Meaning and Truth in African Philosophy: Doing African Philosophy with Language PDF
Preview Meaning and Truth in African Philosophy: Doing African Philosophy with Language
Philosophical Studies Series Grivas Muchineripi Kayange Meaning and Truth in African Philosophy Doing African Philosophy with Language Philosophical Studies Series Volume 135 Editor-in-Chief LucianoFloridi, UniversityofOxford,Oxford InternetInstitute, UnitedKingdom MariarosariaTaddeo,UniversityofOxford,OxfordInternetInstitute,UnitedKingdom Executive Editorial Board Patrick Allo, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium Massimo Durante, Universita` degli Studi di Torino, Italy Phyllis Illari, University College London, United Kingdom Shannon Vallor, Santa Clara University Board of Consulting Editors Lynne Rudder Baker, University of Massachusetts at Amherst Stewart Cohen, Arizona State University, Tempe Radu Bogdan, Tulane University Marian David, University of Notre Dame John M. Fischer, University of California at Riverside Keith Lehrer, University of Arizona, Tucson Denise Meyerson, Macquarie University Franc¸ois Recanati, Institut Jean-Nicod, EHESS, Paris Mark Sainsbury, University of Texas at Austin Barry Smith, State University of New York at Buffalo Nicholas D. Smith, Lewis & Clark College Linda Zagzebski, University of Oklahoma Moreinformationaboutthisseriesathttp://www.springer.com/series/6459 Grivas Muchineripi Kayange Meaning and Truth in African Philosophy Doing African Philosophy with Language GrivasMuchineripiKayange ChancellorCollege UniversityofMalawi Zomba,Malawi ISSN0921-8599 ISSN2542-8349 (electronic) PhilosophicalStudiesSeries ISBN978-3-030-01961-7 ISBN978-3-030-01962-4 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01962-4 LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2018958353 ©SpringerNatureSwitzerlandAG2018,correctedpublication2018 Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsarereservedbythePublisher,whetherthewholeorpart of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation,broadcasting,reproductiononmicrofilmsorinanyotherphysicalway,andtransmissionor informationstorageandretrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilarordissimilar methodologynowknownorhereafterdeveloped. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt fromtherelevantprotectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse. Thepublisher,theauthors,andtheeditorsaresafetoassumethattheadviceandinformationinthisbook arebelievedtobetrueandaccurateatthedateofpublication.Neitherthepublishernortheauthorsorthe editorsgiveawarranty,expressorimplied,withrespecttothematerialcontainedhereinorforanyerrors oromissionsthatmayhavebeenmade.Thepublisherremainsneutralwithregardtojurisdictionalclaims inpublishedmapsandinstitutionalaffiliations. ThisSpringerimprintispublishedbytheregisteredcompanySpringerNatureSwitzerlandAG Theregisteredcompanyaddressis:Gewerbestrasse11,6330Cham,Switzerland Preface The current proliferation of theories and schools in African philosophy seems to suggestthatthequestion‘whatisAfricanphilosophy?’hasceasedtobeproblematic. Apparently, it has entered a phase of doing and demonstrating the content of this philosophy. In this book, I intend to contribute to this content by investigating ‘meaning and truth’ in African philosophy. This will be achieved through the use oftechniquesfromanalyticphilosophy,moreespeciallyfromtheordinarylanguage approachtomeaningandtruth. Thebookisorganizedintoninechapters,whicharedividedintothreeparts. PartIconsistsofawayofdoingphilosophyofmeaningandtruthusingordinary language. Chapter1investigatesthephilosophicalframeworkfordiscussingissuesofmean- ing and truth in African philosophy. It mainly reflects on issues of method. The analyticframeworkisselectedasappropriateforthediscussionofmeaningandtruth. Thesecondchapter,‘PragmaticSemanticsandChichewaProverbs’,investigates the question of meaning (semantics) of Chichewa proverbs based on insights from thecontemporaryanalyticphilosophy.Itisarguedthataproverbisaspecialtypeof sentence/speechactwhosemeaningrequirestheconsiderationofalinkbetweenthe literal/non-literalmeaningandthewaytheutteranceisusedinagivencontext.Inthe context of use, focus is on different elements such as, speaker, hearer, speaker’s intention, hearer's interpretation and context. The chapter further argues and dem- onstrates that proverbs provide an excellent framework for doing African analytic philosophy. Thethirdchapter,‘MeaningofTaboosUsingCounterfactualLogic’,studiesthe meaning of taboo expressions by departing from a consideration of their structure and use. While the chapter demonstrates that there is a strong presence and use of counterfactuallogicinsomeBantulanguages,specificallytheChichewalanguage1, 1ThislanguageisusedbytheChewatribesofMalawi,MozambiqueandZambia(aBantugroupof people). v vi Preface it argues that the study of these figurative expressions using the counterfactual framework offers a particular understanding of African philosophy and belief sys- tems.ThechapterdemonstrateshowtodoAfricanphilosophy(withcounterfactual logic) by studying taboos progressively from causal statements and conditional statements to counterfactual conditionals as they are used in the Chewa people’s variousmodesofcommunication. Thefourthchapter,‘DoingAfricanPhilosophywithMetaphors’,suggestsaway ofdoingphilosophythroughareflectiononmetaphors.Thechapterdevelopsthree themesinsociopoliticalphilosophy. The first theme investigates conceptual metaphors used in conceptualising the notion ‘politics’ in modern African political thought (particularly in Malawi). It is arguedthatthiscanhelpinunderstandingcognitionandbehaviourofpoliticalactors inMalawi. Thesecondthemefocusesonmetaphoricalconceptualisationofwomenandmen inChichewalanguage.Itarguesthatalthoughwomenareregardedasveryimportant in building the society, there is a tendency of conceptualising men in terms of women. The practice stigmatises women as socially inferior to men. This system ofconceptualisationrevealshowmembersofthesocietythinkandbehavetowards womenincertainrespects. The third theme focuses on metaphorical conceptualisation in the context of different disabilities (misapplied conceptualisation). It argues that metaphorical/ linguistic conceptualisation of disabilities in Chichewa language reflects and con- tributessignificantlytowardsthemisconceptionandmarginalisationofpeoplewith disability. The fifth chapter, ‘Riddles, Meaning and Rationality/Logic’, investigates issues of meaning and rationality departing from a study of riddles. It argues that riddles revealsomebasicconceptsoftheChewapeople’slogic.Thestructureofriddlesand theiruseshowthattheChichewalanguagespeakersengageincriticalthinking. PartIIdealswithconceptualanalysisofconcepts,namely,truthandbeauty. Chapter6investigates,‘TheChewaConceptofTruth’,throughareflectiononthe relationbetweenstatementsandreality/facts.ItarguesthattheChewapeoplehavea logicalconceptoftruth,whichisdependentoftherelationbetweenstatementsand reality,andtherequirementofobservation.Itwillbeshownthatforasentencetobe true, it must correspond to facts, and there must be ontological commitment supportingthisrelation. Chapter7focusesontheconceptofbeautyinanAfricansetting.Itbuildsonthe general objective and subjective conceptions of beauty and argues that Chichewa languageshowspreferencetowardsasubjectiveconception.Thechapterdeniesthe moralconceptionofbeautyasrepresentativeofAfricanunderstandingofbeauty. PartIIIanalysesthetwoopposingAfricansystems,communitarianism(ubuntu) and individualism, through the study of language. While ubuntu is commonly knownasAfrican,theworkwilldeducethatindividualismisalsopresentinAfrican traditionalthought.Thiswillbeshownthroughthestudyoflanguage. Preface vii Chapter8exploresubuntu/umunthu2idealismintheAfricantraditionalcontext. Itisarguedthatthisidealismprovidesbothontologicalandethicalconceptionsthat aregroundedontheideaof‘community’.Throughthestudyoflanguage,thechapter showstheloopholesinthesedevelopmentsandsuggestsacomprehensiveconcep- tionofubuntuthatisbasedonvirtuetheory(moralandintellectualvirtues). Chapter9showsthatwhilecommunitarianismcanbededucedfromthestudyof language,therearesomeexpressionsthatshowthatindividualismisalsopresentin theAfricantraditionalcontext. In order to avoid overcrowding the main content of this book, I have provided appendixItodealwithaspecialcaseofriddles.AppendixIIisdesignedtodealwith aspecialuseofidiomsandproverbsusingthespeechacttheory.3 Zomba,Malawi GrivasMuchineripiKayange 2Umunthu is a Chewa word which translates the term ubuntu. The concept umunthu may be approachedbasedonthesyntacticstructureasacombinationofthesuffix–nthu,whichisoften arguedbysomeAfricanphilosopherstomean‘being’ora‘thing’,and–u-muhas–mu,whichrefers toahumanbeinganduinfrontofmusuggestsawayormodeofbeing,ofsomething(inthiscasea humanway).Forinstance,thesubstantiveChitsirucanbetranslatedasafool.Addingutothis word,itbecomesuchitsiru,whichmeansfoolishness.Similarly,whenweaddthesuffix-nthuto thishumanway,itbecomesawayofbeinghuman.Approachingthisconceptintermsofsemantics, itisimportanttolookathowpeopleareusingitinMalawi.WhenaChewa-speakingsubjectuttersa statementthatxalindiumunthu,withxbeinghuman,itmeansthatxisamorallysoundperson. 3Chapter 1isinspiredbyanarticle whichwaspublishedinAfrican JournalofCultural Studies (Kayange2014),while thethirdsection ofChap.5bymybookchapterin Disability inAfrica: ResourceBookforTheologyandReligiousStudies(Kayange2017). Acknowledgements I would like to thank the following individuals for their support in developing this manuscript: Firstly, TimwaLipenga hasplayed animportant role in editing and questioning someofthedevelopmentsinthiswork. Secondly, Professor Louis Caruana, who has continuously supported me in understanding logic, language and natural science, since thetime I was a BA, MA andPhDstudentattheGregorianPontificalUniversityinRome. Thirdly, thanks to all colleagues and students in the philosophy department at ChancellorCollege,UniversityofMalawi,forchallengingmeonhowtodoAfrican philosophy. Lastly,thankstoMemoryThindoKayange,BethelKayange,LoveWhite,Nick Kayange, Victor Mungomo, Stain Mateya, Steve Lupale and Mtisunge Thindo for their support and patience during the development of this work. Special thanks to MumandDadandtheKayangefamily. ix Contents PartI FigurativeUtterancesandMeaning 1 PhilosophicalFrameworkforDoingAfricanPhilosophy. . . . . . . . . 3 1.1 TheQuestionofanAppropriateFramework. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 1.2 CentralConceptsfromAnalyticPhilosophy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 1.3 ElementsoftheAdoptedFrameworkinAfricanPhilosophy. . . . 10 2 PragmaticSemanticsandChichewaProverbs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 2.1 SourcesofChichewaProverbs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 2.2 UtteranceMeaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 2.3 Utterance-UseMeaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 3 MeaningofTaboosUsingCounterfactualLogic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 3.1 CounterfactualFramework. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 3.2 AListofTaboosandLiteralUnderstanding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 3.3 ChewaCausalStatements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 3.4 TheChewaCausalStatementsasConditionalStatements. . . . . . 37 3.5 TheChewaCausalStatementsasCounterfactualConditionals. . . 41 3.6 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 4 DoingAfricanPhilosophywithMetaphors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 4.1 DoingPhilosophywithMetaphorsinCognitiveSemantics. . . . . 48 4.2 DoingAfricanPhilosophywith‘PoliticsIsaTrippingGame’ Metaphor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 4.3 DoingPhilosophywith‘aManIsaWoman’Metaphor. . . . . . . . 61 4.4 DoingPhilosophywith‘MisappliedMetaphors’. . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 5 Riddles,MeaningandRationality/Logic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 5.1 Riddles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 5.2 AfricanPhilosophyandRiddles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 5.3 ChichewaRiddlesandUseMeaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 xi
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