A huge reminder this channel primarily survives off the kind donations/monthly support of viewers. For merely a little over a dollar, consider signing up and help keeping these videos alive. We also offer some small perks and benefits as well. Consider supporting at the RUclips 'Join' button, and over on Patreon: www.patreon.com/epochphilosophy
Two spirit tribes members took many different roles in the west. Some were negotiators, some warriors, some stood out in the middle of the trail screaming childish political chants blocking their fellow tribesmen trying to forage and hunt for “social justice”.
Native Americans would still be living in mud hut, doing slavery, human sacrifice, and cannibalism if it was not for white people civilizing them. So save me all the crocodile tears.
It really does change your mind, once you accept and understand this connection with nature, life becomes so much richer. One of the things that really hit me was the native american perception of time, which is so different from the abstract western hour we are so used to. It inspired me so much that i filled my garden with all kinds of plants, most from seed, even tried to recreate the three sisters technique and with varying success and lots of learning, these plants have showed me a new kind of time, a time that is much fuller than the abstract time, a time that slides slowly as the seed hatches, grow a stalk and leaves and eventually gives fruit. It just re enchants life in a way that no commodity could ever do and you really do nothing "special", only help something grow and care for it, which is all we ever really needed to do
Beautifully articulated, mate. I have a large garden, grow from seed to seed and share my bounty with my neighbors and family. Nothin’ better than diggin’ in da dirt, walkin’ barefoot in da dirt, eatin’ da dirt (in the form of veggies), keeping worm farms and recycling all kitchen waste and dried leaves and grass clippings into compost (soil). The Wind, One Brilliant Day The wind, one brilliant day, called to my soul with an odor of jasmine. "In return for the odor of my jasmine, I'd like all the odor of your roses." "I have no roses; all the flowers in my garden are dead." "Well then, I'll take the withered petals and the yellow leaves and the waters of the fountain." the wind left. And I wept. And I said to myself: "What have you done with the garden that was entrusted to you?" Antonio Machado Translated by Robert Bly
And what is connection to nature? Is it just Vegan? Or is it planting more trees? Is it loving like a caveman just for few seconds so you can comment in a video that you are superior? Or is it going around hunting and eating other animals? I wonder should I create my own?
This is exactly why I converted to paganism. Once you realize that everything and everyone is one, it just makes sense to revere and respect nature, instead of trying to extract value from it for profit.
Indians were ironically the best Christians they didnt judge they didn't believe they can own earth they believed everyone is equal and the body is a temple the tribes of america may not have known Abt jesus but they definitely followed better than anyone I've ever heard of Christian or not IDC they knew how to make it to the afterlife
At the beginning you said we "fail to ignore" this- which is a good thing. They are still here and they should be. I appreciate you posting about them. My child is a descendent too.
I happen to be a Philosophy Major, and I just finished an essay I wrote for a friend that was inspired by this video, and I made sure to mention this channel! I'm part Native American (Cherokee to be exact), and my friend is part Native as well. So, I got my Cherokee citizenship, but I didn't know whether to claim it at first because I'm more Caucasian than anything and I wanted to maintain respect. But the World Cultures Anthropology class I'm in led me to this video, and THAT led me to making some awesome connections, and now I've written perhaps the most cohesive work longer than 8 pages that I've ever produced! I actually think my connection to the Cherokee Nation may be done justice! So, you have my thanks. I can't tell you how much I appreciate this video!
Unless you know specifically which of your (recent) ancestors were natives, I'd refrain from claiming such. Far too many people try to claim Native heritage with scant evidence.
To those asking, my Great Great Grandmother was on the Dawes Rolls because of her being on the trail of tears. One can’t be a citizen of the Cherokee Nation without proving this, and yes, the name that the Cherokee historically used a different from their current classification. I’m just saying what’s on my card, because again, I didn’t choose to be called Cherokee. And I want to make that clear because I want to maintain respect towards those ancestors for whom it WAS their culture. I hope that clears things up.🙂
@@duaneelliott5194 When I studied Native American culture, or actually the history of the US trying to destroy it, I found a reference to a strategy some Cherokee men reportedly adopted post Trail of Tears. They decided to take back their country by having as many babies with the foreigners as possible, it was a long game strategy. Maybe it worked, it was a long time ago.
Once westerners "religious" people open a damn Meister Eckart or Saint John of the Cross, or even William Law book, and read about apophatic mysticism, they'll realize how close they are, in their beliefs, to the natives colonial propaganda framed as primitive godless people for decades. People say that you realize how different we are through travels. I, as a Spinoza enjoyer, argue the opposite: it's always the same belief, the same frame of experience, getting distorted by petty greed, anger and grievances. Read a buddhist book, read a stoics book, and then listen to how native people speak about their cosmology. It's the same. Always has been. Alienation is making us blind to our common human condition.
Christ is the fullfillment of all philosphy because He Is the Truth. That was the whole idea of catholicism(catholic means universal) where all the world is brought together as one family in Christ. It has always been a tug of war though between this ideal, and those who want power. Take care and God bless
@@johnphipps4105 Don't you think every religious person thinks this about their own religion? Why should all the world be brought together under Catholicism, as opposed to Sikhism, Islam, Protestantism, Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism, and so on? Aside from the obvious answer- because Catholicism is your own religion, so it's obviously the best one... The idea of every religion is to be the 'best' and 'correct' religion. This kind of arrogant thinking keeps us divided.
Oh wow philosophy youtube doesnt pay nearly enough attention to the many philsophies present in indigenous cultures of the americas. From political to metaphysical to epistemology and more its pretty cool stuff once you learn to look past what appears as just superstitions or just spiritual dogma.
@epochphilosophy indeed many of my own cultures philosphies i was taught from stories, general teachings and my many family and community memebrs parroting sayings who no one knows how old they are but are all meant to teach us the philosophies that had run our society since before colonialism, the ones that merged or that remained untouched despite the tons of mixing going on and alot of incorporation of newer ideas. One of the biggest teachings i take to heart is the idea of walking two roads, im not sure what you would call this sociopolitical philosophy? im not sure what to exactly call it but the idea is that you must be able to function in both your own native culture and in the "white man's world" but this really just means the modern industrial world and their seemingly contradicting values. A neccessary way of thinking in order to adapt to a world which wanted to very much destroy that so called red road representing our culture only leaving the single path. but you must learn when to walk which road in your life ie walking the white road at the right time means to drop the spiritualisms, changing your dialect to standard engiish instead of the dialect on your reservation or urban core for those not in reserves, etc. while walking the red road at the right time is learning to stick to your traditions and cultures even if you might neccissarily not believe in the religious or spiritual aspects. i personally view alot of the spiritualisms through a pseduo-sprititual scientific lense where I rationalize everything under the scienetific method but i am open to admitting that there are things where its not as useful cuz for example philsophy is asking questions and thinking of thought experiments which are abstract and unable to be tested yet we find much use in this discipline. Religion and spriritualism serve their roles mainly the role of social cohesion. Im sure many optimistic nihilists know the notion of how religion or an adequate replacement for it is neccessary for society which is embodied by nietzche's philosophies and his hatred of nihilism. I want to add a little tid bit about the idea of the self, it is important like you said to keep in mind many people differ from the notions outlined in the video since it was just so many damn cultures and identies and ways of thinking. in my culture the idea of the self is very present with collectivism not sacrificing the individual and the two are not seen as opposing forces politically. It is seen that individuals must collectivize and collaborate in order to not only survive but to thrive; we had found a balance in our old lifestyle where we found abundance for much of the time due to the massive reaping of meat from the massive buffalo herds which we would kill en masse using the buffalo jump. (an actually pretty rare thing since it requires a specific terrain only found where the plains turn to foot hills then cliffs high enough to kill animals in a fall but not too tough terrain for humans to traverse long distances.) I think a good analogy or atleast the closest I have yet to come across in western philosophy that mirrors my culture, the blackfoot, and our conception of this individuality and the collective is the ideas of Max Stirner and his work like the ego and its own. I think I was much more easily able to understand his often misconstrued ideas. as for two spirits in my culture gender is expressed by labour practiced or roles in the community. ie a woman being a warrior would be considered two spirit or our sense of transgender male. The same with a male who took up domestic duties with the woman was treated as such. And with a well known story in our community about the first man and women who realized that both men and women needed eachother to survive even though they might not get along all of the time. in the story the woman for example doesnt like the mans smell and sloppyness in eating. A typical stereotype of men in many cultures, and its metaphorical of course but they end up finding out that for example the man doesnt know how to make clothes and cant afford to take to time he needs to spend hunting to learn to make it. The woman has her epiphany and then its meant to teach us the importance of gender equality from an early age. we also pair this with teachings (though not as much from older folks} about the two spirit and non heterosexual sexualities. You are taught that they may be a male acting like a woman but since they do womanly things and wish to express themselves as female thencyou respect it. Btw the expression of gender does ofcourse extend beyond labour into other ways of expression like dress, mannerisms and interests and its not treated with stigma outside of those who have adopted christian views and view the act of homosexuals and transgender people as sinners. A thing i like to add just that is sort of a tangent, that shows what i mean about adaptation. my grandma and my mom adapted christianity and merged it with our indigenous sundance religion while I have merged science like astrophysics and my indgenous religion. but either way we incorporate new ideas from western culture which we find compatible or which change our perspectives in ways we deem positive and dont remain static. So these philosophies are changing all the time. each generation comes with different ideas. W2
@epochphilosophy also i wanted to say that you did a very good job of relating the many philosophies youve touched on before this video on your channel. I was ecstatic to see you making a video on the topic. If you ever want to do a follow up video id love to help you out in anyway since I grew up in my homelands and still keep in contact with many family and community members including elders who all know tons about our own people but also the people of the region's philosphical beliefs. Im from the northern great plains btw, im from the blackfoot confederacy and in specific the kainai first nation. This region has alot of philosphical ideas in different philosophies like metaphysics, epistemology (pragmatism is a big thing here, but its very different than american settler pragmatism and the movement it got its name from), ethics, politics, etc.
Thank you for this, I love your view point and I’m not even half way through yet, gives hope that in a world of over saturated philosophy videos you and others are starting to emerge to change that Big love
thank u for sharing this!! ive questioned this but havent known where top begin the search, i myself stem from the NA Yavapai indigenous people and this knowledge has been lost on me
Dr. Leroy Little Bear is an amazing writer and speaker on the concept of Indigenous (specifically Blackfoot) philosophy if a deeper dive is appealing to anyone.
5:50 - This is something that I don't think enough people grasp. I've had people tell say to me "Well we're ALL indigenous to somewhere" like yeah you're right but what the hell does that mean to you? How does being indigenous affect your life and your perspective? I also really like what you said about indigenous knowledge being existing alongside something, rather than subjugation and domination. Awesome video
Mine, and most White people I know are affected by not being 'allowed' to recognize how they are indigenous peoples. They are the only peoples actively discouraged from knowing of their tribes and how they were destroyed long before globalists shipped them throughout the world to help.destroy tribes in other regions. All other peoples are told to worship their ancestors. Those indigenous to Europe are attacked if they want to worship theirs. Antiwhiteism is the great evil of our time.
Damn bro I just stumbled upon your channel and I am blown away, your format, your thoughts, the way you convey your concepts, it’s all so clear and entertaining
Thank you for this video, I bought the book. Cordova has brought many things to light as I read the pages . I understand many of the things she refers to and for some reason have shared these views all my life. I have no known Native American blood in me but have always viewed the World through the lens she is talking about. Who knows , I think it is natural for a Human to see the World this way if you don't follow the crowd looking for approval from friends and family.Short version but you get the idea. Keep up your work it is important especially someone that can express and come out with a clear thought and message .
Great video! I had never really thought of Native American philosophy as an independent subject, but i am very interested in the theory of "self" as described here. Thank you for bringing attention to this! I hope to see you do more informational content like this and I would love to see videos on other indigenous american philosphies from regions like mezo and south america.
I think you did a good job here, speaking as a Native person. Oh and Iroquois is pronounced Yuro-kwoy, but it's term that came from the French trying to pronounce a not so flattering name our neighbors called us. So don't fret over the misprounciation. And yeah IMO, Cordova's book is pretty good. I have critiques, but they're minor things.
It's cool to see this topic broached. I'm sure you're aware of how extensive it gets. Some primary sources I would recommend are Brian Burkhart's Indigenizing Philosophy through the Land, and three works by Vine Deloria Jr. - Evolution, Creationism, and Other Modern Myths; God is Red: A Native View of Religion; and The Metaphysics of Modern Existence. Secondary sources that are good are Eduardo Viveiros de Castro's Cannibal Metaphysics; Keith Basso's Wisdom Sits in Places; Carlo Severi's The Chimera Principle; Timothy Pauketat's An Archaeology of the Cosmos; and then some early ethnographic works like James Mooney's Myths of the Cherokee or stuff from John Swanton
this was really good, thank you very much. I came here after your excellent and very helpful video on zizek sublime objects. this video reminded me of my past trying to connect with neo paganism. druid,witch,magician,healer,shaman etc....... but the best connection is to nature. When our rituals as observances are held in nature unfolding as we unfold, whether we are aware of it or not. A great oneness arises, that always is. A great mysterious spirit. i really got a sense of that spirit from your video ... and i agree that we should not make the mistake of thinking that we are too far gone from those ways in the west. They can be immediately be rekindled, by simply being in nature. There is a memory in all of us of such past lives and values. It feels natural, and It could be much more than 'interesting' to find a philosophical reunion between them.
Absolutely wonderful video. I've been trying to understand the indigenous perspective as much as I can. I loved "Braiding Sweetgrass" by Robin Wall Kimmerer and "Aztec Philosophy" by James Maffie as well if you want any recommendations. A "Materialism" that includes animacy and process sounds way more like Animism to me than materialism (yes I know the history of animism being used dismissively, but materialism just doesn't describe a world full of spirit to me no matter how hard you squint), which is something that, while obviously absent from dominant cultural forms in Europe, never fully went away in the rural north, and exists in varied forms in basically all "pre-modern" peoples. It's a deep Third Option between materialism and idealism that I think humanity needs to reintegrate for the sake of our own survival. It's a common heritage of humanity, it was the process of agriculture-as-dominance (or technodominance more generally) like you mentioned that slowly peeled us away from this kind of relational thinking in the west. Dr. Michael Levin's nobel-worthy work on bioelectricity & cellular intelligence and the ways in which it relates to Sheldrake's morphogenic field concept to me implies that the next paradigm western science will have to grapple with is the first paradigm human cultures developed, Animism. I recommend the youtube channel "Nordic Animism" run by Dr.Rune Hjarnø for more information on animism from a comparative lense, specifically related to your own heritage that you mentioned, too. I think it's important we recognize that a lot of what is considered "western" is specifically post-platonic/christian thought, and the dominance and legitimacy of this thinking, after some genuine and some tactical conversions, was forced on to the continent of Europe through a colonial, imperialist process by the Roman empire and it's many successor states with their divinely ordained conquests. In my opinion, any coherent interpretation of "all other religions are demonic tricks" or that god would have a "chosen people" is that universal genocide and subjugation is a moral imperative, and I don't think we're going to have an honest discussion about the origins of colonialism until we take a hard look at the inherent colonial ideology within abrahamic religion. Zionism, Christian Nationalism, and Islamic Nationalism are not some distortion of their holy texts, those religious texts genuinely paint a world-image that justifies these ideologies. I'm a big fan of humanist and pacifist interpretations of these traditions and I don't mean to imply that their adherents are inherently suspect. But there is a very specific root of this kind of thinking and it was not ever universally adopted across Europe despite what common historical myths tell us, if that were the case, the renaissance would have never happened. Even western science itself emerged out of pre-christian, idealism-as-animist-monism philosophies/religiosities like Hermeticism and it's practical side we called Alchemy. We have the right to reclaim our own branch of this sort of wisdom and right now cutting edge biology itself is pointing the way home.
Assigning value to material objects is the way we moved from trading cows for sheep, and got our species to modern levels of advancement. Think about that.
@@krono5el Those things are asigned value too. Everything is. This is why it was a poor mechanism. Gold and silver are assigned value so that a more stable and equitable trade can occur. One can also accumulate assets and sell assets. Fast forward to money.
@@RhetoricalMuse thats only if you want to control people and slave trade a bit when you assign worthless things value. imagine being stranded somewhere without a way to contact anyone for a while, would you want a grain a rice or a lump of gold.
@@krono5el *thats only if you want to control people and slave trade a bit when you assign worthless things value* You say many things but explain very little. How do you determine what is 'valuable'? 'Controlling people' doesn't require economics. Humans were traded as capital way before money was created. There are records of slave trading as far back as 11, 000 years! This false conflation of 'bad things' to 'money' (or it's derivative) is false on a multiude of levels. Might be a good idea to read into economics and how capitalism is the best tool ever derived to pull people and nations out of poverty. It also lead to mass education for all (when income tax was introduced). *Imagine being stranded somewhere without a way to contact anyone for a while, would you want a grain a rice or a lump of gold.* Neither. You seem to be mixing two different things here. Think of Maslow's needs. Needs change depending on the situation of the person.
This reminds me of the new book by Klee Bennally called No Spiritual Surrender: Indigenous Anarchy in Defense of the Sacred. Have you come across this @Epoch? Also, the anthropologists David Graeber and David Wengrow writes about the influence native american thought had on european philosophers in the 17th century, when journals of colonists were brought back to Europe of the encounters they had. Very interesting.
Really appreciated the preface that western/european philosophy has its place as well. It reminded me of when a friend of mine said "it's not that European history and philosophy don't have value it's just that theirs isnt the only with value. It's not that European history and philosophy need to be erased but they need to be put in their place alongside the rest of the world." This video is a nice contribution towards that effort.
I can't help but feel robbed of the wisdom of these philosophies and community systems of deep interconnectedness- being forced into homes created because of ownership separates us all and creates haves and have not. we are robbed of elder wisdom and lose stories that have been passed on for every human generation that came before the industrialization and colonization of the continents- thanks for sharing these perspectives
Hell ya. Thanks dude. Appreciate the support an absolute ton. From me, outside of public videos, I have some Patreon podcast/content, but there's also plenty of great channels like PlasticPills, CCK Philosophy, Then & Now, 1Dime, etc. I very much recommend!
I love it, and yeah contemporary neurology supports a picture of individuality that is like how all else in nature is formed in tightly wound and nearly unfathomable nonlinear relationships. We are shaped by forces far larger than us, and it's only through that understanding that we may find a greater sense of belonging as well as a path to freedom as a society that is truly worth fighting for and doesn't mislead people.
Mind = Blown ~ 12:10 I always thought that way, what the fuck. Spirals... The movement of hot and cold in a contained environment... Up and down making a spiral... I fall down the abys, circling and circling, my position and perspective in constant shift and at such a brake neck pace I don't even have time to find a rock or branch or stick or any stability before the white waters of life whisk me away to another experience. The Spiral... What the fuuuuuuck. We and the Process? I remember this... Transformative feeling when... I learned to be more comfortable with the HIGHWAY. I always felt like I was not comprehended. Just there as a blank placeholder. No one needing to interact with me and to be quite frank the feeling was mutual... Then I /needed/ to learn how to drive on the freeway. I was always fuckin terrified. If I wasn't seen or comprehended, I'd be like all those people who just so happen to always get into accidents... I desperatly wanted to drive and experience the greater Americana through Auto Culture.... Then, when I got back into the car at the rest stop, my heart a race, my instructor let me know I gotta get us home. Drive BACK! Getting on the freeway was wild enough, but this is in the middle of nowhere! People are going 3x the speed! They barely see me, let alone in this little student driver car! He politely asked again and it forced my hand... It was on the way back I felt... a part of something. Like I was integrated... Like I was a puzzle piece, traveling around for the portrait I was to be a part of and here it was. People were looking at me and reacting, not negatively, but that I was there at all. Not gonna 'noclip' through me like I was a vaporis ghost. They didn't want to hit me because I was a furry or young or mixed or straight or a dude. No one really cared. All they cared about was the traffic in front of them. I was too. They were the traffic... and So was I. damn - that kinda felt good to let out.
I recommend looking into andean philosophy both ancient and contemporary with concepts like complementary dualism dynamics, pacha, wak'a among many other concepts and different onthology.
You have a new subscriber. Fascinating video! Would love to see more videos on indigenous philosophy throughout the Americas. But can already see that there are many cool other topics on your channel too.
This is a much-needed video. I've never quite had words for it, but transformative model of identity is probably the concept I lean most yowards in these matters. It's nice to have a term to use. I never realized how close to indigenous philosophy my own philosophical opinions tend to be, and I can imagine many others may feel the same. This is a fantastic video as well. Thank you, and thank you for providing your viewers with potential reading material on the subject as well.
Traditional African philosophy (Yoruba, Asante, etc.) is very deep, intuitive, and informative as well. Hell, most ALL indigenous philosophical thought across the world is superior to Western, materialistic, "philosophical," thought. Thanks for the content and insight. Keep it coming 🙏🏿💯
If you wanna learn about indigenous philosophy look into the KAIANEREKOWA (The great law of peace) My people the people of the land of the flint (kanienkehaka) took up this message of peace first. It comes from the Kanonsonnionwe. Which translates to the people of the longhouse
Please also do native american outside USA borders! Your way of portraying everything is beautiful and it would be beautiful to hear the other native american philosophies! Well done!
Yo my man, since this video is meant to shed light on philosophy that's outside the standard eastern/western philosophical boundary;could you do a video on Latin American philosophy? I feel like it and African philosophy are super underrepresented.
I am māori and have always felt an unexplainable kinship with indigenous americans. Like them, we lean heavily towards an ecocentric vs an egocentric way of life
It's like the more you learn about philosophy the more Western dualistic conceptions of the self and humanity are an outlier. Sure they're pretty prevalent among the Abarahim traditions including Islam but look anywhere outside or even more closely withing and you seem to be way more likely to find this sort of monism/nondualism.
There is plenty of monism is western thought. It lost it's favout in the early 20th century for a mroe analytic approach, but that was just a phase. We have been exploring mind/body relationships in various fields for decades now.
European religions and up until the Roman Empire’s incursions were similar if not identical to that of the First Nations. The Druids of the Gallic regions venerated nature and until the the Romans changed everything we’re not an idolatrous culture. The very name Britain means the land of the painted after the ancient tradition of tattooing.
I am so happy that you made this! This mode of reasoning and understanding is also present in sikh, sufi and mystic circles. It's interesting because it stands in direct juxtaposition of societies surrounding them which see the divine/monoistic being/power/entity as something distant and disconnected. We have the concept of "Khaalak khalak, khalak mein khaalak" (transl.: The creation within the creator, and the creator (is) within the creation). As for when you mentioned "monoism actually leading to diversity", drawing from the sikh tradition, I can see parallels to this in our perception too. from "everyone is a sovereign" (positing: "then is there truly a 'king'?") to "the self in all is the self within you (oneself)" (positing: "if there is no other disconnect between beings; we are all one and the separation is an illusion") P.S.: yes, here I am drawing from our dharmic pool of philosophy but I am not religious. The video connected with me on those levels so I thought about sharing concepts from my part of the world 😅
Thank you for covering this topic and I know it takes work to put together a video. That said, I was hoping for more focus on actual first peoples' philosophy. The pointing out "difference" with European civilizations and spotlighting contemporary trending issues like gender fluidity is off-putting and divisive. In reality ancient Europeans have much in common with the ancient ancestors of the first peoples to live in the Americas (basically, the people of the Lake Baikal region of Southern Siberia). There are differing outcomes and general practices among differing groups but nothing mentioned in this video on the philosophy of the first peoples of the Americas doesn't have a counterpart in all other parts of the world, shamanism, animism, et al. I'm a big fan of first peoples culture and was hoping for more from this video.
traditional philosophy encourages self reflection and doing good, the Christian one says you can ask and be forgiving and you know what that does to people not make them self reflect and think about their actions idk im drunk and it seems likes our ideology is failing us in real time
“You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” Matthew 7:3-5 Maybe you should read the bible more and you will find what you think isn’t there. What I just gave you was an example of self reflection. The Bible is the best psychology book ever.
More indigenous, egalitarian, working class, anarchist, etc and their spiritual connections. A Great read is “Spiritual Anarchy” on Anarchist Library or “Mutual Aid” by Kropotkin.
Such outlook on life is indeed a lot more in-tune with everything else. Where you are part of everything around you. However, as everything has impact on us, we in turn have impact on everything else. Sometimes it's beautiful, other times it's ugly, though this is just a moral evaluation. Does predator destabilise fabric of life when causing some species of pray to be wiped out, or does predator just do what predator does? 'Everything' is indifferent to it, it persists nonetheless, just in a different form (in this case as predators muscles and excrements, and then so on and so forth, lol). We learn and categorise, we impose ourselves on everything because that's what we do. We see tendencies, we document them in some form, we learn to affect it in new ways. Indeed an act of domination of everything. But that's where we come from, to dominate is to have certainty and security. We gravitate towards "easier" avenues. Living in undisturbing tandem with everything would require compromises, and acceptance of, some, undesirable "uncontrollable" outcomes. That, as we have shown throughout most of human history, is very difficult for us. Even you yourself, no matter how ethical and considerate your process of learning about North American Indigenous philosophy was, you have dissected it and even appropriated it into yourself, like a proper human being would. That's just what we do.
Also, on categories: They aren't meant to be rigid. They are as chaotic and ever-changing as Everything. Categories evolve and change as our understanding of things evolves and changes.
While I sympathize fully with the view that we need to leave behind the many forms of parochialism found in much of Western thought and culture, and take more seriously the ways by which non-western peoples understand life and the world, I think this video falls short on the substantive side of things. How about more *citations* of what some of the more outstanding members of the many indigenous tribes of North America have actually said, as recorded down presumably by white settlers who talked to them? Surely there must be at least a few such recordings. We can then proceed to an *examination/analysis* of how the words of those natives should be correctly understood, plus *compare* the ideas coming from different tribes. That would make the study of Native American thought more scholastically robust, don't you think?
Im native and also studing Native American Studies. just dont think this guy gets it. Almost done with the video and he's yet to discuss interconnection, relations. He's too focused on gender. I wanted to like this video but he just doesnt get it.
Felt like it was more about promoting his own viewpoint than actually discussing Native American Philosophy for much of the video. I kinda felt like I left the vid with no more than I came into it with, honestly.
I'm biracial, I was raised western at home but something between east-west in the military community I grew up to champion. These conversations provide me language on observations I've been making since I can remember... being biracial you don't often grow up with biracial models. Neither parent will ever be fully qualified. I share that because, two things: 1. "Western philosophy" is even dismissive of indigenous Europe. Western philosophy is every institution that thrived (long enough) but exists as a result of the fall of Persia... that serves Christianity. What is Pagan Philosophy? Is it not both "Western" and Indigenous? Western philosophy needs to rebrand with transparency, "white philosophy"? Christian philosophy? Can't say "judeo-christian philosophy", right? Because Muslims and Jewish people only matter to Western philosophy when engaged with Christians. Idk... whatever works, I just don't see Western philosophy (critical enough for me) of the religious institutions... because they're two sides of the same card. 2. Another personal observation, the "divine feminine" doesn't show up in Western philosophy, that was stripped away from white women. But this stays in tact outside of the west...including European pagans (white indigenous? Sorry, there's gotta be a more appropriate term? European non-conformist?). Christianity being the mechanism of confirming. I could be completely wrong, but content like this confirm my thoughts. I fully recognize you're specifically discussing Indigenous North American, just this is the first space I've encountered to compare the two realities close enough to objectively. I look forward to more content. ❤
They too are a people who are being genocided. So in a spiritual collective way is how I can see the similarities. Despite the cultures being different. We as humans are all the similar and are brothers and sisters there is no identity in countries race or in societal identity but in the soul and universe we all collectively share.
A good example in the difference in indigenous philosophy in the world that I cling to personally is that the Europeans believe nature is something to be conquered Asians believe they’re part of nature The indigenous believe we have a special place in nature at the top but with a roll to protect and utilize
Neither the concept of "Two Spirit" nor that of gender as spectrum, refute or step aside from the concept of the gender binary. The former literally embraces it, while also embracing some level of the idea of all individuals existing along the spectrum (with, we can presume, some doing so either more transiently than average, or more middling than average). Conceived like this the conservative polemic, save for its need to simply refute the other, would have little disagreement, and could be easily shown the gestational, genetic and biochemical causal forces at play in all of us. People engaged in this battle, our host included, are lost inside polemic reflex. There is an X, and there is an XY, and there are strong, precultural (non-construct) predictive items associated with these observable, material, nature-derived, categories. There's also a lot of cultural construct thrown on top, that exists in tension with the natural matter of the spectrums attendant multiple different pre-cultural traits, more so when the individual, for the given trait, is close to the center or on the other side of the statistical middle, for their gender. If all this is true, then it must be the case that Indigenous cultures also participated in this tension-making, the point being that if we're going to be talking about illusory and/or non-salient categorical traditions, we might add the categorical of the indigenous versus non-indigenous (itself a categorical with limited salience) as applied to the idea of the gender binary cultural "item" versus its absence.
Isn’t it funny that cross cultures in their own ways still talk about one thing. one intangible thing. We call god. East calls Tao, presence. Krishna. Allah. Great spirit. Flow. It goes on yet the same is here
thanks for this great review. I just want to clarify that North America includes a substantial portion of Mesoamerica, including the Aztecs and the Maya. Also, North America includes the Inuit societies. What you are discussing is largely nomadic or semi-nomadic hunter-gatherer societies, not strictly "North American."
@@epochphilosophy I apologize. I'm from Mexico and I have an oversensitive eye for this. I posted before watching more than 10 seconds. Thanks for your video.
@@goatskip No problem. I understand that sensitivity. Would like to delve into more anthropological topics in the future that may include central America! Hope you enjoyed the video.
As someone who is two spirited, it does have to do with third genders in some contexts along with a lot of other concepts. It depends on the individual cultures which are under the label
one could draw apt parallels to the pre-socratics and to the lyric traditions in western culture. Heraclitus probably could have been a shaman of sorts.
This is a very Anglo-centric view of the world. The west is way more than the Anglo-sphere and America. I know you focused on amerindian culture and thought but inputing west philosophy on American history and modus vivendi is very shallow. You named a few German and at least one "Portuguese-Jewish" philosopher, two cultures with deep connections with nature in their surnames and also two cultures with a enormous impact on the world and west. Also the differentiation between a collective perception of self (as native amerindian) Versus a egocentric perception of self (as euro/western) seems ideological contaminated and is totally incongruent with European history and culture.
Great video, just a nit pick; Mexico is North America, the mexica and maya are indigenous north americans, actually most indigenous groups from the south of the US continue down to mexican land.
A huge reminder this channel primarily survives off the kind donations/monthly support of viewers. For merely a little over a dollar, consider signing up and help keeping these videos alive. We also offer some small perks and benefits as well. Consider supporting at the RUclips 'Join' button, and over on Patreon: www.patreon.com/epochphilosophy
Two spirit tribes members took many different roles in the west. Some were negotiators, some warriors, some stood out in the middle of the trail screaming childish political chants blocking their fellow tribesmen trying to forage and hunt for “social justice”.
@@andoriannationalist3738 typical Andorian 🙄
Native Americans would still be living in mud hut, doing slavery, human sacrifice, and cannibalism if it was not for white people civilizing them. So save me all the crocodile tears.
They are hardly feel (" peacekeepers" )from Tribes
Please talk about African philosophy.
It really does change your mind, once you accept and understand this connection with nature, life becomes so much richer. One of the things that really hit me was the native american perception of time, which is so different from the abstract western hour we are so used to. It inspired me so much that i filled my garden with all kinds of plants, most from seed, even tried to recreate the three sisters technique and with varying success and lots of learning, these plants have showed me a new kind of time, a time that is much fuller than the abstract time, a time that slides slowly as the seed hatches, grow a stalk and leaves and eventually gives fruit. It just re enchants life in a way that no commodity could ever do and you really do nothing "special", only help something grow and care for it, which is all we ever really needed to do
Beautifully articulated, mate. I have a large garden, grow from seed to seed and share my bounty with my neighbors and family. Nothin’ better than diggin’ in da dirt, walkin’ barefoot in da dirt, eatin’ da dirt (in the form of veggies), keeping worm farms and recycling all kitchen waste and dried leaves and grass clippings into compost (soil).
The Wind, One Brilliant Day
The wind, one brilliant day, called
to my soul with an odor of jasmine.
"In return for the odor of my jasmine,
I'd like all the odor of your roses."
"I have no roses; all the flowers
in my garden are dead."
"Well then, I'll take the withered petals
and the yellow leaves and the waters of the fountain."
the wind left. And I wept. And I said to myself:
"What have you done with the garden that was entrusted to you?"
Antonio Machado Translated by Robert Bly
And what is connection to nature?
Is it just Vegan?
Or is it planting more trees?
Is it loving like a caveman just for few seconds so you can comment in a video that you are superior?
Or is it going around hunting and eating other animals?
I wonder should I create my own?
Beautiful
This is exactly why I converted to paganism. Once you realize that everything and everyone is one, it just makes sense to revere and respect nature, instead of trying to extract value from it for profit.
Indians were ironically the best Christians they didnt judge they didn't believe they can own earth they believed everyone is equal and the body is a temple the tribes of america may not have known Abt jesus but they definitely followed better than anyone I've ever heard of Christian or not IDC they knew how to make it to the afterlife
At the beginning you said we "fail to ignore" this- which is a good thing. They are still here and they should be. I appreciate you posting about them. My child is a descendent too.
You bet. Thanks for being here!
I happen to be a Philosophy Major, and I just finished an essay I wrote for a friend that was inspired by this video, and I made sure to mention this channel! I'm part Native American (Cherokee to be exact), and my friend is part Native as well. So, I got my Cherokee citizenship, but I didn't know whether to claim it at first because I'm more Caucasian than anything and I wanted to maintain respect. But the World Cultures Anthropology class I'm in led me to this video, and THAT led me to making some awesome connections, and now I've written perhaps the most cohesive work longer than 8 pages that I've ever produced! I actually think my connection to the Cherokee Nation may be done justice! So, you have my thanks. I can't tell you how much I appreciate this video!
That's so incredibly kind. I appreciate these comments more than you know!
Why I it always Cherokee? And that's not their word for themselves.
Unless you know specifically which of your (recent) ancestors were natives, I'd refrain from claiming such. Far too many people try to claim Native heritage with scant evidence.
To those asking, my Great Great Grandmother was on the Dawes Rolls because of her being on the trail of tears. One can’t be a citizen of the Cherokee Nation without proving this, and yes, the name that the Cherokee historically used a different from their current classification. I’m just saying what’s on my card, because again, I didn’t choose to be called Cherokee. And I want to make that clear because I want to maintain respect towards those ancestors for whom it WAS their culture. I hope that clears things up.🙂
@@duaneelliott5194 When I studied Native American culture, or actually the history of the US trying to destroy it, I found a reference to a strategy some Cherokee men reportedly adopted post Trail of Tears. They decided to take back their country by having as many babies with the foreigners as possible, it was a long game strategy. Maybe it worked, it was a long time ago.
Once westerners "religious" people open a damn Meister Eckart or Saint John of the Cross, or even William Law book, and read about apophatic mysticism, they'll realize how close they are, in their beliefs, to the natives colonial propaganda framed as primitive godless people for decades.
People say that you realize how different we are through travels.
I, as a Spinoza enjoyer, argue the opposite: it's always the same belief, the same frame of experience, getting distorted by petty greed, anger and grievances.
Read a buddhist book, read a stoics book, and then listen to how native people speak about their cosmology.
It's the same. Always has been. Alienation is making us blind to our common human condition.
Амин - Amen.
These were my thoughts as well. The western tradition is varied and it is up to each generation to determine which line of thought is emphasized.
Christ is the fullfillment of all philosphy because He Is the Truth. That was the whole idea of catholicism(catholic means universal) where all the world is brought together as one family in Christ. It has always been a tug of war though between this ideal, and those who want power. Take care and God bless
@@johnphipps4105yes a lot of religions holes are filled by Christ
@@johnphipps4105 Don't you think every religious person thinks this about their own religion? Why should all the world be brought together under Catholicism, as opposed to Sikhism, Islam, Protestantism, Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism, and so on? Aside from the obvious answer- because Catholicism is your own religion, so it's obviously the best one...
The idea of every religion is to be the 'best' and 'correct' religion. This kind of arrogant thinking keeps us divided.
Oh wow philosophy youtube doesnt pay nearly enough attention to the many philsophies present in indigenous cultures of the americas. From political to metaphysical to epistemology and more its pretty cool stuff once you learn to look past what appears as just superstitions or just spiritual dogma.
Truly one of the main reasons why I thought to cover this and relate it to the type of philosophy we study.
@epochphilosophy indeed many of my own cultures philosphies i was taught from stories, general teachings and my many family and community memebrs parroting sayings who no one knows how old they are but are all meant to teach us the philosophies that had run our society since before colonialism, the ones that merged or that remained untouched despite the tons of mixing going on and alot of incorporation of newer ideas.
One of the biggest teachings i take to heart is the idea of walking two roads, im not sure what you would call this sociopolitical philosophy? im not sure what to exactly call it but the idea is that you must be able to function in both your own native culture and in the "white man's world" but this really just means the modern industrial world and their seemingly contradicting values. A neccessary way of thinking in order to adapt to a world which wanted to very much destroy that so called red road representing our culture only leaving the single path. but you must learn when to walk which road in your life ie walking the white road at the right time means to drop the spiritualisms, changing your dialect to standard engiish instead of the dialect on your reservation or urban core for those not in reserves, etc. while walking the red road at the right time is learning to stick to your traditions and cultures even if you might neccissarily not believe in the religious or spiritual aspects.
i personally view alot of the spiritualisms through a pseduo-sprititual scientific lense where I rationalize everything under the scienetific method but i am open to admitting that there are things where its not as useful cuz for example philsophy is asking questions and thinking of thought experiments which are abstract and unable to be tested yet we find much use in this discipline. Religion and spriritualism serve their roles mainly the role of social cohesion. Im sure many optimistic nihilists know the notion of how religion or an adequate replacement for it is neccessary for society which is embodied by nietzche's philosophies and his hatred of nihilism.
I want to add a little tid bit about the idea of the self, it is important like you said to keep in mind many people differ from the notions outlined in the video since it was just so many damn cultures and identies and ways of thinking. in my culture the idea of the self is very present with collectivism not sacrificing the individual and the two are not seen as opposing forces politically. It is seen that individuals must collectivize and collaborate in order to not only survive but to thrive; we had found a balance in our old lifestyle where we found abundance for much of the time due to the massive reaping of meat from the massive buffalo herds which we would kill en masse using the buffalo jump. (an actually pretty rare thing since it requires a specific terrain only found where the plains turn to foot hills then cliffs high enough to kill animals in a fall but not too tough terrain for humans to traverse long distances.)
I think a good analogy or atleast the closest I have yet to come across in western philosophy that mirrors my culture, the blackfoot, and our conception of this individuality and the collective is the ideas of Max Stirner and his work like the ego and its own. I think I was much more easily able to understand his often misconstrued ideas.
as for two spirits in my culture gender is expressed by labour practiced or roles in the community. ie a woman being a warrior would be considered two spirit or our sense of transgender male. The same with a male who took up domestic duties with the woman was treated as such. And with a well known story in our community about the first man and women who realized that both men and women needed eachother to survive even though they might not get along all of the time. in the story the woman for example doesnt like the mans smell and sloppyness in eating. A typical stereotype of men in many cultures, and its metaphorical of course but they end up finding out that for example the man doesnt know how to make clothes and cant afford to take to time he needs to spend hunting to learn to make it. The woman has her epiphany and then its meant to teach us the importance of gender equality from an early age. we also pair this with teachings (though not as much from older folks} about the two spirit and non heterosexual sexualities. You are taught that they may be a male acting like a woman but since they do womanly things and wish to express themselves as female thencyou respect it. Btw the expression of gender does ofcourse extend beyond labour into other ways of expression like dress, mannerisms and interests and its not treated with stigma outside of those who have adopted christian views and view the act of homosexuals and transgender people as sinners.
A thing i like to add just that is sort of a tangent, that shows what i mean about adaptation. my grandma and my mom adapted christianity and merged it with our indigenous sundance religion while I have merged science like astrophysics and my indgenous religion. but either way we incorporate new ideas from western culture which we find compatible or which change our perspectives in ways we deem positive and dont remain static. So these philosophies are changing all the time. each generation comes with different ideas. W2
@epochphilosophy also i wanted to say that you did a very good job of relating the many philosophies youve touched on before this video on your channel. I was ecstatic to see you making a video on the topic.
If you ever want to do a follow up video id love to help you out in anyway since I grew up in my homelands and still keep in contact with many family and community members including elders who all know tons about our own people but also the people of the region's philosphical beliefs. Im from the northern great plains btw, im from the blackfoot confederacy and in specific the kainai first nation. This region has alot of philosphical ideas in different philosophies like metaphysics, epistemology (pragmatism is a big thing here, but its very different than american settler pragmatism and the movement it got its name from), ethics, politics, etc.
Thank you for this, I love your view point and I’m not even half way through yet, gives hope that in a world of over saturated philosophy videos you and others are starting to emerge to change that
Big love
thank u for sharing this!! ive questioned this but havent known where top begin the search, i myself stem from the NA Yavapai indigenous people and this knowledge has been lost on me
Dr. Leroy Little Bear is an amazing writer and speaker on the concept of Indigenous (specifically Blackfoot) philosophy if a deeper dive is appealing to anyone.
5:50 - This is something that I don't think enough people grasp. I've had people tell say to me "Well we're ALL indigenous to somewhere" like yeah you're right but what the hell does that mean to you? How does being indigenous affect your life and your perspective?
I also really like what you said about indigenous knowledge being existing alongside something, rather than subjugation and domination. Awesome video
Mine, and most White people I know are affected by not being 'allowed' to recognize how they are indigenous peoples. They are the only peoples actively discouraged from knowing of their tribes and how they were destroyed long before globalists shipped them throughout the world to help.destroy tribes in other regions. All other peoples are told to worship their ancestors. Those indigenous to Europe are attacked if they want to worship theirs.
Antiwhiteism is the great evil of our time.
As time passes I become more intrigued by non western forms of philosophy like those from America and Africa. Thanks for talking about this subject!
Franz Fanon!!
Damn bro I just stumbled upon your channel and I am blown away, your format, your thoughts, the way you convey your concepts, it’s all so clear and entertaining
That’s such a kind comment. Thanks so much.
I wish someone did a video like this about the Australian native people.
Thank you for this video, I bought the book. Cordova has brought many things to light as I read the pages . I understand many of the things she refers to and for some reason have shared these views all my life. I have no known Native American blood in me but have always viewed the World through the lens she is talking about. Who knows , I think it is natural for a Human to see the World this way if you don't follow the crowd looking for approval from friends and family.Short version but you get the idea. Keep up your work it is important especially someone that can express and come out with a clear thought and message .
Great video! I had never really thought of Native American philosophy as an independent subject, but i am very interested in the theory of "self" as described here. Thank you for bringing attention to this! I hope to see you do more informational content like this and I would love to see videos on other indigenous american philosphies from regions like mezo and south america.
I think you did a good job here, speaking as a Native person. Oh and Iroquois is pronounced Yuro-kwoy, but it's term that came from the French trying to pronounce a not so flattering name our neighbors called us. So don't fret over the misprounciation. And yeah IMO, Cordova's book is pretty good. I have critiques, but they're minor things.
Incredibly well done in all aspects. Thanks!
Thank you so much!
Wow...how bout 10000 of em..delivers to my house!!! 😂 🤪 goofball
Thank you for bringing attention to indigenous being. Fascination
Men, I really love this video. It's really interesting and makes you want to research more about native american philosophy. Great work 👍🏼
amazing video, kind of content that is under represented
Thanks so much. Hope to do more outside western philosophy.
Great video !! There conception of self aligns highly with conclusions I've already come to !
It's cool to see this topic broached. I'm sure you're aware of how extensive it gets. Some primary sources I would recommend are Brian Burkhart's Indigenizing Philosophy through the Land, and three works by Vine Deloria Jr. - Evolution, Creationism, and Other Modern Myths; God is Red: A Native View of Religion; and The Metaphysics of Modern Existence.
Secondary sources that are good are Eduardo Viveiros de Castro's Cannibal Metaphysics; Keith Basso's Wisdom Sits in Places; Carlo Severi's The Chimera Principle; Timothy Pauketat's An Archaeology of the Cosmos; and then some early ethnographic works like James Mooney's Myths of the Cherokee or stuff from John Swanton
Thanks for sharing this! Indigenous, and even eastern philosophy is relatively new to me so these are super useful.
This is exactly what I've been waiting for
this was really good, thank you very much. I came here after your excellent and very helpful video on zizek sublime objects.
this video reminded me of my past trying to connect with neo paganism. druid,witch,magician,healer,shaman etc....... but the best connection is to nature. When our rituals as observances are held in nature unfolding as we unfold, whether we are aware of it or not. A great oneness arises, that always is. A great mysterious spirit.
i really got a sense of that spirit from your video ... and i agree that we should not make the mistake of thinking that we are too far gone from those ways in the west. They can be immediately be rekindled, by simply being in nature. There is a memory in all of us of such past lives and values. It feels natural, and It could be much more than 'interesting' to find a philosophical reunion between them.
Hey, thanks so much. These comments are always incredibly reaffirming.
Great great video! Thanks so much. Would love to learn about the Aztec philosophy in another video
Great efforts here to do something good here. Im impressed
Absolutely wonderful video. I've been trying to understand the indigenous perspective as much as I can.
I loved "Braiding Sweetgrass" by Robin Wall Kimmerer and "Aztec Philosophy" by James Maffie as well if you want any recommendations.
A "Materialism" that includes animacy and process sounds way more like Animism to me than materialism (yes I know the history of animism being used dismissively, but materialism just doesn't describe a world full of spirit to me no matter how hard you squint), which is something that, while obviously absent from dominant cultural forms in Europe, never fully went away in the rural north, and exists in varied forms in basically all "pre-modern" peoples. It's a deep Third Option between materialism and idealism that I think humanity needs to reintegrate for the sake of our own survival. It's a common heritage of humanity, it was the process of agriculture-as-dominance (or technodominance more generally) like you mentioned that slowly peeled us away from this kind of relational thinking in the west.
Dr. Michael Levin's nobel-worthy work on bioelectricity & cellular intelligence and the ways in which it relates to Sheldrake's morphogenic field concept to me implies that the next paradigm western science will have to grapple with is the first paradigm human cultures developed, Animism. I recommend the youtube channel "Nordic Animism" run by Dr.Rune Hjarnø for more information on animism from a comparative lense, specifically related to your own heritage that you mentioned, too.
I think it's important we recognize that a lot of what is considered "western" is specifically post-platonic/christian thought, and the dominance and legitimacy of this thinking, after some genuine and some tactical conversions, was forced on to the continent of Europe through a colonial, imperialist process by the Roman empire and it's many successor states with their divinely ordained conquests. In my opinion, any coherent interpretation of "all other religions are demonic tricks" or that god would have a "chosen people" is that universal genocide and subjugation is a moral imperative, and I don't think we're going to have an honest discussion about the origins of colonialism until we take a hard look at the inherent colonial ideology within abrahamic religion. Zionism, Christian Nationalism, and Islamic Nationalism are not some distortion of their holy texts, those religious texts genuinely paint a world-image that justifies these ideologies. I'm a big fan of humanist and pacifist interpretations of these traditions and I don't mean to imply that their adherents are inherently suspect. But there is a very specific root of this kind of thinking and it was not ever universally adopted across Europe despite what common historical myths tell us, if that were the case, the renaissance would have never happened. Even western science itself emerged out of pre-christian, idealism-as-animist-monism philosophies/religiosities like Hermeticism and it's practical side we called Alchemy.
We have the right to reclaim our own branch of this sort of wisdom and right now cutting edge biology itself is pointing the way home.
Phenomenal way to put it. I will definitely check out those texts!
Braiding Sweetgrass 💪
Thank you. You got it all right. Subscribed.
I learned quite a bit about the tribes in canada and it was unbelievably interesting!
Feel the most intelligent people in the history of the planet were the ones who laughed when told gold and silver had "value".
Assigning value to material objects is the way we moved from trading cows for sheep, and got our species to modern levels of advancement.
Think about that.
@@RhetoricalMuse always better to trade things of actual value and worth though, and always will be.
@@krono5el
Those things are asigned value too. Everything is. This is why it was a poor mechanism.
Gold and silver are assigned value so that a more stable and equitable trade can occur. One can also accumulate assets and sell assets.
Fast forward to money.
@@RhetoricalMuse thats only if you want to control people and slave trade a bit when you assign worthless things value. imagine being stranded somewhere without a way to contact anyone for a while, would you want a grain a rice or a lump of gold.
@@krono5el
*thats only if you want to control people and slave trade a bit when you assign worthless things value*
You say many things but explain very little. How do you determine what is 'valuable'?
'Controlling people' doesn't require economics. Humans were traded as capital way before money was created. There are records of slave trading as far back as 11, 000 years!
This false conflation of 'bad things' to 'money' (or it's derivative) is false on a multiude of levels. Might be a good idea to read into economics and how capitalism is the best tool ever derived to pull people and nations out of poverty. It also lead to mass education for all (when income tax was introduced).
*Imagine being stranded somewhere without a way to contact anyone for a while, would you want a grain a rice or a lump of gold.*
Neither.
You seem to be mixing two different things here.
Think of Maslow's needs. Needs change depending on the situation of the person.
This reminds me of the new book by Klee Bennally called No Spiritual Surrender: Indigenous Anarchy in Defense of the Sacred. Have you come across this @Epoch?
Also, the anthropologists David Graeber and David Wengrow writes about the influence native american thought had on european philosophers in the 17th century, when journals of colonists were brought back to Europe of the encounters they had. Very interesting.
I have not and I will need to check this out. David Graeber always pops up in my head whenever reading things around indigenous history.
The book is named “No spiritual Surrender”
it is Sissitonwan and Wahpétonwan the fish scale mound village and the dwellers of the leaf village
Really appreciated the preface that western/european philosophy has its place as well. It reminded me of when a friend of mine said "it's not that European history and philosophy don't have value it's just that theirs isnt the only with value. It's not that European history and philosophy need to be erased but they need to be put in their place alongside the rest of the world." This video is a nice contribution towards that effort.
We need to understand that acceptance of limitations does not mean you shouldn't strive to achieve something greater.
The problem is how you define "greater".
Sadly many people think that means "more control over those around me".
Good point
I can't help but feel robbed of the wisdom of these philosophies and community systems of deep interconnectedness- being forced into homes created because of ownership separates us all and creates haves and have not. we are robbed of elder wisdom and lose stories that have been passed on for every human generation that came before the industrialization and colonization of the continents- thanks for sharing these perspectives
Welcome Back! Thanks for sharing!
Signed up to your Patreon for this episode. Worth it. Thanks for this. Do you have further resources for the philosophically inclined?
Hell ya. Thanks dude. Appreciate the support an absolute ton. From me, outside of public videos, I have some Patreon podcast/content, but there's also plenty of great channels like PlasticPills, CCK Philosophy, Then & Now, 1Dime, etc. I very much recommend!
I love it, and yeah contemporary neurology supports a picture of individuality that is like how all else in nature is formed in tightly wound and nearly unfathomable nonlinear relationships. We are shaped by forces far larger than us, and it's only through that understanding that we may find a greater sense of belonging as well as a path to freedom as a society that is truly worth fighting for and doesn't mislead people.
Mind = Blown
~ 12:10
I always thought that way, what the fuck. Spirals... The movement of hot and cold in a contained environment... Up and down making a spiral... I fall down the abys, circling and circling, my position and perspective in constant shift and at such a brake neck pace I don't even have time to find a rock or branch or stick or any stability before the white waters of life whisk me away to another experience.
The Spiral... What the fuuuuuuck.
We and the Process?
I remember this... Transformative feeling when... I learned to be more comfortable with the HIGHWAY. I always felt like I was not comprehended. Just there as a blank placeholder. No one needing to interact with me and to be quite frank the feeling was mutual... Then I /needed/ to learn how to drive on the freeway. I was always fuckin terrified. If I wasn't seen or comprehended, I'd be like all those people who just so happen to always get into accidents... I desperatly wanted to drive and experience the greater Americana through Auto Culture....
Then, when I got back into the car at the rest stop, my heart a race, my instructor let me know I gotta get us home. Drive BACK! Getting on the freeway was wild enough, but this is in the middle of nowhere! People are going 3x the speed! They barely see me, let alone in this little student driver car!
He politely asked again and it forced my hand...
It was on the way back I felt... a part of something. Like I was integrated... Like I was a puzzle piece, traveling around for the portrait I was to be a part of and here it was. People were looking at me and reacting, not negatively, but that I was there at all. Not gonna 'noclip' through me like I was a vaporis ghost. They didn't want to hit me because I was a furry or young or mixed or straight or a dude. No one really cared. All they cared about was the traffic in front of them. I was too. They were the traffic... and So was I.
damn - that kinda felt good to let out.
If you ever do cover aztec philosophy i highly recommend the florentine codex, theres a section specifically about philosophy
Very good to know! Thanks.
I recommend looking into andean philosophy both ancient and contemporary with concepts like complementary dualism dynamics, pacha, wak'a among many other concepts and different onthology.
You have a new subscriber. Fascinating video! Would love to see more videos on indigenous philosophy throughout the Americas. But can already see that there are many cool other topics on your channel too.
Thank you for sharing.
Well done.. I appreciate your honesty. Amazing video
This is a much-needed video. I've never quite had words for it, but transformative model of identity is probably the concept I lean most yowards in these matters. It's nice to have a term to use. I never realized how close to indigenous philosophy my own philosophical opinions tend to be, and I can imagine many others may feel the same. This is a fantastic video as well. Thank you, and thank you for providing your viewers with potential reading material on the subject as well.
My absolute pleasure. Thanks for the comment and thanks for being here!
@@epochphilosophy Well, thank you for giving me the opportunity to be and making indigenous philosophy more accessible.
a six minute "preliminary" is wild lmao
I made tihis healing salve for this frind of mine, it healed in less than three day's...
The recipe is quite simple ??? Pork Fat some Maple ???
Traditional African philosophy (Yoruba, Asante, etc.) is very deep, intuitive, and informative as well. Hell, most ALL indigenous philosophical thought across the world is superior to Western, materialistic, "philosophical," thought.
Thanks for the content and insight. Keep it coming 🙏🏿💯
"a multi-faceted framework, that I believe, we often fail to ignore"
What
I can't believe there aren't more comments calling this guy out. Half of his sentences don't make any sense.
If you wanna learn about indigenous philosophy look into the KAIANEREKOWA (The great law of peace)
My people the people of the land of the flint (kanienkehaka) took up this message of peace first.
It comes from the Kanonsonnionwe. Which translates to the people of the longhouse
Beautiful work brother. Enjoyed the video
Please also do native american outside USA borders! Your way of portraying everything is beautiful and it would be beautiful to hear the other native american philosophies! Well done!
Come ON dude! You ever gonna get to it? Thought to find some peace concepts here and you have got me about to throw a brick at ya!
Wow...lighten Brutus!!! Take your 110 pound frame to the swimming pool in your Speedo to attract ursrlf an Olive Oil
Great job on this video. Thank you for sharing your talent
Yo my man, since this video is meant to shed light on philosophy that's outside the standard eastern/western philosophical boundary;could you do a video on Latin American philosophy? I feel like it and African philosophy are super underrepresented.
Native "philosophers", Black Elk,Wovoka,Charles Eastman,Sequoiah.
I am māori and have always felt an unexplainable kinship with indigenous americans. Like them, we lean heavily towards an ecocentric vs an egocentric way of life
@epochphilosophy im excited to Check out more of the work u do here but I’d like to suggest not to mention the haters or to queue them on
It's like the more you learn about philosophy the more Western dualistic conceptions of the self and humanity are an outlier. Sure they're pretty prevalent among the Abarahim traditions including Islam but look anywhere outside or even more closely withing and you seem to be way more likely to find this sort of monism/nondualism.
There is plenty of monism is western thought. It lost it's favout in the early 20th century for a mroe analytic approach, but that was just a phase. We have been exploring mind/body relationships in various fields for decades now.
European religions and up until the Roman Empire’s incursions were similar if not identical to that of the First Nations. The Druids of the Gallic regions venerated nature and until the the Romans changed everything we’re not an idolatrous culture. The very name Britain means the land of the painted after the ancient tradition of tattooing.
I always assumed that "Crazy Horse" referenced crazy skillz on the horse.
Fantastic video!
I am so happy that you made this! This mode of reasoning and understanding is also present in sikh, sufi and mystic circles. It's interesting because it stands in direct juxtaposition of societies surrounding them which see the divine/monoistic being/power/entity as something distant and disconnected. We have the concept of "Khaalak khalak, khalak mein khaalak" (transl.: The creation within the creator, and the creator (is) within the creation).
As for when you mentioned "monoism actually leading to diversity", drawing from the sikh tradition, I can see parallels to this in our perception too. from "everyone is a sovereign" (positing: "then is there truly a 'king'?") to "the self in all is the self within you (oneself)" (positing: "if there is no other disconnect between beings; we are all one and the separation is an illusion")
P.S.: yes, here I am drawing from our dharmic pool of philosophy but I am not religious. The video connected with me on those levels so I thought about sharing concepts from my part of the world 😅
I love your channel. Thank you for your efforts
Thank you for covering this topic and I know it takes work to put together a video. That said, I was hoping for more focus on actual first peoples' philosophy. The pointing out "difference" with European civilizations and spotlighting contemporary trending issues like gender fluidity is off-putting and divisive. In reality ancient Europeans have much in common with the ancient ancestors of the first peoples to live in the Americas (basically, the people of the Lake Baikal region of Southern Siberia). There are differing outcomes and general practices among differing groups but nothing mentioned in this video on the philosophy of the first peoples of the Americas doesn't have a counterpart in all other parts of the world, shamanism, animism, et al. I'm a big fan of first peoples culture and was hoping for more from this video.
Very good video. Thank you for this.
Well done. Thank you
Wonderful talk, thanks! ❤
traditional philosophy encourages self reflection and doing good, the Christian one says you can ask and be forgiving and you know what that does to people not make them self reflect and think about their actions idk im drunk and it seems likes our ideology is failing us in real time
“You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” Matthew 7:3-5
Maybe you should read the bible more and you will find what you think isn’t there. What I just gave you was an example of self reflection. The Bible is the best psychology book ever.
Great video. Learned a lot. Great cadence. Will support as long as I can, have a feeling I'm gonna like whatever else you got. Good luck.
More indigenous, egalitarian, working class, anarchist, etc and their spiritual connections. A Great read is “Spiritual Anarchy” on Anarchist Library or “Mutual Aid” by Kropotkin.
100% agree.
Fantastic video. Thank you.
Such outlook on life is indeed a lot more in-tune with everything else. Where you are part of everything around you.
However, as everything has impact on us, we in turn have impact on everything else. Sometimes it's beautiful, other times it's ugly, though this is just a moral evaluation.
Does predator destabilise fabric of life when causing some species of pray to be wiped out, or does predator just do what predator does? 'Everything' is indifferent to it, it persists nonetheless, just in a different form (in this case as predators muscles and excrements, and then so on and so forth, lol).
We learn and categorise, we impose ourselves on everything because that's what we do. We see tendencies, we document them in some form, we learn to affect it in new ways. Indeed an act of domination of everything. But that's where we come from, to dominate is to have certainty and security. We gravitate towards "easier" avenues. Living in undisturbing tandem with everything would require compromises, and acceptance of, some, undesirable "uncontrollable" outcomes. That, as we have shown throughout most of human history, is very difficult for us.
Even you yourself, no matter how ethical and considerate your process of learning about North American Indigenous philosophy was, you have dissected it and even appropriated it into yourself, like a proper human being would. That's just what we do.
Also, on categories:
They aren't meant to be rigid. They are as chaotic and ever-changing as Everything. Categories evolve and change as our understanding of things evolves and changes.
Are you aware of Native American Studies? You know there are living Native American Philosophers, right?
We are one with the tree, we are one with the land !!! The tree is there for a reason; it keeps the soil from washing out ???
Especially liked the gender portion of the video.Please,make more content about gender.New subscriber.
video starts at 11.00 1.5 speed advised.
While I sympathize fully with the view that we need to leave behind the many forms of parochialism found in much of Western thought and culture, and take more seriously the ways by which non-western peoples understand life and the world, I think this video falls short on the substantive side of things. How about more *citations* of what some of the more outstanding members of the many indigenous tribes of North America have actually said, as recorded down presumably by white settlers who talked to them? Surely there must be at least a few such recordings. We can then proceed to an *examination/analysis* of how the words of those natives should be correctly understood, plus *compare* the ideas coming from different tribes. That would make the study of Native American thought more scholastically robust, don't you think?
I love the video, but I'm wondering if you can include "footnotes" with the sources you've used?
The topic starts at 07:25
Your videos are amazing 😍
Starts at 6:45
If the rule you followed led you to this, of what use was the rule?
Im native and also studing Native American Studies. just dont think this guy gets it. Almost done with the video and he's yet to discuss interconnection, relations. He's too focused on gender. I wanted to like this video but he just doesnt get it.
Felt like it was more about promoting his own viewpoint than actually discussing Native American Philosophy for much of the video. I kinda felt like I left the vid with no more than I came into it with, honestly.
Wow what is that tone/song called that you used in the first seconds of the video it sounded so cool?
Thank you for your video. I was hoping you'd mention wetiko. Do you talk about wetiko in any of your other videos?
I'm biracial, I was raised western at home but something between east-west in the military community I grew up to champion. These conversations provide me language on observations I've been making since I can remember... being biracial you don't often grow up with biracial models. Neither parent will ever be fully qualified.
I share that because, two things:
1. "Western philosophy" is even dismissive of indigenous Europe. Western philosophy is every institution that thrived (long enough) but exists as a result of the fall of Persia... that serves Christianity. What is Pagan Philosophy? Is it not both "Western" and Indigenous? Western philosophy needs to rebrand with transparency, "white philosophy"? Christian philosophy? Can't say "judeo-christian philosophy", right? Because Muslims and Jewish people only matter to Western philosophy when engaged with Christians. Idk... whatever works, I just don't see Western philosophy (critical enough for me) of the religious institutions... because they're two sides of the same card.
2. Another personal observation, the "divine feminine" doesn't show up in Western philosophy, that was stripped away from white women. But this stays in tact outside of the west...including European pagans (white indigenous? Sorry, there's gotta be a more appropriate term? European non-conformist?). Christianity being the mechanism of confirming.
I could be completely wrong, but content like this confirm my thoughts. I fully recognize you're specifically discussing Indigenous North American, just this is the first space I've encountered to compare the two realities close enough to objectively.
I look forward to more content. ❤
Reject modernity embrace Monke
🙏🙏🙏🙏
In your intro you reference palestinians. How is their spirituality like that of the American Indians?
They too are a people who are being genocided. So in a spiritual collective way is how I can see the similarities. Despite the cultures being different. We as humans are all the similar and are brothers and sisters there is no identity in countries race or in societal identity but in the soul and universe we all collectively share.
A good example in the difference in indigenous philosophy in the world that I cling to personally is that the Europeans believe nature is something to be conquered Asians believe they’re part of nature The indigenous believe we have a special place in nature at the top but with a roll to protect and utilize
Neither the concept of "Two Spirit" nor that of gender as spectrum, refute or step aside from the concept of the gender binary. The former literally embraces it, while also embracing some level of the idea of all individuals existing along the spectrum (with, we can presume, some doing so either more transiently than average, or more middling than average). Conceived like this the conservative polemic, save for its need to simply refute the other, would have little disagreement, and could be easily shown the gestational, genetic and biochemical causal forces at play in all of us.
People engaged in this battle, our host included, are lost inside polemic reflex. There is an X, and there is an XY, and there are strong, precultural (non-construct) predictive items associated with these observable, material, nature-derived, categories. There's also a lot of cultural construct thrown on top, that exists in tension with the natural matter of the spectrums attendant multiple different pre-cultural traits, more so when the individual, for the given trait, is close to the center or on the other side of the statistical middle, for their gender. If all this is true, then it must be the case that Indigenous cultures also participated in this tension-making, the point being that if we're going to be talking about illusory and/or non-salient categorical traditions, we might add the categorical of the indigenous versus non-indigenous (itself a categorical with limited salience) as applied to the idea of the gender binary cultural "item" versus its absence.
Cheese & Rice that's, cheese & rice, he's got a beard. Thing's are sensative like that & I'm just ticklish like that...
Isn’t it funny that cross cultures in their own ways still talk about one thing. one intangible thing. We call god. East calls Tao, presence. Krishna. Allah. Great spirit. Flow. It goes on yet the same is here
Depends on the cultures 🙄
thanks for this great review. I just want to clarify that North America includes a substantial portion of Mesoamerica, including the Aztecs and the Maya. Also, North America includes the Inuit societies. What you are discussing is largely nomadic or semi-nomadic hunter-gatherer societies, not strictly "North American."
I clarified that at the very beginning of the video.
@@epochphilosophy I apologize. I'm from Mexico and I have an oversensitive eye for this. I posted before watching more than 10 seconds. Thanks for your video.
@@goatskip No problem. I understand that sensitivity. Would like to delve into more anthropological topics in the future that may include central America! Hope you enjoyed the video.
Two-spirit had nothing to do with gender. That is ridiculous. It was about spirituality, not something as shallow as gender.
Certainly no one lynching homosexuals and cross dressers though
@@NCRonradRidiculous
@@goldenhoneybee8128 in indigenous societies? No, during the inquisition or Wyoming in the 90’s? Yep
Yes exactly!!
As someone who is two spirited, it does have to do with third genders in some contexts along with a lot of other concepts. It depends on the individual cultures which are under the label
Whats the name of the song which plays at the beginning of the video
At 0:48 I believe Tao-ism is misspelled.
one could draw apt parallels to the pre-socratics and to the lyric traditions in western culture. Heraclitus probably could have been a shaman of sorts.
And the Greek Oracles.
This is a very Anglo-centric view of the world. The west is way more than the Anglo-sphere and America. I know you focused on amerindian culture and thought but inputing west philosophy on American history and modus vivendi is very shallow.
You named a few German and at least one "Portuguese-Jewish" philosopher, two cultures with deep connections with nature in their surnames and also two cultures with a enormous impact on the world and west.
Also the differentiation between a collective perception of self (as native amerindian) Versus a egocentric perception of self (as euro/western) seems ideological contaminated and is totally incongruent with European history and culture.
Great video, just a nit pick; Mexico is North America, the mexica and maya are indigenous north americans, actually most indigenous groups from the south of the US continue down to mexican land.