Download or read book African Thought in Comparative Perspective written by Ali A. Mazrui and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2014-03-25 with total page 381 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: African Thought in Comparative Perspective showcases how adept Ali Mazrui, the most prolific writer on Africa today, is at using complex conceptual apparatuses to categorize and synthesize Africa’s political and social thought. This book, thus, offers an original interpretation of the knowledge that has been accumulated over the years, and which is of timeless relevance. It covers such themes as the legacy of the African liberation movements, the convergence and divergence of African, Islamic and Western thought, nationalist ideologies in Africa, the role of religion in African politics, and the impact of Ancient Greek philosophy on contemporary Africa.
Download or read book Understanding African Philosophy written by Richard H. Bell and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First Published in 2002. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Download or read book Knowledge Cultures written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2016-08-01 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume compares the western ideas of knowledge with the African. It aims at creating a mirror through which the western knowledge culture can look at itself through an unusual and interesting angle. The culture of Sub-Saharan Africa is the substance from which we, in this book, have tried to construe an epistemological mirror.
Download or read book African Politics in Comparative Perspective written by Goran Hyden and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2013 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This revised and expanded second edition of African Politics in Comparative Perspective reviews fifty years of research on politics in Africa and addresses some issues in a new light, keeping in mind the changes in Africa since the first edition was written in 2004. The book synthesizes insights from different scholarly approaches and offers an original interpretation of the knowledge accumulated in the field. Goran Hyden discusses how research on African politics relates to the study of politics in other regions and mainstream theories in comparative politics. He focuses on such key issues as why politics trumps economics, rule is personal, state is weak and policies are made with a communal rather than an individual lens. The book also discusses why in the light of these conditions agriculture is problematic, gender contested, ethnicity manipulated and relations with Western powers a matter of defiance.
Download or read book African Metaphysics Epistemology and a New Logic written by Jonathan O. Chimakonam and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-05-06 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book focuses on African metaphysics and epistemology, and is an exercise in decoloniality. The authors describe their approach to "decoloniality" as an intellectual repudiation of coloniality, using the method of conversational thinking grounded in Ezumezu logic. Focusing specifically on both African metaphysics and African epistemology, the authors put forward theories formulated to stimulate fresh debates and extend the frontiers of learning in the field. They emphasize that this book is not a project in comparative philosophy, nor is it geared towards making Africa/ns the object/subjects of philosophy. Rather, the book highlights and discusses philosophical insights that have been produced from the African perspective, which the authors argue must be further developed in order to achieve decoloniality in the field of philosophy more broadly.
Download or read book Consolationism and Comparative African Philosophy written by Ada Agada and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-11-18 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a major challenge to African philosophy, this book demonstrates the importance of the universalisation question for every committed African philosopher. Rooted in Africa’s colonial legacy, the universalisation question challenges the African thinker to show how authentically African philosophical concepts and phenomena can be universally applicable in a globalising world. In this highly original book, the author inserts the philosophy of consolationism into African philosophical discourse, constructing a unique philosophical system that is at once African and universally relevant. The book engages major African and Western philosophers of diverse ideological leanings in a compelling dialogue that announces the future of world philosophy as one of interculturality, in which a common philosophical horizon is forged out of the cultural diversities of the world for the edification of humanity in a continually changing world. This book will be an important read for researchers in the fields of African Studies, intercultural philosophy, philosophy of mind, and existentialism.
Download or read book The Question of Being in Western and African Analytic Metaphysics written by Grivas Muchineripi Kayange and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-05-04 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The main aim of this book is to discuss fundamental developments on the question of being in Western and African philosophy using analytic metaphysics as a framework. It starts with the two orthodox responses to the question of being, namely, the subject-verb-object language view and the rheomodic language view. In the first view, being is conceived through the analysis of language structure, where it is represented by subjects (particulars), objects, and relations (often universals). In the second view, there are different variations; however, the common idea is that the world's structure is revealed in the root verb of terms. This suggests a holistic and dynamic conception of being, where everything is in a continuous process of action. The book builds on analytic philosophy and explores metaphysical concepts such as space-time, modality, causation, indeterminism versus determinism, and mind and body. The book shows that in both Western and African thought, (i) similarities in different studies confirm that philosophy is a universal activity, (ii) differences within a context and beyond confirm the perspectival nature of human knowledge as individuals attempt to interpret reality, and (iii) language influences the conceptualization of being in a particular area. One of the novel aspects is the development of visual and mathematical African models of space and time.
Download or read book Critical Conversations in African Philosophy written by Alena Rettová and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-11-29 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this edited collection contributors examine key themes, sources and methods in contemporary African Philosophy, building on a wide-ranging understanding of what constitutes African philosophy, and drawing from a variety of both oral and written texts of different genres. Part one of the volume examines how African philosophy has reacted to burning issues, ranging from contemporary ethical questions on how to integrate technological advancements into human life; to one of philosophy’s prime endeavours, which is establishing the conditions of knowledge; to eternal ontological and existential questions on the nature of being, time, memory and death. Part two reflects on the (re)definition of philosophy from an African vantage point and African philosophy’s thrust to create its own canon, archive and resources to study African concepts, artefacts, practices and texts from the perspective of intellectual history. The volume aims to make a contribution to the academic debate on African philosophy and philosophy more broadly, challenging orthodox definitions and genres, in favour of a broadening of the discipline’s self-understanding and locales. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of African philosophy and comparative philosophy.
Download or read book Patterns of Thought in Africa and the West written by Robin Horton and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1997-07-13 with total page 488 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Robin Horton's critical and creative writings on African religious thought have influenced anthropologists, philosophers, and all those interested in the comparative study of religion and thought. This selection of some of his classic papers, with a new introduction and postscript by the author, traces Horton's theoretical ideas over thirty years. In attempting to understand African religious thought, he also tackles broader issues in the history and sociology of thought, such as secularisation and modernisation. Part I is a critical assessment of two established interpretive approaches, the Symbolist and the Theological. Part II proposes an alternative 'Intellectualist' approach that emphasises the structural and processual similarities between religious and scientific thinking. The postscript appraises the Intellectualist approach in the light of theorising about religion and world views.
Download or read book Debating African Philosophy written by George Hull and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-11-21 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In African countries there has been a surge of intellectual interest in foregrounding ideas and thinkers of African origin—in philosophy as in other disciplines—that have been unjustly ignored or marginalized. African scholars have demonstrated that precolonial African cultures generated ideas and arguments which were at once truly philosophical and distinctively African, and several contemporary African thinkers are now established figures in the philosophical mainstream. Yet, despite the universality of its themes, relevant contributions from African philosophy have rarely permeated global philosophical debates. Critical intellectual excavation has also tended to prioritize precolonial thought, overlooking more recent sources of home-grown philosophical thinking such as Africa’s intellectually rich liberation movements. This book demonstrates the potential for constructive interchange between currents of thought from African philosophy and other intellectual currents within philosophy. Chapters authored by leading and emerging scholars: recover philosophical thinkers and currents of ideas within Africa and about Africa, bringing them into dialogue with contemporary mainstream philosophy; foreground the relevance of African theorizing to contemporary debates in epistemology, philosophy of language, moral/political philosophy, philosophy of race, environmental ethics and the metaphysics of disability; make new interventions within on-going debates in African philosophy; consider ways in which philosophy can become epistemically inclusive, interrogating the contemporary call for ‘decolonization’ of philosophy. Showing how foregrounding Africa—its ideas, thinkers and problems—can help with the project of renewing and improving the discipline of philosophy worldwide, this book will stimulate and challenge everyone with an interest in philosophy, and is essential reading for upper-level undergraduate students, postgraduate students and scholars of African and Africana philosophy.
Download or read book Normative Justification of a Global Ethic written by Uchenna B. Okeja and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2013 with total page 173 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The focus of this book is the normativity of global ethic. Over the years, different cultures and civilizations have been brought closer than never before by globalization. This trend has both its negative and positive dimensions. Overall, the main problem of this present trend of societal organization and human interaction called globalization is a moral issue, namely, the question: how should we treat one another? Okeja's global ethic seeks to answer this question. It underscores that we should treat one another in our current age of globalization in accordance with the Golden Rule principle. The suggestion of this ethic is therefore that we should not treat others the way we would not want to be treated. This sounds simple enough. The problem, however, is that it is not exactly clear what this principle of moral conduct would suggest in both simple and complex moral situations. Most importantly, it is not clear why it is reasonable to treat people the way we would not want to be treated. Why, in other words, should we act in accordance with the Golden Rule principle? What is the justification of the demand the Golden Rule makes on us? This book answers these and other questions about the normative plausibility of the Golden Rule, and thus global ethic, from the comparative perspective of ethics in African philosophy. It analyzes three stages of the possible normative justification of the moral imperative of global ethic and proposes a deliberative form of justification.
Download or read book African Philosophy written by Guttorm Fløistad and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This publication is a continuation of two earlier series of chroni cles, Philosophy of the Mid-Century (Firenze 1958/59) and Con temporary Philosophy (Firenze 1968), edited by Raymond Klibansky. Like the other series, these chronicles provide a survey of significant trends in contemporary philosophical discussion from 1970 to 1985. The need for such surveys has, I believe, increased rather than decreased over the last years. The philosophical scene appears, for various reasons, more complex than ever before. The continuing process of specialization in most branches, the emergence of new schools of thought, the convergence of interest (thought not neces sarily of opinion) of different traditions upon certain problems, the increasing attention being paid to the history of philosophy in discussions of contemporary problems, and the growing signifi cance for philosophical discourse of the social, political and cul tural situation in various regions of the world are the most impor tant contributory factors. Surveys of the present kind are a valu able source of knowledge of this complexity and may as such be an assistance in renewing the understanding of one's own philo sophical problems. The surveys, it is to be hoped, may also help to strengthen a world-wide Socratic element of modern philosophy, the dialogue or Kommunikationsgemeinschaft. So far, five volumes have been prepared for the new series.
Download or read book African Philosophy in an Intercultural Perspective written by Anke Graneß and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-05-18 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: African philosophy under the specific conditions of a colonial and postcolonial world is – at least since the 20th century if not even earlier – inherently intercultural. The aim and target of the volume is to reveal, interrogate and analyse the intercultural dimension in African philosophy, and to critically interrogate the project of an intercultural philosophy from an African perspective. This volume is the first publication that explicitly discusses African philosophy as a challenge to the project of intercultural philosophy.
Download or read book African Belief and Knowledge Systems written by Munyaradzi Mawere and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2011-09-20 with total page 138 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The debate on the existence of African philosophy has taken central stage in academic circles, and academics and researchers have tussled with various aspects of this subject. This book notes that the debate on the existence of African philosophy is no longer necessary. Instead, it urges scholars to demonstrate the different philosophical genres embedded in African philosophy. As such, the book explores African metaphysical epistemology with the hope to redirect the debate on African philosophy. It articulates and systematizes metaphysical and epistemological issues in general and in particular on Africa. The book aptly shows how these issues intersect with the philosophy of life, traditional beliefs, knowledge systems and practices of ordinary Africans and the challenges they raise for scholarship in and on philosophy with relevance to Africa.
Download or read book Handbook of African Philosophy written by Elvis Imafidon and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-09-30 with total page 639 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Handbook provides in one volume rich, comprehensive and rigorous coverage of specific subject areas and thematic concerns in the ever-evolving academic discipline of African philosophy. This Handbook is unique in its focus on central and emerging areas within African philosophy such as Afro-communitarian philosophy, ethics, epistemology, social and political philosophy, existentialism, philosophy of religion, gender philosophy, philosophy of education, phenomenology, transhumanism, African philosophy futures, and philosophy of the non-human. The thirty-two chapters in this Handbook explore the rich textual and non-textual forms of philosophical knowledge in Africa and adequately represent the broad and diverse scope of African philosophy, showing the richness and depth of the philosophical tradition. This reference work is indispensable to students and researchers in African philosophy, comparative philosophy and world philosophies.
Download or read book The Oxford Encyclopedia of African Thought written by Abiola Irele and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 1025 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From St. Augustine and early Ethiopian philosophers to the anti-colonialist movements of Pan-Africanism and Negritude, this encyclopedia offers a comprehensive view of African thought, covering the intellectual tradition both on the continent in its entirety and throughout the African Diaspora in the Americas and in Europe. The term "African thought" has been interpreted in the broadest sense to embrace all those forms of discourse - philosophy, political thought, religion, literature, important social movements - that contribute to the formulation of a distinctive vision of the world determined by or derived from the African experience. The Encyclopedia is a large-scale work of 350 entries covering major topics involved in the development of African Thought including historical figures and important social movements, producing a collection that is an essential resource for teaching, an invaluable companion to independent research, and a solid guide for further study.
Download or read book Cultural Universals and Particulars written by Kwasi Wiredu and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 1996 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Wiredu's discussion of culturally defined values and concepts, as well as his attention to such timely issues as human rights, makes this book invaluable interdisciplinary reading." —D. A. Masolo Ghanaian philosopher Kwasi Wiredu confronts the paradox that while Western cultures recoil from claims of universality, previously colonized peoples, seeking to redefine their identities, insist on cultural particularities. Wiredu asserts that universals, rightly conceived on the basis of our common biological identity, are not incompatible with cultural particularities and, in fact, are what make intercultural communication possible. Drawing on aspects of Akan thought that appear to diverge from Western conceptions in the areas of ethics and metaphysics, Wiredu calls for a just reappraisal of these disparities, free of thought patterns corrupted by a colonial mentality. Wiredu's exposition of the principles of African traditional philosophy is not purely theoretical; he shows how certain aspects of African political thought may be applied to the practical resolution of some of Africa's most pressing problems.
