The term ‘Māori philosophy’ provokes philosophy, just as ‘Māori science’ provokes science. So far most of the academic encounter between Māori and Western knowledge has been in terms of ‘Māori science’ which has been equated with Mātauranga Māori, a generic term for Māori knowledge. It works better to see Māori knowledge as a local form of philosophy (Stewart, 2020b) in which Māori values provide a useful alternative to Western systems of thought. It is also important for Māori aspirations to recognise the symbolic level of colonisation of Māori, which can be expressed as the subjugation of Māori philosophy (Jackson, 1992). This talk is based on my recent book, Māori Philosophy (Stewart, 2020a), with an accent on ‘agnotology’ and the role of ignorance in our society and education/knowledge system (Stewart, 2021).

Georgina Tuari Stewart is Associate Professor at Te Kura Mātauranga School of Education, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland.

References:

Jackson, M. (1992). The Treaty and the word: the colonization of Māori philosophy. In G. Oddie & R.Perrett (Eds.), Justice, ethics and New Zealand society (pp. 1-10). Oxford University Press.

Stewart, G. T. (2020a). Māori Philosophy: Indigenous thinking from Aotearoa. Bloomsbury.

Stewart, G. T. (2020b). Mātauranga Māori: a philosophy from Aotearoa. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1080/03036758.2020.1779757

Stewart, G. T. (2021). A passion for ignorance? Not knowing the half of it. https://pesaagora.com/columns/a-passion-for-ignorance/

For further information please contact Ed Mares (edwin.mares@vuw.ac.nz) Philosophy Programme Seminar Convenor.