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Viola Cordova

1937–2002

A first way ina deliberate simplification – the portrait says more

Humans are not above the world but part of it, bound to a place and to all other beings, and ethics follows from that relatedness.

Placement

Indigenous Philosophies · Metaphysics, Ethics

Jicarilla Apache–Hispanic philosopher, among the first Native American women to earn a doctorate in philosophy: a Native American worldview of relatedness, place and the world as a whole.

Key ideas

  • Native American metaphysics
  • Humans as part of the world
  • Ethics of relatedness

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Influence

Influenced by 2

  • Baruch de Spinoza

    influenced by

    In her dissertation The Concept of Monism in Navajo Thought (1992) Cordova compared the Navajo (Diné) concept of Holy Wind with Spinoza’s monism to interpret it. V. F. Cordova, The Concept of Monism in Navajo Thought (PhD diss., University of New Mexico, 1992); J. K. McNeley, Holy Wind in Navajo Philosophy (1981)

    Evidence: AI draft

    Baruch de Spinoza › 1632–1677

  • Ludwig Wittgenstein

    influenced by

    To understand non-Western worldviews, Cordova’s dissertation (1992) drew on Whorf and on Wittgenstein’s Remarks on Frazer’s Golden Bough. V. F. Cordova, The Concept of Monism in Navajo Thought (PhD diss., University of New Mexico, 1992), abstract; L. Wittgenstein, Bemerkungen über Frazers Golden Bough (1967)

    Evidence: AI draft

    Ludwig Wittgenstein › 1889–1951

Influenced 1

  • Anne Waters

    influenced

    Waters dedicated American Indian Thought (2004) to Cordova, whose questions had helped shape her own ideas; from 2001 both edited the APA newsletter on American Indians in Philosophy. A. Waters (ed.), American Indian Thought: Philosophical Essays (2004), acknowledgements and dedication; APA Newsletter on American Indians in Philosophy (2001 ff.)

    Evidence: AI draft

    Anne Waters › contemporary

Works

Position

Cordova sought to state a Native American worldview in the terms of academic philosophy without forcing it into Western categories. Every culture, she argued, rests on a basic framework that answers what the world is, what a human being is and what role humans have in the world. In the Native view she described, the world is a self-sustaining whole and humans are one part of it among others – neither its masters nor a species apart. Identity is bound to a particular place and community, and ethics means keeping balance and fitting relations with others, human and non-human. She set this against Western dualism and abstract universalism.

Life & context

Viola Cordova was born in 1937 and was of Jicarilla Apache and Hispanic background. In 1992 she earned her doctorate in philosophy at the University of New Mexico, becoming one of the first Native American women with a PhD in the field, and went on to teach philosophy at several universities. She died in 2002. After her death, colleagues edited her essays, which appeared in 2007 as How It Is.

Further main works

  • Doctoral dissertation in philosophy, University of New Mexico (1992)

Appears in

Sources: Wikipedia · Wikidata

As of November 2026 · Sources · Improve this page · How Agora is made

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