Q0647
“Négritude, in my eyes, is not a philosophy. Négritude is not a…” — Aimé Césaire (Discours sur la Négritude (Miami, Feb…)
Verified English quotation. Primary source: Discours sur la Négritude (Miami, Feb 1987); Eng. in SEP “Négritude”. Theme: time.
English
Négritude, in my eyes, is not a philosophy. Négritude is not a metaphysics. … It is a way of living history within history.
Source and attribution
The archive attributes this English wording to Discours sur la Négritude (Miami, Feb 1987); Eng. in SEP “Négritude” and files it under Africana Philosophy. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.
About Aimé Césaire
Aimé Césaire (1913–2008) was a Martinican poet, dramatist, and politician who coined ‘Négritude’ in the 1930s. Notebook of a Return to the Native Land and Discourse on Colonialism couple poetic revolt with a philosophical indictment of European colonial civilization.
How to read this passage
Is time a river, a dimension, or a structure of consciousness? Augustine, Bergson, and modern metaphysics offer rival pictures while ethics asks how finite time should be spent. This passage enters that discussion through time, self, society.
Concepts in this quote
- Time
- Philosophy of time asks what tense and duration are—and how memory, death, and history shape a human life.
- Self
- Philosophy quotes about self explore identity, responsibility, and the examined life—from Socrates’ unexamined life to modern phenomenology and existential authenticity.
- Society
- Society is the web of institutions, customs, and mutual expectations in which individual freedom takes shape.
How to cite this quotation
APA: Aimé Césaire. (n.d.). Négritude, in my eyes, is not a philosophy. Négritude is not a metaphysics. … It is a way of living history within history. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0647
MLA: Aimé Césaire. “Négritude, in my eyes, is not a philosophy.….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0647.
Chicago: Aimé Césaire. “Négritude, in my eyes, is not a philosophy.….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0647.
Frequently asked questions
What is the source of the quotation “Négritude, in my eyes, is not a philosophy.…”?
The passage is attributed to Aimé Césaire, Discours sur la Négritude (Miami, Feb 1987); Eng. in SEP “Négritude”. The archive attributes this English wording to Discours sur la Négritude (Miami, Feb 1987); Eng. in SEP “Négritude” and files it under Africana Philosophy. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.
What does Aimé Césaire mean by time?
Is time a river, a dimension, or a structure of consciousness? Augustine, Bergson, and modern metaphysics offer rival pictures while ethics asks how finite time should be spent. This passage enters that discussion through time, self, society.