ABSTRACT

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.

 

part I|104 pages

Themes

chapter 1|14 pages

Technology as domination or liberation?

An analysis of the philosophy of technology in relation to African philosophy and development initiatives

chapter 2|23 pages

Epistemic pragmatism and the problem of relativism

Implications of comparisons between epistemic concepts in Yorùbá and English language analytic epistemology

chapter 3|19 pages

Euphrase Kezilahabi's thinking poetry

His philosophy, his poetics and Kerewe oral poetry

chapter 4|14 pages

Absurditea

The unity of being, the absurd, and the importance of the circle in Euphrase Kezilahabi's “Chai ya Jioni”

chapter 5|16 pages

Mbiti revisited

Acknowledging the affinity between the philosophies of time of John S. Mbiti and Edmund Husserl and asserting the importance of an inclusive philosophy of the afterlife

part II|107 pages

Sources

chapter 7|24 pages

Philosophizing by proxy

A hermeneutic critique of African philosophical literature from the twin imaginaries of collective or individual thought, and the divisibility of culture and philosophy

chapter 8|23 pages

Found in translation

Multilingualism and philosophy

chapter 9|23 pages

Epistemology and literature

Positivism, indeterminacy, holism and relativism in the Swahili novel

chapter 10|20 pages

Reflections of a West African diviner 1

“If we knew the reality of things, we would be the masters of our own lives.”