An Essay on African Philosophical Thought

An Essay on African Philosophical Thought PDF Author: Kwame Gyekye
Publisher: Temple University Press
ISBN: 9781566393805
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 302

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Book Description
In this sustained and nuanced attempt to define a genuinely African philosophy, Kwame Gyekye rejects the idea that an African philosophy consists simply of the work of Africans writing on philosophy. It must, Gyekye argues, arise from African thought itself, relate to the culture out of which it grows, and provide the possibility of a continuation of a philosophy linked to culture. Offering a philosophical clarification and theology, and ethics of the Akan of Ghana, Gyekye argues that critical analyses of specific traditional African modes of thought are necessary to develop a distinctively African philosophy as well as cultural values in the modern world. --

Tradition and Modernity

Tradition and Modernity PDF Author: Kwame Gyekye
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0195112253
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 359

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Book Description
Gyekye offers a philosophical interpretation and critical analysis of the African cultural experience in modern times, and shows how Western philosophical concepts help in addressing a wide range of specifically African problems.

Listening to Ourselves

Listening to Ourselves PDF Author: Chike Jeffers
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 1438447434
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
Contemporary African philosophy in indigenous African languages and English translation. A groundbreaking contribution to the discipline of philosophy, this volume presents a collection of philosophical essays written in indigenous African languages by professional African philosophers with English translations on the facing pages—demonstrating the linguistic and conceptual resources of African languages for a distinctly African philosophy. Hailing from five different countries and writing in six different languages, the seven authors featured include some of the most prominent African philosophers of our time. They address a range of topics, including the nature of truth, different ways of conceiving time, the linguistic status of proverbs, how naming practices work, gender equality and inequality in traditional society, the relationship between language and thought, and the extent to which morality is universal or culturally variable.

Cultural Universals and Particulars

Cultural Universals and Particulars PDF Author: Kwasi Wiredu
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 9780253210807
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
"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.

Philosophy and an African Culture

Philosophy and an African Culture PDF Author: Kwasi Wiredu
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521296472
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
What can philosophy contribute to African culture? What can it draw from it? Could there be a truly African philosophy that goes beyond traditional folk thought? Kwasi Wiredu tries in these essays to define and demonstrate a role for contemporary African philosophers which is distinctive but by no means parochial. He shows how they can assimilate the advances of analytical philosophy and apply them to the general social and intellectual changes associated with 'modernisation' and the transition to new national identities. But we see too how they can exploit traditional resources and test the assumptions of Western philosophy against the intimations of their own language and culture. The volume as a whole presents some of the best non-technical work of a distinguished African philosopher, of importance equally to professional philosophers and to those with a more general interest in contemporary African thought and culture.

The African Novel of Ideas

The African Novel of Ideas PDF Author: Jeanne-Marie Jackson
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691212406
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
An ambitious look at the African novel and its connections to African philosophy in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries The African Novel of Ideas focuses on the role of the philosophical novel and the place of philosophy more broadly in the intellectual life of the African continent, from the early twentieth century to today. Examining works from the Gold Coast, South Africa, Uganda, and Zimbabwe, and tracing how such writers as J. E. Casely Hayford, Imraan Coovadia, Tendai Huchu, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, and Stanlake Samkange reconcile deep contemplation with their social situations, Jeanne-Marie Jackson offers a new way of reading and understanding African literature. Jackson begins with Fante anticolonial worldliness in prenationalist Ghana, moves through efforts to systematize Shona philosophy in 1970s Zimbabwe, looks at the Ugandan novel Kintu as a treatise on pluralistic rationality, and arrives at the treatment of “philosophical suicide” by current southern African writers. As Jackson charts philosophy's evolution from a dominant to marginal presence in African literary discourse across the past hundred years, she assesses the push and pull of subjective experience and abstract thought. The first major transnational exploration of African literature in conversation with philosophy, The African Novel of Ideas redefines the place of the African experience within literary history.

Essays on Contemporary Issues in African Philosophy

Essays on Contemporary Issues in African Philosophy PDF Author: Jonathan O. Chimakonam
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 303070436X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 363

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Book 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.

African Philosophy and Thought Systems

African Philosophy and Thought Systems PDF Author: Mawere, Munyaradzi
Publisher: Langaa RPCIG
ISBN: 9956763012
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
The once acrimonious debate on the existence of African philosophy has come of age, yet the need to cultivate a culture of belonging is more demanding now than ever before in many African societies. The gargantuan indelible energised chicanery waves of neo-colonialism and globalisation and their sweeping effect on Africa demand more concerted action and solutions than cul-de-sac discourses and magical realism. It is in view of this realisation that this book was born. This is a vital text for understanding contextual historical trends in the development of African philosophic ideas on the continent and how Africans could possibly navigate the turbulent catadromous waters, tangled webs and chasms of destruction, and chagrin of struggles that have engrossed Africa since the dawn of slavery and colonial projects on the continent. The book aims to generate more insights and influence national, continental, and global debates in the field of philosophy. It is accessible and handy to a wider range of readers, ranging from educators and students of African philosophy, anthropology, African studies, cultural studies, and all those concerned with the further development of African philosophy and thought systems on the African continent.

Prophecies and Protests

Prophecies and Protests PDF Author: Henk van den Heuvel
Publisher: Rozenberg Publishers
ISBN: 9051709498
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 217

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Book Description
What can managers around the globe learn from the indigenous African term ""Ubuntu"" (humane-ness)?For the first time ever, ""African management"" advocates, interpretative scholars, and academic skeptics, are brought together in a unique book, displaying the richness of the debate on Afrocentric management vision. This debate is characterized by polarization, cultural protest, emancipatory aspiration, mystification and opportunism. Prophecies and Protests offers a broad spectrum of remarkably diverse views from different backgrounds, and could be seen as an important step to foster the dialogue between protagonists and critics, between practitioners and academics. Especially today, the central theme of the book is relevant, in an era of worldwide cultural diffusion, and a longing for authenticity and romanticized histories.

African Ethics

African Ethics PDF Author: Munyaradzi Felix Murove
Publisher: University of Kwazulu Natal Press
ISBN:
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 492

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Book Description
This is the first comprehensive volume on African ethics, centered on Ubuntu and its relevance today. Important contemporary issues are explored, such as African bioethics, business ethics, traditional African attitudes to the environment, and the possible development of a new form of democracy based on indigenous African political systems. In a world that has become interconnected, this anthology demonstrates that African ethics can make valuable contributions to global ethics. It is not only African academics, students, organizations, or those individuals committed to ethics that are envisaged as the beneficiaries of this book, but all humankind. A number of topics presented here were inspired by a Shona proverb that says, Ndarira imwe hairiri (One brass wire cannot produce a sound). The chorus of voices in African Ethics demonstrates this proverbial truism.