Africa or Asia, regardless of the status it
enjoys outside mainstream education within or outside its country of origin is a marginalised system since it will not be held up as standard of evaluation.

EXPLORING WENGER'S AND MALTWOOD'S COSMOGEOGRAPHIC CREATIONS THROUGH DIALOGUE BETWEEN CONTRASTIVE BUT COMPLEMENTARY EPISTEMES

Wenger's and Maltwod's conceptions of the landscape they interpret depict these spaces as embodying cosmographic forms. They both try to lead the audience to a participation in the mysteries the landscapes may reveal, Wenger through her sculptures and Maltwood, through her maps of the landscape.

The blog explores these conceptions of landscape in terms of adialogue between marginalised and dominant hermeneutic forms within and between Africa, the West and Asia. The major hermeneutic forms are the Ifa divinatory system which has its origins with the Yoruba, Western mainstream and esoteric philosophies and Asian philosophy.