Background

1. Exploring a Contemporary Māori Philosophy of Knowledge - A Māori Epistemology - From First Principles: The Journey So Far Ian Stuart AIRA Conference, October, 2015

2. The aims of this project1) To outline the philosophical foundations of an Indigenous Philosophy of Knowledge which:i) Has the begins of some acceptance with the wider indigenous communityii) Provides a philosophical platform which begins to legitimate indigenous knowledge to the wider academy based on arguments the academy may accept.iii) Provides a philosophical base for the outlines of a Māori Philosophy of Knowledge

3. Background

4. The complete project We must place Māori worldviews and Maori epistemologies at the centre of everything we do Dr Linda Smith

5. Māori Worldview

6. An evolutionary process Relationships People are part of the world

7. The Creation Story has not ended. The world continues to evolve and unfold

8. In the Knowledge system of our European-derived cultures the Creation Period has ended and the world is a closed system

9. as Whorf states; “Western culture has made, through language, a provisional analysis of reality and, without correctives, holds resolutely to that analysis as final.” (Carroll, J., Ed. (1956). Language Thought and Reality: Selected Writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf. Massachusetts, MIT Press., p. 244)

10. Axiology Values-based ethics Aims at maintaining Te Ao Marama and creating Flourishing people

11. Ontology Axiology Epistemology

12. Truth “I can’t promise to tell you the truth; I can only tell you what I know.” Cree elder. Cited from: Castellano, M. B. (2000). Updating Aboriginal Traditions of Knowledge. In G. Dei, B. Hall & D. Rosenberg (Eds.), Indigenous knowledges in Global Contexts; Multiple readings of Our World. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. p25

13. Truth is unknowablePut it aside

14. European-derived Epistemologies There is no answer to Scepticism Dancy, J. (1985). Introduction to Contemporary Epistemology. Malden, MA: Blackwell.

15. A Level Playing FieldNothing privileges the knowledge of the European-derived cultures over the Indigenous Cultures

16. When we begin to ask such questions we already have a worldview – an epistemology and methodologies

17. Experiential, Relational, Holistic, based in our Axiologies, knowledge contained in the oral traditions ?

18. The things that exist are the things that we are forced to interact with

19. Is there something that Descartes missed?

20. We Interact Before Descartes could formulate ‘cogito ergo sum” he interacted – he ate food, he interacted with his family. He learnt a language (at least two – French and Latin). He interacted.

21. The Interactive World(not the Cognitive World)

22. Interaction

23. In order to become philosophically interesting …he must do more than assert that higher standards of evidence are better. He must have some argument that the normal standards are inappropriate in some way. And that argument must be justified by appeal to our standards as well as his. (Dancy, J. (1985). Introduction to Contemporary Epistemology. Malden, MA: Blackwell. P8)

24. How should we interact? Interaction

25. How Should We Interact? In Indigenous Worlds, this is always an ethical question

26. Hopi Saying:When in a new situation when you do not know how to act, do nothing.You might be the one causing the danger Beauchamp, T. (1991). Philosophical Ethics. New York, NY, McGraw-Hill.

27. The Māori answer is TikangaTikanga gives us all our behaviours

28. Tikanga Interaction

29. This is a significant shiftShire says Ontology and Epistemology are the first two questionsSire’s Axiology Question is Question Seven from a list of eightSire, J. (2009). The Universe Next Door: A Basic Worldview Catalogue (5 ed.). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

30. Tikanga Flourishing people Interaction

31. Experience Tikanga Flourishing people Interaction

32. Experiential KnowledgeBrian BurkhartBurkhart, B. (2004). What Thales and Coyote Can Teach Us: An outline of American Indian Epistemology. Modern American Indian Thought. A. Waters. Malden, Ma, Blackwell: 15-26.

33. Experiences As we grow and develop we have experiences of the world

34. These experiences are interpreted against the Worldview/Plausibility structure we learn from our interactions, relationships and experiences within our social groups

35. This links Group and Self Identity with Land and with Knowledge

36. “Albert Marshall, Mi’kmaq elder, told me that we will never understand a Navajo coyote story unless we are Navajo”Lambert, L. (2014). Research for Indigenous Survival: Indigenous Research Methodologies in the Behavioral Sciences Lincoln, NE, University of Nebraska Press. p30 Only a Navajo shares the particular set of experiences, in a particular place and social group, which create the story and continue to give rise to its meanings

37. Experience Tacit Knowledge Tikanga Flourishing people Interaction

38. Michael Polanyi.Polanyi, M. (1958). Personal Knowledge: Towards a Post-Critical Philosophy. Chicago, University of Chicago Press. Polanyi, M. (1966). The Tacit Dimension. Chicago, University of Chicago Press

39. Relationships Experience Tacit Knowledge Tikanga Flourishing people Interaction

40. RelationshipsShawn WilsonWilson, S. (2008). Research is Ceremony; Indigenous Research Methods. Winnipeg, Fernwood Publishing.

41. Answer to Nietzsche The I and the Thought are not separate things. They arise in interaction (relationships and experiences) with the social and physical environment

42. We Interact

43. The world is an interactive system.We are an interacting part of the world.

44. Interaction Experience Relationships UNDENIABLE

45. The Cartesian Thinker does not arise.

46. Repositions the concept of the “self”as part of a group

47. Relationships Relationships Experience Tacit Knowledge Tikanga Flourishing people Interaction

48. Shared experiences Relationships relationships Experience Tacit Knowledge Tikanga Flourishing people Interaction

49. Narratives Shared experiences Subjectivity Relationships Experience Tacit Knowledge Tikanga Flourishing people Interaction

50. NarrativesThe stories of the experience of all the people who have gone before us that were considered worth keepingBurkhart, B. (2004). What Thales and Coyote Can Teach Us: An outline of American Indian Epistemology. In A. Waters (Ed.), Modern American Indian Thought (pp. 15-26). Malden, Ma: Blackwell.