In this episode, we continue our series on modernity with a discussion of modernity, colonialism, and the future of both. We take up the claim that modernity is a justifying myth for European colonialism and wonder why we are all so enraptured by it. Are the Europeans as modern as we think they are? We also defend modernity’s promise of emancipation and then wonder what the point of all the modernity talk is anyway. There’s a lot of ambivalence here, but perhaps that’s the point!

leftofphilosophy.com | @leftofphil | @leftofphilosophy.bsky.social

References:

Aníbal Quijano, “Paradoxes of Modernity in Latin America,” in Foundational Essays on the Coloniality of Power (Duke University Press, 2024).

Enrique Dussel, “Europe, Modernity, and Eurocentrism,” Nepantla: Views from South 1.3 (Duke University Press, 2000).

Music:

“Vintage Memories” by Schematist | schematist.bandcamp.com

“My Space” by Overu | https://get.slip.stream/KqmvAN