ABSTRACT

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.

part One|79 pages

The universalism-particularism conundrum revisited

chapter 2|37 pages

The perennial challenge

Transcending the universalism-particularism divide

chapter 3|20 pages

Transcending the universalism-particularism divide

The challenge of consolationism

part Two|60 pages

Consolation philosophy

chapter 4|22 pages

The consolationist system

chapter 5|21 pages

On God and nature

chapter 6|15 pages

Homo melancholicus

part Three|48 pages

Cross-cultural and comparative philosophy