Essays on Contemporary Issues in African Philosophy

Description

This volume is a collection of chapters about contemporary issues within African philosophy. They are issues African philosophy must grapple with to demonstrate its readiness to make a stand against some of the challenges society faces in the coming decade such as xenophobia, Afro-phobia, extreme poverty, democratic failure and migration. The text covers new methodical directions and there is focus on the conversationalist, complementarist and consolationist movements within the field as well as the place of the Indigenous Knowledge System.The collection speaks to African philosophy’s place in intellectual history with coverage of African Ethics and African socio-political philosophy.  Contributors come from a variety of different backgrounds, institutions and countries. Through their innovative ideas, they provide fresh insight and intellectual energy.  The book appeals to philosophy students and researchers. Preface Introduction The Unfolding Palms of Contemporary African Philosophy Contents Eight Practical Issues in Contemporary African Philosophy 1 Introduction 2 Racism 3 Poverty 4 Religion 5 Gender 6 Afrophobia 7 Sexuality 8 Democracy 9 Environment 10 Conclusion References How African is Philosophy in Africa? 1 Ethno-philosophy 2 Philosophy Done by Africans 3 Conclusion References Doing Philosophy in the African Place: A Perspective on the Language Challenge 1 Introduction 2 The Question of the ‘Africanness’ of a Philosophy 3 The Implication of Doing African Philosophy in African or Foreign Language(s) 4 Inaugurating Linguistic Complementarity as a Panacea to the Language Challenge 5 Conclusion References The Fallacy of Exclusion and the Promise of Conversational Philosophy in Africa 1 Introduction 2 The Fallacy of Exclusion Presented 2.1 The Fallacy by European Philosophers from Outside Africa 2.2 The Fallacy by Some European Philosophers Resident in South Africa 3 Reactions to the Fallacy by Ramose and Mangena 4 The Way Forward: Chimakonam and the Promise of Conversational Philosophy 5 Conclusion References How Conversational Philosophy Profits from the Particularist and the Universalist Agenda 1 Introduction 2 The Question of African Philosophy and Its Development 3 The Methodological Question in African Philosophy 4 Conversational School and the Bipolarity of Contemporary African Philosophy 5 Conclusion References Examining the Method and Praxis of Conversationalism 1 Introduction 2 Ethnophilosophy as a Method in African Philosophy 3 Philosophic Sagacity as a Method of African Philosophy 4 The Conversational Method of African Philosophy 5 The Up-Down Movement of Thought 6 The Conversational Method at the Sub-micro Level 7 Conclusion References Why the Normative Conception of Personhood is Problematic: A Proposal for a Conversational Account 1 Introduction 2 Menkiti’s Normative Account of Personhood 3 Why the Normative Conception is Inadequate and Problematic 4 A Proposal for the Conversational Account of Personhood 5 Conclusion References African Ethics and Agent-Centred Duties 1 Introduction 2 Wiredu’s Sympathetic Impartiality 3 Gyekye’s Moderate Communitarianism 4 Metz’s Friendship Principle 5 Agent-Centred Considerations 6 Wiredu and Agent-Centred Considerations 7 Gyekye and Agent-Centred Considerations 8 Metz and Agent-Centred Considerations 9 Conclusion References On the One Concept and Many Accounts of African Ethics 1 Introduction 2 One Concept and Many Accounts 3 Some Examples of One Concept and Many Accounts 4 Communal Flourishing in the One and Many Accounts 5 Ubuntu as One of the Many Accounts of African Ethics 6 Ujamaa as One of the Many Accounts of African Ethics 7 Ukama as One of the Many Accounts of African Ethics 8 The Flourishing Argument and Ubuntu, Ujamaa and Ukama 8.1 Ontological Outlook 8.2 Ethical Precept 9 Some Problems and Responses 9.1 First Problem and Responses 9.2 Second Problem and Response 10 Conclusion References How to Report on War in the Light of an African Ethic 1 Introduction 2 An African Moral Theory 3 Implications for Journalism in General 4 Implications for Reporting on War in Particular 5 Conclusion References Taking African Virtue Ethics and Character Training Principles to the Schools 1 Introduction 2 Virtue and Character 3 What the Proposal on Teaching Virtue Means 4 Virtue and Character as a Subject of Instruction 5 Conclusion References Ubuntu as a Plausible Ground for a Normative Theory of Justice from the African Place 1 Introduction 2 An Overview of the Academic Debate on Ubuntu in Contemporary Africa and Beyond 3 On the Meaning of Ubuntu 4 A Historical Study on the Interpretation of Ubuntu in the Extant Literature 5 Understanding Ubuntu as a Cluster of the Distinctive Features of Personhood 6 Remarks on Ubuntu-Inspired Interdependence Theory of Personhood in Relation to Justice 7 Conclusion References Remedial Approach to Cultural Globalization and Intercultural Competence 1 Introduction 2 Cultural Globalization 3 Dimensions of Cultural Globalization 3.1 Homogenization Dimension 3.2 The Hybridization Dimension of Cultural Globalization 3.3 The Polarization Dimension of Cultural Globalization 4 Intercultural Competence Versus Dimensions of Cultural Globalization 4.1 The Expatriate Aspect 4.2 The Immigration Aspect 4.3 The Inclusive Local Aspect 4.4 The Inclusive Global Aspect 5 Intercultural Dialogue as Prelude to Cultural Synergy 6 Cultural Synergy Within the Afropolitan Model 7 Conclusion References Decolonial Philosophical Praxis Exemplified Through Superiorist and Adseredative Understandings of Development 1 Introduction 2 A Harsh Truth 3 The Twofold Process of Decolonization 3.1 The First Component: Adseredition 3.2 The Second Component: Desuperiorization 3.3 The New European Consensus on Development 3.3.1 The Superioristic Understanding of Development 3.3.2 Tertium non datur 4 Development and African Philosophy 5 Exploitation and Self-Deception 6 Superaltern Studies 7 Self-Perception and Reality 8 Conclusion: The African Philosopher and the Western Enigma References Totality by Analogy; Or: The Limits of Law and Black Subjectivity 1 An Epistemology of ‘Boundary’ and ‘Totality’ 2 The Mystical Totality of Black Consciousness 3 Aporia-archē as Boundary Between Justice and Justice 4 ‘Conclusion’ as Failed Totality References The African Philosopher and The Burden of Indigenous Knowledge System (IKS) 1 Introduction 2 Constitutive Elements of Development in the Contemporary African Society 3 The Conflict Between Tradition and Modernity in African Development: A Philosophical Debate 4 Modernity and Its Presuppositions 5 Indigenous Knowledge and Its Place in Contemporary African Realities 6 African Philosophers and Indigenous Knowledge 7 Conclusion References Changes, Adaptation and Complementary Noetic Transformation 1 Introduction: Craving for Changes and Adaptation 2 Complementarity, Management of Relativity and Universal History 3 The Problem of Method, the Negation of Differences and Self-negation 4 Transcendent Complementary Comprehensive Existential Analysis: Addressing the Rift in the Ego 5 Reconstituting Method as Complementary Disposition: Noetic Transformation 6 Ibuanyidanda and some Challenges of Systematisation in African Philosophy References Ageing, Ageism, Cultural Representations of the Elderly and the Duty to Care in African Traditions 1 Introduction 2 Conceptualising Ageing 3 Ageing and the Treatment of the Elderly in African Cultures 4 Moral Considerations of the Challenge of Ageism to the African Moral Duty to Care for the Elderly 5 Some Concluding Remarks References The Struggle to Forgive: Some Philosophical and Theological Reflections 1 Introduction 2 Explanatory Cases 3 Meaning of Forgiveness 4 Early Notions of Forgiveness 5 Conclusion References The Themes of Nihilism, Pessimism, and Optimism in Ibuanyidanda and Consolation Ontologies 1 Introduction 2 The Concepts of Nihilism, Pessimism, and Optimism 3 Asouzu’s Ibuanyidanda Philosophy and the Optimistic Vision of the World 4 The Consolationist Vision 4.1 Consolationism: The Doctrine of Mood 4.2 Nihilism and Pessimism in the Perspective of Consolation Philosophy 4.3 Ibuanyidanda and Consolation Philosophy: Towards an African Theory of Meaning in Life 5 Conclusion References African Philosophy: The Twentieth Century Rhetorics of Identity 1 Introduction 2 African Philosophy: The Problematics of a When Response for a What Question 3 African Philosophy: Other Problematics of a Where-Response to a What Question 4 African Philosophy: Yet Other Problematics of a Who Response to a What Question 5 A Short Simplification of the What of an African Philosophy 6 Practitioners and Emerging Schools in Contemporary African Philosophy 7 Conclusion References Index