Philosophy in an age of postcolonialism

This article aims at a postcolonial critique of the modern academic discipline, ‘philosophy’. For the most part it is seen and regards itself at present as a modern Western discipline founded in its contemporary form by Descartes, a view that overlooks the global history of the field. This essay focuses on two key modern, Western philosophers—Hegel and Husserl—and the legacy they have bequeathed. In critiquing them, the hope is to open the space for philosophy as a cross-cultural discipline, whose universality is achieved in and through a dialogue among equals.