Sylvia Wynter b. 1928
Sylvia Wynter (born 1928) is a Jamaican philosopher of the Contemporary era, associated with Postcolonial Philosophy and Feminism.
Sylvia Wynter is a Jamaican philosopher, dramatist, and professor emerita at Stanford University, whose work has reshaped contemporary thinking on humanism, race, and the very category of the human. Her landmark essay Unsettling the Coloniality of Being/Power/Truth/Freedom argued that what we call the human is in fact one historically specific genre, the figure of Man, that has overrepresented itself as the species, while the experience of Black, indigenous, and colonized peoples discloses the limits of that figure. Her concept of the demonic ground and her project of a new, post-Western humanism have become reference points for contemporary Black studies, decolonial thought, and Caribbean philosophy.
Key facts
- Nationality
- Jamaican
- Era
- Contemporary
- Movements
- Postcolonial Philosophy, Feminism
Selected quotes
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Attributed to Sylvia Wynter:
“Man is not the human, but a particular historical genre that has overrepresented itself as the species.”
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Attributed to Sylvia Wynter:
“Being human is a praxis, not a substance.”
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Attributed to Sylvia Wynter:
“From the demonic ground we may glimpse a new genre of being human.”
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Attributed to Sylvia Wynter:
“Truth has its colonial geography; freedom must invent another.”
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Attributed to Sylvia Wynter:
“We need a new humanism, born after the wreck of the old.”
Frequently asked about Sylvia Wynter
- When was Sylvia Wynter born?
- Sylvia Wynter was born in 1928.
- Where was Sylvia Wynter from?
- Sylvia Wynter is a Jamaican philosopher of the Contemporary era.
- What philosophical movements is Sylvia Wynter associated with?
- Sylvia Wynter is associated with Postcolonial Philosophy and Feminism.
- What is Sylvia Wynter known for?
- Sylvia Wynter is a Jamaican philosopher, dramatist, and professor emerita at Stanford University, whose work has reshaped contemporary thinking on humanism, race, and the very category of the human.
- How many quotes are attributed to Sylvia Wynter?
- There are 13 attributed quotations from Sylvia Wynter in the 1001Philosophers collection, organized by topic.