Motto:
Try not to think as a thinker, but as a human being. Seek dialogue with those thinkers who did just this: exposing oneself to the world we live in, finding words for what we can do to maintain, continue and repair it so that all creatures can live in it as well as possible.
(my motto combines paraphrases from Ludwig Feuerbach and Joan Tronto)
About me:
After two years of studying sociology in Leiden (1978-1980), I changed to philosophy studies in the same Dutch city (1980-1987), and a philosopher is what I have become. I am passionate about the necessity to reflect, to dialogue, and always to think harder!
My teaching and research at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, wandering across the boundaries of ethics, political philosophy and philosophical anthropology, have a special focus on intercultural philosophy and African philosophy, criticism of modernity, spirituality, and spirit ontologies. My approaches are: critical theory, postcolonial theory, hermeneutics, deconstructivism and pragmatism.
For more about what I have done since I got involved in philosophy, visit my portfolio!
angelaroothaan 
Hi Angela, mooie blog!
Las net in de biografie van Helene Kroller-Muller dat zij sterk beinvloed is door Spinoza.Wist je dat?
Nee, Marjolein, dat wist ik niet! Dank voor je positieve woorden over de blog!
I’m interested in Spinoza metaphysics,
Pingback: Lower Testosterone Levels In Early Humans May Have Led To Modern Civilized Human Societies | Evolution, Culture and Meaning
I have read through Prof Roothan’s website with a lot of interest and amusement. She has a simple style which ties with my vision f an intercultural; philosophy. Her visit to Africa have proved so inspiring and urged us to discuss the validity and relevance of African knowledge systems. I will visit this site regularly an I am so touch with her comments on the colloquium at the university of Calabar , Nigeria.
Thanks, Pius, for your encouraging words and support. For three years now I have kept the blog going, and I wish to do so as long as I will be able to work as a researcher and teacher in philosophy.
Pingback: Het woord – Van A Tot Zen
I have read some of the posts in this blog before but never took time to read through Angela’s profile. I just did. And I discover the secret of her ‘engaged’ scholarship. Angela is not just a philosopher. A graduate or professor of philosophy as an academic discipline. She is what I prefer to describe as ‘a professional philosophizer’, an individual that reflect deeply on the intellectual heritage of humankind, through engaging texts and people from different places, in search of profound explanations and answers to some of the topical challenges of our time. The content of her motto, which also reflects in her disposition and work, suggests this point. We need more ‘professional philosophizers’ in the world. We need individuals that will transcend national, disciplinary and professional boundaries both in terms of generating knowledge and responding to the challenges of humans anywhere.
Thanks so much for these very kind words. I agree fully with the appeal in your final sentence of course!
I agree completely. I always follow Angela’s blog though I don’t always respond. I help facilitate a writing group that looks at the relationships of being, doing, becoming and belonging, from a whole variety of different perspectives. Just today we are discussing Edith Stein’s concept of “iterated empathy” in the context of a broader discussion of hermeneutical phenomenology and also Kant’s categorical imperative.
The crux of the matter is this: in terms of what one chooses as a categorical imperative, one must regard oneself as autonomous. This is the rational side of the equation. On the other side, as soon as one chooses “humanity” as inclusive of both oneself and others, one has chosen a path where one’s rational autonomy is sacrificed to the cause of humanity as an end in itself.
This sublimation of the ego in humanity signals the humanist pathway out of egoism into intersubjectivity, which is a sharing of a common world, the famed “fusion of horizons” which we discuss in hermeneutics.
Hi there! Do you have contact information for Jossi Efrat, the tour guide you mentioned in a post? I think my family has a connection to him, and I would love to reach out if possible.
Dear Jenna, I am afraid I cannot help you. Maybe you inquire with the Dutch Spinoza Society through which I know him. Best of luck.
Dear Jenna, thanks for your question. I don’t have the contact information. You may reach out to Vereniging Het Spinoza huis (they have a website). They may be able to help you.
Hi Angela, I very much enjoyed your lectures in Philosophy may it be on African philosophy or “diversifying” Philosophy. I had to sadly quit my studies due to personal circumstances, but I was wondering, since I read a blog post of yours regarding the distrust of science in our (postmodern) age, whether science does not in the first place rely on distrust, one may here mention the not purely positivistic nature of science itself, which in itself causes one to question science and thus to continue along the way of science. Also in how far does European Enlightenment thinking, whilst I sadly still consider it to be a failed project, misalign with African eco-centric philosophy à la Fanon, as Kant clearly wants the reader to have the courage to believe in his or her own opinion. Maybe there, whilst Kant issued some critical statements about other races, the very issuing of these comments, are a part of enlightenment? Is it the individualistic conception that arises out of the pseudo-Copernican revolution often attributed to Kant, thus emphasizing the focus on the community rather than the individual and their perception of the inaccessible Ding-an-sich, in contrast to a more community centered approach? How can this criticism of European Enlightenment, which I admittedly still am a big supporter of may it have failed or not as a project, be combined with a critical stand towards the postmodern condition of a skeptical(not necessarily critical view) towards science? Anyhow, I very much appreciated your lectures and wish you much academic success!
Michael
Dear Michael, good to hear from you on this site, and happy to hear my lectures resonated with you. I have read your reflections on the European Enlightenment with interest, and want to wish you all the best for your future, and that your philosophy studies will be a good backbone for what you can do and experience in life. Thanks again for the nice words. Angela.