Method, Substance, and the Future of African Philosophy

367 Pages·2018·3.24 MB·English

by  Edwin E. Etieyibo (eds.)

EDITED BY
EDWIN E. ETIEYIBO
Method, Substance, and the Future
of African Philosophy
Edwin E. Etieyibo
Editor
Method, Substance,
and the Future of
African Philosophy
Editor
Edwin E. Etieyibo
University of the Witwatersrand
Johannesburg, South Africa
ISBN 978-3-319-70225-4 ISBN 978-3-319-70226-1 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70226-1
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P
reface
The idea for this book began with the need to bring together some of the
papers presented at the September 9–11, 2015 African Philosophy (African
Philosophy: Past, Present and Future) Conference at the University of the
Witwatersrand. The conference, as many will remember, drew and
attracted many scholars working in African philosophy—both some of the
most established and prominent ones and a number of promising ones.
However, within the two years when work started on the collection and
following a couple of peer reviews, a number of essays that were not origi-
nally part of the conference out of necessity and their importance found
their way into the edited volume.
Although all the chapters in the volume are united by one common
subject matter—African philosophy—each of them individually (directly
and indirectly) touch on and develop further aspects of one or more of the
following sub-themes: (a) African philosophy in history; (b) methodologi-
cal debates in African philosophy; (c) substantive issues, topics and debates
in African philosophy; and (d) the future of African philosophy. In this
sense, the book as a whole can be construed as contributing to contempo-
rary efforts aimed at invigorating the excavation of knowledge (both
extant and primordial) in African philosophy.
Some acknowledgments seem appropriate to the extent that the collec-
tion is seeing the light of day. I want to thank every one of the contribu-
tors for patiently and painstakingly working with me on volume. The book
would not be out now without the numerous efforts expended by them
into their various chapters. I would also like to express some gratitude to
the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences for the
v
vi PREFACE
support that they provided, which helped to fund some aspects of the
conference as well as facilitate some of the editorial- and administrative-
related work of this volume. And finally, some appreciations are due to the
anonymous reviewers who twice went through the book and offered very
helpful and constructive feedback.
Johannesburg, South Africa Edwin E. Etieyibo
c
ontents
1 I ntroduction 1
Edwin E. Etieyibo
Part I African Philosophy and History 11
2 A frican Philosophy in History, Context,
and Contemporary Times 13
Edwin E. Etieyibo
3 T he Journey of African Philosophy 35
Barry Hallen
4 H istory of Philosophy as a Problem: Our Case 53
Dismas A. Masolo
5 T he State of African Philosophy in Africa 71
Edwin E. Etieyibo and Jonathan O. Chimakonam
vii
viii CONTENTS
Part II Method in African Philosophy 91
6 Questions of Method and Substance and the Growth
of African Philosophy 93
Simon Mathias Makwinja
7 Between the Ontology and Logic Criteria of African
Philosophy 113
Lucky Uchenna Ogbonnaya
8 The “Demise” of Philosophical Universalism and the Rise
of Conversational Thinking in Contemporary African
Philosophy 135
Jonathan O. Chimakonam
9 Is, Ought, and All: In Defense of a Method 161
Oritsegbubemi Anthony Oyowe
Part III Substance of African Philosophy 185
10 An Examination of Menkiti’s Conception
of Personhood and Gyekye’s Critique 187
Polycarp Ikuenobe
11 Justification of Moral Norms in African Philosophy 209
Uchenna Okeja
12 The Importance of an African Social
Epistemology to Improve Public Health and Increase
Life Expectancy in Africa 229
Helen Lauer
13 The Question of Rationality in Kwasi Wiredu’s
Consensual Democracy 251
Emmanuel Ifeanyi Ani
CONTENT S ix
14 How to Ground Animal Rights on African Values:
A Constructive Approach 275
Thaddeus Metz
Part IV African Philosophy and Its Future 291
15 P hilosophy and the State in Africa 293
Ifeanyi A. Menkiti
16 Jéan-Paul Sartre and the Agenda of an Africanist
Philosophy of Liberation 313
John M. Lamola
17 The Shaping of the Future of African Philosophy 335
Bernard Matolino
Index 355
n c
otes on ontributors
Emmanuel Ifeanyi Ani is a senior lecturer at the University of Ghana,
Legon. He was appointed as a lecturer by the University of Ghana on August
1, 2011. He holds a BA in Philosophy from the University of Ibadan, a
BPhil in Philosophy from the Pontificia Università Urbaniana Roma (Urban
Pontifical University, Rome), Italy, and an MA and a PhD in Philosophy
from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nigeria. His research interests include
deliberative democracy, African philosophy, and philosophy of mind.
Jonathan Okeke Chimakonam is a senior lecturer at the University of
Calabar and a research associate at the University of Johannesburg. His
research interests include logic, African philosophy, and philosophy of
mind. His articles have appeared in journals such as Ultimate Reality and
Meaning, Confluence, South African Journal of Philosophy, African Studies
Quarterly, Phronimon, Polylog, Filosofia Theoretica, Philosophia Africana,
Dialogue and Universalism, among others. He is winner of ISUD’s Jens
Jacobsen Award for Outstanding Research in Philosophy (2016). He is
the African philosophy area editor for the Internet Encyclopedia of
Philosophy. He propounded the theories of conversational thinking and
Ezumezuology.
Edwin  E.  Etieyibo is an associate professor of philosophy in the
Department of Philosophy, School of Social Sciences, University of the
Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. His teaching and research
interests cover philosophy of law, ethics (theoretical and applied), social and
political philosophy, African philosophy, epistemology, history of philoso-
phy, philosophy of education and with children, and African socio-p olitical
xi