Revision as of 02:54, 28 November 2021 editSychonic (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users976 editsm →List of Africana philosophers: alphabetical correction← Previous edit | Revision as of 05:25, 27 December 2021 edit undoCarchasm (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users27,692 edits merge in African philosophy per WP:CFORK and WP:COMMONNAME and the SEP definition of africana philosophy - these are the same field of study and the distinction between diaspora "Africana" and native "African" appears to be just incorrect WP:SYNTH.Tags: nowiki added Disambiguation links addedNext edit → | ||
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{{Redirect|African Philosophy|the journal that formerly had this name|Philosophia Africana}} | |||
{{Distinguish|African philosophy}} | |||
'''Africana philosophy''' sometimes called '''''African''''' philosophy, covers the philosophy made by African descendants, including African Americans. Africana philosophers are found in the various academic fields of present philosophy, such as ], ], ], and ].<ref name="A Companion to African Philosophy">{{Cite book|date=2005-01-01|editor-last=Wiredu|editor-first=Kwasi|title=A Companion to African Philosophy|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/9780470997154|language=en|doi=10.1002/9780470997154|isbn=9780470997154}}</ref> One particular subject that several modern Africana philosophers have written about is that on the subject of freedom and what it means to be free or to experience wholeness.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Mucale|first=Ergimino Pedro|date=Fall 2015|title=The Libertarian Paradigm in Ngoenha: A Contribution to the African Philosophy|journal=Philosophia Africana|volume= 17|pages=45–54|doi=10.5840/philafricana20151715}}</ref> Philosophy in Africa has a rich and varied history, some of which has been lost over time.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Holton|first1=Robert|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BIRZCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA124 |title=World Civilizations And History Of Human Development|last2=Nasson|first2=William Richard|date=2009-09-29|publisher=EOLSS Publications|isbn=978-1-84826-213-3|language=en}}</ref> In the early and mid-twentieth century, anti-colonial movements had a tremendous effect on the development of a distinct modern African ] that had resonance on both the continent and in the African diaspora. One well-known example of the economic philosophical works emerging from this period was the ] philosophy of ] propounded in Tanzania and other parts of ]. These African political and economic philosophical developments also had a notable impact on the anti-colonial movements of many non-African peoples around the world. | |||
==Definition== | |||
'''Africana philosophy''' is the work of philosophers of African descent and others whose work deals with the subject matter of the ]. The name does not refer to a particular philosophy, philosophical system, method, or tradition. Rather, Africana philosophy is a third-order, metaphilosophical, umbrella-concept used to bring organizing oversight to various efforts of philosophizing.<ref name="Outlaw">{{cite web |last=Outlaw Jr.|first=Lucius T.|title=Africana Philosophy|date=2017|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2017/entries/africana/|work=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|editor-last=Zalta|editor-first=Edward N.|edition=Summer 2017|publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University|access-date=2021-03-21}}</ref> | |||
There is some debate in defining the ] parameters of Africana philosophy and identifying what differentiates it from other philosophical traditions. One of the implicit assumptions of ] is that a specific culture can have a philosophy that is not applicable and accessible to all peoples and cultures in the world. In ''A Discourse on African Philosophy: A New Perspective on Ubuntu and Transitional Justice in South Africa'', Christian B. N. Gade argues that the ethnophilosophical approach to Africana philosophy as a static group property is highly problematic. His research on ubuntu presents an alternative collective discourse on Africana philosophy that takes differences, historical developments, and social contexts seriously. According to ] and Jonathon O. Chimakonam in their article “African Philosophy: Past, Present, and Future”, historical context plays an important role in Africana philosophy. History provides the framework in which we can inspect philosophical problems. In terms of Africana philosophy, one must look at the whole picture through the lens of African history. “There are no facts without history."<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Etieyibo|first1=Edwin|last2=Chimakonam|first2=Jonathan|date=Fall 2015|title=African Philosophy: Past, Present, and Future|journal=Philosophia Africana}}</ref> | |||
Nigerian philosopher Joseph I. Omoregbe broadly defines a philosopher as one who attempts to understand the world's phenomena, the purpose of human existence, the nature of the world, and the place of human beings in that world. This form of ] is identifiable in Africa even before individual African philosophers can be distinguished in the sources.<ref>Maurice Muhatia Makumba, (2007), p. 25.</ref> Like ], African philosophy contemplates the perceptions of time, personhood, space and other subjects. | |||
==Overview== | |||
Africana philosophy includes the philosophical ideas, arguments and theories of particular concern to people of African descent. Some of the topics explored by Africana philosophy include pre-Socratic ] and modern-day debates discussing the early history of ], post-colonial writing in Africa and the Americas, black resistance to oppression, ] in the United States, and the meaning of "blackness" in the modern world.<ref name="Outlaw" /> | |||
Africana philosophy can be formally defined as a critical thinking by Africans and people of African descent on their experiences of reality. Nigerian born Philosopher ] defined African philosophy as "that which concerns itself with the way in which African people of the past and present make sense of their destiny and of the world in which they live.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Peters|first1=R.S.|title=Authority, Responsibility and Education|date=1959|publisher=G. Allen & Unwin|location=London}}</ref> Africana philosophy includes the philosophical ideas, arguments and theories of particular concern to people of African descent. Some of the topics explored by Africana philosophy include: modern day debates discussing the early history of ], post-colonial writing in Africa and the Americas, black resistance to oppression, ] in the United States, the meaning of "blackness" in the modern world, <ref name="Gyekye2010" /> and many topics relating to the ].<ref>{{Citation|last=Outlaw Jr.|first=Lucius T.|title=Africana Philosophy|date=2017|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2017/entries/africana/|encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|editor-last=Zalta|editor-first=Edward N.|edition=Summer 2017|publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University|access-date=2019-12-17}}</ref> | |||
Lucius Outlaw writes: | |||
Lucius Outlaw<ref name="Outlaw">{{cite web |last=Outlaw Jr.|first=Lucius T.|title=Africana Philosophy|date=2017|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2017/entries/africana/|work=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|editor-last=Zalta|editor-first=Edward N.|edition=Summer 2017|publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University|access-date=2021-03-21}}</ref> writes: | |||
{{quote|"Africana philosophy" is very much a ] notion—that is, one that suggests orientations for philosophical endeavors by professional philosophers and other intellectuals devoted to matters pertinent to African and African-descended persons and peoples.<ref name="Outlaw" />}} | {{quote|"Africana philosophy" is very much a ] notion—that is, one that suggests orientations for philosophical endeavors by professional philosophers and other intellectuals devoted to matters pertinent to African and African-descended persons and peoples.<ref name="Outlaw" />}} | ||
According to some, two conflicting components are deemed integral to a work for it to be considered African philosophy. First, the piece must have a racial focus. This facet is valued by Traditionalist groups, who posit that Africana philosophy should be an expression of the world experienced by African individuals. Africana philosophy must be produced by African authors. In contrast, Universalist groups suggest that African philosophy should be analyses and critical engagement of and between individual African thinkers. A work is Africana philosophy based on a focal point of tradition. African philosophy must pull from African cultural backgrounds or thought processes, but it should be independent from racial considerations and use "African" only as a term of solidarity.<ref>{{Cite book|title=An Essay in African Philosophical Thought: The Akan Conceptual Scheme|last=Gyeke|first=Kwame|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1987|location=Cambridge}}</ref> | |||
Professional philosophers in the areas of ], ], ], ], ], ], and ] are currently exploring Africana philosophy. The ] has 10,000 members in North America. It is estimated that only 100 of its members in North America are of African descent.<ref name="true">{{Cite news| author=Robin Wilson | title= Black Women Seek Role in Philosophy | url=http://chronicle.com/free/v54/i05/05b00401.htm | work= The Chronicle of Higher Education | year=2007 | accessdate=2008-09-01}}</ref> | |||
] writes: | ] writes: | ||
{{quote|Africana philosophy is a species of Africana thought, which involves the theoretical questions raised by critical engagements with ideas in Africana cultures and their hybrid, mixed, or creolized forms worldwide. Since there was no reason for the people of the ] to have considered themselves African until that identity was imposed upon them through conquest and ] in the modern era... this area of thought also refers to the unique set of questions raised by the emergence of "Africans" and their diaspora here designated by the term "Africana"... Africana philosophy refers to the philosophical dimensions of this area of thought.<ref name="Gordon">{{cite web |last1=Gordon |first1=Lewis R. |title=Introduction: Africana philosophy in context |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/an-introduction-to-africana-philosophy/introduction-africana-philosophy-in-context/DE522F1ED9CAA5606F7C40E821C39936 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511800726.002}}</ref>}} | {{quote|Africana philosophy is a species of Africana thought, which involves the theoretical questions raised by critical engagements with ideas in Africana cultures and their hybrid, mixed, or creolized forms worldwide. Since there was no reason for the people of the ] to have considered themselves African until that identity was imposed upon them through conquest and ] in the modern era... this area of thought also refers to the unique set of questions raised by the emergence of "Africans" and their diaspora here designated by the term "Africana"... Africana philosophy refers to the philosophical dimensions of this area of thought.<ref name="Gordon">{{cite web |last1=Gordon |first1=Lewis R. |title=Introduction: Africana philosophy in context |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/an-introduction-to-africana-philosophy/introduction-africana-philosophy-in-context/DE522F1ED9CAA5606F7C40E821C39936 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511800726.002}}</ref>}} | ||
== |
== Methods == | ||
=== Communitarian method === | |||
Branches include: ], ], ], ], and ].{{cn|date=August 2016}} | |||
The communitarian method of Africana philosophy emphasizes mutualism in thought. It is most commonly used by researchers following ubuntu. The common expression of ubuntu is that "a person is a person through a person." Leonhard Praeg, Mogobe Ramose, and Fainos Mangera implement the communitarian method.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=On Defining African Philosophy|last=Wiredu|first=Kwasi|publisher=APP Publications|year=1989}}</ref> | |||
=== Complementary method === | |||
The complementary method focuses on the prospect of a missing link. All variables are important in consideration of histories and identities, and no variable should be overlooked or under-considered. Additionally, all variables affect one another, so the relationship between them and their affects on other variables should be scrutinized. Mesembe Edet implements the complementary method.<ref name=":0" /> | |||
=== Conversational method === | |||
The conversational method creates thought by assessing a relationship between oppositional works. The defender or proponent is named "nwa-swa," and the nwa swa is questioned and doubted by a disagreeing party, known as "nwa nju." The conversational method emphasizes the interconnectedness of networks within reality; the more accurate a thought should be, the more specific a location should be. This method is endorsed by the Conventional School of Psychology, and it is used by Victor Nweke and Msembe Edet.<ref name=":0" /> | |||
==History== | |||
===Pre-modern=== | |||
There is a rich, and written, history of ancient African philosophy - for example from Ethiopia, and Mali (Timbuktutu, Djenne).<ref name="A Companion to African Philosophy"/><ref>{{Cite web|title=African Philosophy: An Anthology |url=https://www.wiley.com/en-us/African+Philosophy%3A+An+Anthology-p-9780631203384|access-date=2021-06-04|website=Wiley.com|language=en-us}}</ref> When it comes to the modern era and the 20th century, a new beginning is linked to the 1920s, when African individuals who had studied in the United States and Europe ("Western" locations) returned to Africa and reflected on the racial discrimination experienced abroad. Their arrival back in Africa instigated a feeling of ''onuma'', which is an interpretation of "frustration." The onuma was felt in response to legacies of colonialism on a global scale. The renaissance of African philosophy in the 20th century is important because onuma inspired some who had traveled and returned to formulate a "systematic beginning" of philosophizing the African identity, the space of African people in history, and African contribution to humanity.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.iep.utm.edu/afric-hi/#H3|title=History of African Philosophy|last=Chimakonam|first=Jonathan|website=Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy}}</ref> | |||
====West Africa==== | |||
The most prominent of ]'s pre-modern philosophical traditions has been identified as that of the ] philosophical tradition and the distinctive worldview that emerged from it over the thousands of years of its development. Philosophical concepts such as ], ] and ] were integral to this system, and the totality of its elements are contained in what is known amongst the Yoruba as the ]. The cosmologies and philosophies of the ], ], ] and ] were also significant. | |||
In pre-colonial ] (modern ] and ]), the 17th-century philosopher ] (b. 1586) stood out as one of the renowned philosophers in ]. His proverbs are still recited by Senegalese and Gambians alike, including in Senegambian popular culture - for example in ]'s films such as '']''<ref>Ware, Rudolph T., ''The Walking Qurʼan: Islamic Education, Embodied Knowledge, and History in West Africa,'' UNC Press Books (2014), p. 101, {{ISBN|9781469614311}} </ref><ref>Murphy, David, ''Sembene: Imagining Alternatives in Film & Fiction.'' James Currey Publishers (200), p. 63, {{ISBN|978-0-85255-555-2}}</ref> Other notable philosophical thinkers include the Gambian historian ], and the ]an ethnologist ]. | |||
One of the foremost scholars of Timbuktu was ] (1556–1627), who argued against what he called "racial slavery".<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hunwick|first=J. O.|date=October 1964|title=A New Source For the Biography of Aḥmad Bābā Al-Tinbuktī (1556–1627)|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/bulletin-of-the-school-of-oriental-and-african-studies/article/abs/new-source-for-the-biography-of-ahmad-baba-altinbukti-15561627/7FF54A15CFD28E57CA481121D3C5FFB7|journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies|language=en|volume=27|issue=3|pages=568–593|doi=10.1017/S0041977X00118385|issn=1474-0699}}</ref> One of the leading women philosophers and writers of the ], in present-day Nigeria, was the princess ] (1793-1864).<ref>{{Cite web|title=Before the canon: the non-European women who founded philosophy – Dag Herbjørnsrud {{!}} Aeon Essays|url=https://aeon.co/essays/before-the-canon-the-non-european-women-who-founded-philosophy|access-date=2021-06-04|website=Aeon|language=en}}</ref> | |||
====Horn of Africa==== | |||
In the ], there are a number of sources documenting the development of a distinct ] from the first millennium onwards. Among the most notable examples from this tradition emerge from the work of the 17th-century philosopher ], and that of his disciple ].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://aeon.co/essays/yacob-and-amo-africas-precursors-to-locke-hume-and-kant|title=Yacob and Amo: Africa's precursors to Locke, Hume and Kant – Dag Herbjørnsrud {{!}} Aeon Essays|website=Aeon|language=en|access-date=2019-06-20}}</ref> Yacob in his writings discusses religion, morality, and existence.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Herbjørnsrud|first=Dag|date=2019-05-10|title=Beyond decolonizing: global intellectual history and reconstruction of a comparative method|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/23801883.2019.1616310|journal=Global Intellectual History|volume=6|issue=5|pages=614–640|doi=10.1080/23801883.2019.1616310|s2cid=166543159|issn=2380-1883}}</ref> He comes to the belief that every person will believe their faith to be the right one and that all men are created equal.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Ethiopian Philosophy|last=Sumner|first=Claude|year=1994}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Menn|first1=Stephen|url=https://global.oup.com/academic/product/anton-wilhelm-amos-philosophical-dissertations-on-mind-and-body-9780197501627?cc=no&lang=en&|title=Anton Wilhelm Amo's Philosophical Dissertations on Mind and Body|last2=Smith|first2=Justin E. H.|date=2020-09-05|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-750162-7|location=Oxford, New York}}</ref> | |||
====Southern Africa==== | |||
In ] and ] the development of a distinctive ] addressing the nature of existence, the cosmos and humankind's relation to the world following the ] has had the most significant impact on the philosophical developments of the said regions, with the development of the philosophy of ] as one notable example emerging from this worldview. | |||
====Central Africa==== | |||
Many ]n philosophical traditions before the ] into southern ] have been identified as a uniting characteristic of many ] and ] peoples, ultimately giving rise to the distinctive worldviews identified in the conceptions of time, the creation of the world, human nature, and the proper relationship between mankind and nature prevalent in ], ] and similar traditions. | |||
====African Diaspora==== | |||
Some pre-Modern ]ic philosophical traditions have also been identified, mostly produced by descendants of Africans in Europe and the Americas. One notable pre-modern diasporic African philosopher was ], who was taken as a slave from Awukenu in what is now ], and was brought up and educated in Europe where he gained doctorates in medicine and philosophy, and subsequently became a professor of philosophy at the universities of ] and ] in Germany. | |||
===Modern=== | |||
]n philosopher ] has distinguished what he calls four trends in modern African philosophy: ethnophilosophy, philosophical sagacity, nationalistic–ideological philosophy, and professional philosophy.<ref name="Samuel Oluoch Imbo, An Introduction to African Philosophy (1998)">Samuel Oluoch Imbo, (1998), pp. 38-39,</ref> In fact it would be more realistic to call them candidates for the position of African philosophy, with the understanding that more than one of them might fit the bill. (Oruka later added two additional categories: literary/artistic philosophy, such as the work of literary figures such as ], ], ], ], and ], and hermeneutic philosophy, the analysis of African languages in order to find philosophical content.) In the African diaspora, American philosopher ] has also been notable in presenting varied definitions for understanding modern African philosophy, especially as it relates to its earliest sources. | |||
] | |||
One notable contributor to professional philosophy is ]. He interacts with a multitude of modern subjects, including thoughts on statehood, death, capital, racism, and colonialism. His invokes attention to moral and political arguments through a tone of morality in his works. Many recent pieces from Mbembe, including ''Critique of Black Reason'', suggest that understanding Europe as a force not at the center of the universe is a point from which philosophy and society should view the world. Mbembe asserts that he positions himself in multiple worlds of existence at one time. This method creates an empathetic point from which the world can be viewed.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://globalsocialtheory.org/thinkers/mbembe-achille/|title=MBEMBE, Achille|last=says|first=Shaka Yesufu|website=GLOBAL SOCIAL THEORY|language=en|access-date=2019-12-17}}</ref> | |||
===Ethnophilosophy and philosophical sagacity=== | |||
Henry Odera Oruka of Kenya came up with Sage Philosophy and philosophic sagacity is attributed to him. Ethnophilosophy has been used to record the beliefs found in African cultures. Such an approach treats African philosophy as consisting in a set of shared beliefs, values, categories, and assumptions that are implicit in the language, practices, and beliefs of African cultures; in short, the uniquely African ]. As such, it is seen as an item of communal property rather than an activity for the individual. | |||
One proponent of this form, ], argued in '']'' that the metaphysical categories of the ] people are reflected in their linguistic categories. According to this view, African philosophy can be best understood as springing from the fundamental assumptions about reality reflected in the languages of Africa. | |||
Another example of this sort of approach is the work of Ebiegberi Joe Alagoa of the ] in ], who argues for the existence of an African ] stemming from traditional proverbs from the ] in his paper "An African Philosophy of History in the Oral Tradition." Alagoa argues that in African philosophy, age is seen as an important factor in gaining wisdom and interpreting the past. In support of this view, he cites proverbs such as "More days, more wisdom", and "What an old man sees seated, a youth does not see standing." Truth is seen as eternal and unchanging ("Truth never rots"), but people are subject to error ("Even a four-legged horse stumbles and falls"). It is dangerous to judge by appearances ("A large eye does not mean keen vision"), but first-hand observation can be trusted ("He who sees does not err"). The past is not seen as fundamentally different from the present, but all history is contemporary history ("A storyteller does not tell of a different season"). The future remains beyond knowledge ("Even a bird with a long neck cannot see the future"). Nevertheless, it is said, "God will outlive eternity." History is seen as vitally important ("One ignorant of his origin is nonhuman"), and historians (known as "sons of the soil") are highly revered ("The son of the soil has the python's keen eyes"). However, these arguments must be taken with a grain of cultural relativism, as the span of culture in Africa is incredibly vast, with patriarchies, matriarchies, monotheists and traditional religionists among the population, and as such the attitudes of groups of the Niger Delta cannot be applied to the whole of Africa. | |||
Another more controversial application of this approach is embodied in the concept of ]. ], a proponent of Negritude, argued that the distinctly African approach to reality is based on emotion rather than logic, works itself out in participation rather than analysis, and manifests itself through the arts rather than the sciences. ] and Mubabinge Bilolo, on the other hand, while agreeing that African culture is unique, challenged the view of Africans as essentially emotional and artistic, arguing that Egypt was an African culture whose achievements in ], ], ], and ] were pre-eminent. This philosophy may also be maligned as overly ] due to the obvious scientific and scholarly triumphs of not only ancient Egypt, but also Nubia, Meroe, as well as the great library of Timbuktu, the extensive trade networks and kingdoms of North Africa, West Africa, Central Africa, the Horn of Africa and Great Zimbabwe and the other major empires of Southern, Southeast and Central Africa. | |||
Critics of this approach argue that the actual philosophical work in producing a coherent philosophical position is being done by the academic philosopher (such as Alagoa), and that the sayings of the same culture can be selected from and organised in many different ways in order to produce very different, often contradictory systems of thought. | |||
Philosophical sagacity is a sort of individualist version of ethnophilosophy, in which one records the beliefs of certain special members of a community. The premise here is that, although most societies demand some degree of conformity of belief and behaviour from their members, a certain few of those members reach a particularly high level of knowledge and understanding of their cultures' worldviews; such people are sages. In some cases, the sage goes beyond mere knowledge and understanding to reflection and questioning—these become the targets of philosophical sagacity. | |||
Critics of this approach note that not all reflection and questioning is philosophical; besides, if African philosophy were to be defined purely in terms of philosophic sagacity, then the thoughts of the sages could not be African philosophy, for they did not record them from other sages. Also, on this view the only difference between non-African ] or ] and African philosophy seems to be the nationality of the researcher. | |||
Critics argue further that the problem with both ethnophilosophy and philosophical sagacity is that there is surely an important distinction between philosophy and the ], although other philosophers consider the two topics to be remarkably similar.<ref>, p. 172, ''One Hundred Philosophers'', Peter J. King, Zebra, 2006</ref> The argument is that no matter how interesting the beliefs of a people such as the ] or the ] may be to the philosopher, they remain beliefs, not philosophy. To call them philosophy is to use a secondary sense of that term, such as in "my philosophy is live and let live. | |||
===Professional philosophy=== | |||
Professional philosophy is usually identified as that produced by African philosophers trained in the Western philosophical tradition, that embraces a universal view of the methods and concerns of philosophy.<ref name="Samuel Oluoch Imbo, An Introduction to African Philosophy (1998)"/> Those philosophers identified in this category often explicitly reject the assumptions of ethnophilosophy and adopt a universalist worldview of philosophy that requires all philosophy to be accessible and applicable to all peoples and cultures in the world<ref name="Samuel Oluoch Imbo, An Introduction to African Philosophy (1998)"/> This is even if the specific philosophical questions prioritized by individual national or regional philosophies may differ.<ref name="Samuel Oluoch Imbo, An Introduction to African Philosophy (1998)"/> Some African philosophers classified in this category are Odera Oruka,Paulin Hountondji, Peter Bodunrin, Kwasi Wiredu, Tsenay Serequeberhan, Marcien Towa and Lansana Keita.<ref name="Samuel Oluoch Imbo, An Introduction to African Philosophy (1998)"/> | |||
===Nationalist and ideological philosophy=== | |||
{{see|African nationalism}} | |||
Nationalist and ideological philosophy might be considered a special case of philosophic sagacity, in which not sages but ideologues are the subjects. Alternatively, it has been considered as a subcategory of professional political philosophy. In either case, the same sort of problem arises with retaining a distinction between ideology and philosophy, and also between sets of ideas and a special way of reasoning. Examples include ], ], ] and ]<!--intentional link to DAB page-->. | |||
===African ethics=== | |||
Although Africa is extremely diverse, there appear to be some shared moral ideas across many ethnic groups.<ref name=Gyekye2010 /> In a number of African cultures, ethics is centered on a person's character, and saying "he has no morals" translates as something like "he has no character".<ref name=Gyekye2010 /> A person's character reflects the accumulation of their deeds and their habits of conduct; hence, it can be changed over a person's life.<ref name=Gyekye2010 /> In some African cultures, "personhood" refers to an adult human who exhibits moral virtues, and one who behaves badly is not considered a person, even if he is considered a human.<ref name=Gyekye2010>{{cite journal|last1=Gyekye|first1=Kwame|title=African Ethics|journal=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|date=9 Sep 2010|volume=Fall 2011 Edition|url=http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/african-ethics/|access-date=7 October 2014}}</ref> | |||
While many traditional African societies are highly religious, ] are not revealed, and hence, ethics does not center around divine commands.<ref name=Gyekye2010 /> Instead, ethics is ] and ]: it focuses on improving social functioning and human flourishing.<ref name=Gyekye2010 /> On the other hand, social welfare is not a mere aggregate of individual welfare; rather, there is a collective "social good" embodying values that everyone wants, like peace and stability.<ref name=Gyekye2010 /> In general, African ethics is social or collectivistic rather than individualistic and united in ideology.<ref name=Gyekye2010 /> Cooperation and altruism are considered crucial.<ref name=Gyekye2010 /> African ethics places more weight on duties of prosocial behaviour than on rights per se, in contrast to most of Western ethics.<ref name=Gyekye2010 /> | |||
==List of |
==List of African philosophers== | ||
This is a list of notable philosophers who theorize in the African tradition. | |||
{{unreferenced section|date=August 2016}} | |||
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==List of scholarly and academic journals== | ==List of scholarly and academic journals== | ||
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== |
==See also== | ||
* ] | |||
{{Reflist}} | |||
==Notes and references== | |||
{{reflist}} | |||
==Further reading== | ==Further reading== | ||
* Amo, Antin Wilhelm Amo: '''' (Edited and translated by Stephen Menn and ]) (2000: Oxford University Press) | |||
*K.C. Anyanwu (and E.A. Ruch), ''African Philosophy: An Introduction'', Catholic Book Agency 1981 | |||
* Mubabinge Bilolo, ''Contribution à l'histoire de la reconnaissance de Philosophie en Afrique Noire Traditionnelle'', (1978: Kinshasa, Facultés Catholiques de Kinshasa, Licence en Philosophie et Religions Africaines) | |||
* Mubabinge Bilolo, ''Les cosmo-théologies philosophiques de l'Égypte Antique. Problématiques, Prémisses herméneutiques et problèmes majeurs''. Academy of African Thought, Sect. I, vol. 1, (1986: Kinshasa-Munich-Libreville, African University Studies) | |||
* Peter O. Bodunrin, ''Philosophy in Africa: Trends and Perspectives'' (1985: University of Ife Press) | |||
* Babajide Dasaolu/Demilade Oyelakun ,'''' in: – 10/2015. | |||
*Emmanuel Chukwudi Eze (Ed.): '''' (1998: Blackwell Publishers) | |||
* Christian B. N. Gade, (2017: Lexington Books) | |||
* ], . ], December 2017. | |||
* Dag Herbjørnsrud, Blog of the American Philosophical Association, December 2018. | |||
* Paulin J. Hountondji, ''African Philosophy: Myth and Reality'' (1983: Bloomington, Indiana University Press) | |||
* Samuel Oluoch Imbo, ''An Introduction to African Philosophy'' (1998: Rowman & Littlefield) {{ISBN|0-8476-8841-0}} | |||
* ], ''Muntu: African culture and the Western world'' (1990: Grove Weidenfeld) {{ISBN|0802132081}} | |||
* Bruce B. Janz, (PDF) | |||
* ], ''La philosophie bantu-rwandaise de l'être'' (1966 Johnson Reprint) | |||
* Gyekye Kwame, ''An Essay of African Philosophical Thought: The Akan Conceptual Scheme'' (1995: Temple University Press) {{ISBN|1-56639-380-9}} | |||
* Safro Kwame, ''Reading in African Philosophy: An Akan Collection'' (1995: University Press of America) {{ISBN|0-8191-9911-7}} | |||
* T. Uzodinma Nwala, ''Igbo Philosophy'', {{ISBN|978-245-453-2}} | |||
* Joseph I. Omoregbe, ''African philosophy: yesterday and today'' (in Bodunrin; references to reprint in <nowiki></nowiki> ''African Philosophy: An Anthology'' (1998: Oxford, Blackwell)) | |||
* H. Odera Oruka (ed.), ''Sage Philosophy'' (1990: E.J. Brill) {{ISBN|90-04-09283-8}}, ISSN 0922-6001 | |||
* Tsenay Serequeberhan (ed.), ''African Philosophy: The Essential Readings'' (1991: Paragon House) {{ISBN|1-55778-309-8}} | |||
* ], ''La philosophie bantoue'' (''Bantu Philosophy''), Elisabethville, 1945, Full text in French . | |||
* ], ''Philosophy and an African'' (1980: Cambridge University Press) | |||
* Kwasi Wiredu (ed.), ''A Companion to African Philosophy'' (2004: Blackwell) | |||
* Kwasi Wiredu | |||
* Olabiyi Babalola Yai, (Guest Editor), | |||
* by Lewis Gordon | * by Lewis Gordon | ||
* by Leonard Harris | * by Leonard Harris | ||
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* ''Philosophies Africaines'', ] ed., ] journal , 2002. | * ''Philosophies Africaines'', ] ed., ] journal , 2002. | ||
*Outlaw, Jr., L., “Africana Philosophy: Origins and Prospects,” in ] (ed.), ''A Companion to African Philosophy'', Malden, MA: ], pp. 90–98. | *Outlaw, Jr., L., “Africana Philosophy: Origins and Prospects,” in ] (ed.), ''A Companion to African Philosophy'', Malden, MA: ], pp. 90–98. | ||
==External links== | ==External links== | ||
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* in ]. | * in ]. | ||
* | * | ||
* Jonathan O. Chimakonam, in the ] | |||
* Gail M. Presbey, in the ] | |||
* {{Sep entry|africana|Africana Philosophy|Lucius T. Outlaw Jr.}} | |||
* | |||
* — ] | |||
* of the ] podcast | |||
{{Africa topics}} | |||
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Revision as of 05:25, 27 December 2021
Philosophical movement "African Philosophy" redirects here. For the journal that formerly had this name, see Philosophia Africana.Africana philosophy sometimes called African philosophy, covers the philosophy made by African descendants, including African Americans. Africana philosophers are found in the various academic fields of present philosophy, such as metaphysics, epistemology, moral philosophy, and political philosophy. One particular subject that several modern Africana philosophers have written about is that on the subject of freedom and what it means to be free or to experience wholeness. Philosophy in Africa has a rich and varied history, some of which has been lost over time. In the early and mid-twentieth century, anti-colonial movements had a tremendous effect on the development of a distinct modern African political philosophy that had resonance on both the continent and in the African diaspora. One well-known example of the economic philosophical works emerging from this period was the African socialist philosophy of Ujamaa propounded in Tanzania and other parts of Southeast Africa. These African political and economic philosophical developments also had a notable impact on the anti-colonial movements of many non-African peoples around the world.
Definition
There is some debate in defining the ethnophilosophical parameters of Africana philosophy and identifying what differentiates it from other philosophical traditions. One of the implicit assumptions of ethnophilosophy is that a specific culture can have a philosophy that is not applicable and accessible to all peoples and cultures in the world. In A Discourse on African Philosophy: A New Perspective on Ubuntu and Transitional Justice in South Africa, Christian B. N. Gade argues that the ethnophilosophical approach to Africana philosophy as a static group property is highly problematic. His research on ubuntu presents an alternative collective discourse on Africana philosophy that takes differences, historical developments, and social contexts seriously. According to Edwin Etieyibo and Jonathon O. Chimakonam in their article “African Philosophy: Past, Present, and Future”, historical context plays an important role in Africana philosophy. History provides the framework in which we can inspect philosophical problems. In terms of Africana philosophy, one must look at the whole picture through the lens of African history. “There are no facts without history."
Nigerian philosopher Joseph I. Omoregbe broadly defines a philosopher as one who attempts to understand the world's phenomena, the purpose of human existence, the nature of the world, and the place of human beings in that world. This form of natural philosophy is identifiable in Africa even before individual African philosophers can be distinguished in the sources. Like Western philosophy, African philosophy contemplates the perceptions of time, personhood, space and other subjects.
Africana philosophy can be formally defined as a critical thinking by Africans and people of African descent on their experiences of reality. Nigerian born Philosopher K.C. Anyanwu defined African philosophy as "that which concerns itself with the way in which African people of the past and present make sense of their destiny and of the world in which they live. Africana philosophy includes the philosophical ideas, arguments and theories of particular concern to people of African descent. Some of the topics explored by Africana philosophy include: modern day debates discussing the early history of Western philosophy, post-colonial writing in Africa and the Americas, black resistance to oppression, black existentialism in the United States, the meaning of "blackness" in the modern world, and many topics relating to the African diaspora.
Lucius Outlaw writes:
"Africana philosophy" is very much a heuristic notion—that is, one that suggests orientations for philosophical endeavors by professional philosophers and other intellectuals devoted to matters pertinent to African and African-descended persons and peoples.
According to some, two conflicting components are deemed integral to a work for it to be considered African philosophy. First, the piece must have a racial focus. This facet is valued by Traditionalist groups, who posit that Africana philosophy should be an expression of the world experienced by African individuals. Africana philosophy must be produced by African authors. In contrast, Universalist groups suggest that African philosophy should be analyses and critical engagement of and between individual African thinkers. A work is Africana philosophy based on a focal point of tradition. African philosophy must pull from African cultural backgrounds or thought processes, but it should be independent from racial considerations and use "African" only as a term of solidarity.
Lewis Gordon writes:
Africana philosophy is a species of Africana thought, which involves the theoretical questions raised by critical engagements with ideas in Africana cultures and their hybrid, mixed, or creolized forms worldwide. Since there was no reason for the people of the African continent to have considered themselves African until that identity was imposed upon them through conquest and colonization in the modern era... this area of thought also refers to the unique set of questions raised by the emergence of "Africans" and their diaspora here designated by the term "Africana"... Africana philosophy refers to the philosophical dimensions of this area of thought.
Methods
Communitarian method
The communitarian method of Africana philosophy emphasizes mutualism in thought. It is most commonly used by researchers following ubuntu. The common expression of ubuntu is that "a person is a person through a person." Leonhard Praeg, Mogobe Ramose, and Fainos Mangera implement the communitarian method.
Complementary method
The complementary method focuses on the prospect of a missing link. All variables are important in consideration of histories and identities, and no variable should be overlooked or under-considered. Additionally, all variables affect one another, so the relationship between them and their affects on other variables should be scrutinized. Mesembe Edet implements the complementary method.
Conversational method
The conversational method creates thought by assessing a relationship between oppositional works. The defender or proponent is named "nwa-swa," and the nwa swa is questioned and doubted by a disagreeing party, known as "nwa nju." The conversational method emphasizes the interconnectedness of networks within reality; the more accurate a thought should be, the more specific a location should be. This method is endorsed by the Conventional School of Psychology, and it is used by Victor Nweke and Msembe Edet.
History
Pre-modern
There is a rich, and written, history of ancient African philosophy - for example from Ethiopia, and Mali (Timbuktutu, Djenne). When it comes to the modern era and the 20th century, a new beginning is linked to the 1920s, when African individuals who had studied in the United States and Europe ("Western" locations) returned to Africa and reflected on the racial discrimination experienced abroad. Their arrival back in Africa instigated a feeling of onuma, which is an interpretation of "frustration." The onuma was felt in response to legacies of colonialism on a global scale. The renaissance of African philosophy in the 20th century is important because onuma inspired some who had traveled and returned to formulate a "systematic beginning" of philosophizing the African identity, the space of African people in history, and African contribution to humanity.
West Africa
The most prominent of West Africa's pre-modern philosophical traditions has been identified as that of the Yoruba philosophical tradition and the distinctive worldview that emerged from it over the thousands of years of its development. Philosophical concepts such as Omoluabi, Ashè and Emi Omo Eso were integral to this system, and the totality of its elements are contained in what is known amongst the Yoruba as the Itan. The cosmologies and philosophies of the Akan, Dogon, Serer and Dahomey were also significant.
In pre-colonial Senegambia (modern Gambia and Senegal), the 17th-century philosopher Kocc Barma Fall (b. 1586) stood out as one of the renowned philosophers in Senegambian history. His proverbs are still recited by Senegalese and Gambians alike, including in Senegambian popular culture - for example in Ousmane Sembene's films such as Guelwaar Other notable philosophical thinkers include the Gambian historian Alieu Ebrima Cham Joof, and the Malian ethnologist Amadou Hampâté Bâ.
One of the foremost scholars of Timbuktu was Ahmed Baba (1556–1627), who argued against what he called "racial slavery". One of the leading women philosophers and writers of the Sokoto Caliphate, in present-day Nigeria, was the princess Nana Asma'u (1793-1864).
Horn of Africa
In the Horn of Africa, there are a number of sources documenting the development of a distinct Ethiopian philosophy from the first millennium onwards. Among the most notable examples from this tradition emerge from the work of the 17th-century philosopher Zera Yacob, and that of his disciple Walda Heywat. Yacob in his writings discusses religion, morality, and existence. He comes to the belief that every person will believe their faith to be the right one and that all men are created equal.
Southern Africa
In Southern Africa and Southeast Africa the development of a distinctive Bantu philosophy addressing the nature of existence, the cosmos and humankind's relation to the world following the Bantu migration has had the most significant impact on the philosophical developments of the said regions, with the development of the philosophy of Ubuntu as one notable example emerging from this worldview.
Central Africa
Many Central African philosophical traditions before the Bantu migration into southern Central Africa have been identified as a uniting characteristic of many Nilotic and Sudanic peoples, ultimately giving rise to the distinctive worldviews identified in the conceptions of time, the creation of the world, human nature, and the proper relationship between mankind and nature prevalent in Dinka mythology, Maasai mythology and similar traditions.
African Diaspora
Some pre-Modern African diasporic philosophical traditions have also been identified, mostly produced by descendants of Africans in Europe and the Americas. One notable pre-modern diasporic African philosopher was Anthony William Amo, who was taken as a slave from Awukenu in what is now Ghana, and was brought up and educated in Europe where he gained doctorates in medicine and philosophy, and subsequently became a professor of philosophy at the universities of Halle and Jena in Germany.
Modern
Kenyan philosopher Henry Odera Oruka has distinguished what he calls four trends in modern African philosophy: ethnophilosophy, philosophical sagacity, nationalistic–ideological philosophy, and professional philosophy. In fact it would be more realistic to call them candidates for the position of African philosophy, with the understanding that more than one of them might fit the bill. (Oruka later added two additional categories: literary/artistic philosophy, such as the work of literary figures such as Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, Okot p'Bitek, and Taban Lo Liyong, and hermeneutic philosophy, the analysis of African languages in order to find philosophical content.) In the African diaspora, American philosopher Maulana Karenga has also been notable in presenting varied definitions for understanding modern African philosophy, especially as it relates to its earliest sources.
One notable contributor to professional philosophy is Achille Mbembe. He interacts with a multitude of modern subjects, including thoughts on statehood, death, capital, racism, and colonialism. His invokes attention to moral and political arguments through a tone of morality in his works. Many recent pieces from Mbembe, including Critique of Black Reason, suggest that understanding Europe as a force not at the center of the universe is a point from which philosophy and society should view the world. Mbembe asserts that he positions himself in multiple worlds of existence at one time. This method creates an empathetic point from which the world can be viewed.
Ethnophilosophy and philosophical sagacity
Henry Odera Oruka of Kenya came up with Sage Philosophy and philosophic sagacity is attributed to him. Ethnophilosophy has been used to record the beliefs found in African cultures. Such an approach treats African philosophy as consisting in a set of shared beliefs, values, categories, and assumptions that are implicit in the language, practices, and beliefs of African cultures; in short, the uniquely African worldview. As such, it is seen as an item of communal property rather than an activity for the individual.
One proponent of this form, Placide Tempels, argued in Bantu Philosophy that the metaphysical categories of the Bantu people are reflected in their linguistic categories. According to this view, African philosophy can be best understood as springing from the fundamental assumptions about reality reflected in the languages of Africa.
Another example of this sort of approach is the work of Ebiegberi Joe Alagoa of the University of Port Harcourt in Nigeria, who argues for the existence of an African philosophy of history stemming from traditional proverbs from the Niger Delta in his paper "An African Philosophy of History in the Oral Tradition." Alagoa argues that in African philosophy, age is seen as an important factor in gaining wisdom and interpreting the past. In support of this view, he cites proverbs such as "More days, more wisdom", and "What an old man sees seated, a youth does not see standing." Truth is seen as eternal and unchanging ("Truth never rots"), but people are subject to error ("Even a four-legged horse stumbles and falls"). It is dangerous to judge by appearances ("A large eye does not mean keen vision"), but first-hand observation can be trusted ("He who sees does not err"). The past is not seen as fundamentally different from the present, but all history is contemporary history ("A storyteller does not tell of a different season"). The future remains beyond knowledge ("Even a bird with a long neck cannot see the future"). Nevertheless, it is said, "God will outlive eternity." History is seen as vitally important ("One ignorant of his origin is nonhuman"), and historians (known as "sons of the soil") are highly revered ("The son of the soil has the python's keen eyes"). However, these arguments must be taken with a grain of cultural relativism, as the span of culture in Africa is incredibly vast, with patriarchies, matriarchies, monotheists and traditional religionists among the population, and as such the attitudes of groups of the Niger Delta cannot be applied to the whole of Africa.
Another more controversial application of this approach is embodied in the concept of Negritude. Leopold Senghor, a proponent of Negritude, argued that the distinctly African approach to reality is based on emotion rather than logic, works itself out in participation rather than analysis, and manifests itself through the arts rather than the sciences. Cheikh Anta Diop and Mubabinge Bilolo, on the other hand, while agreeing that African culture is unique, challenged the view of Africans as essentially emotional and artistic, arguing that Egypt was an African culture whose achievements in science, mathematics, architecture, and philosophy were pre-eminent. This philosophy may also be maligned as overly reductionist due to the obvious scientific and scholarly triumphs of not only ancient Egypt, but also Nubia, Meroe, as well as the great library of Timbuktu, the extensive trade networks and kingdoms of North Africa, West Africa, Central Africa, the Horn of Africa and Great Zimbabwe and the other major empires of Southern, Southeast and Central Africa.
Critics of this approach argue that the actual philosophical work in producing a coherent philosophical position is being done by the academic philosopher (such as Alagoa), and that the sayings of the same culture can be selected from and organised in many different ways in order to produce very different, often contradictory systems of thought.
Philosophical sagacity is a sort of individualist version of ethnophilosophy, in which one records the beliefs of certain special members of a community. The premise here is that, although most societies demand some degree of conformity of belief and behaviour from their members, a certain few of those members reach a particularly high level of knowledge and understanding of their cultures' worldviews; such people are sages. In some cases, the sage goes beyond mere knowledge and understanding to reflection and questioning—these become the targets of philosophical sagacity.
Critics of this approach note that not all reflection and questioning is philosophical; besides, if African philosophy were to be defined purely in terms of philosophic sagacity, then the thoughts of the sages could not be African philosophy, for they did not record them from other sages. Also, on this view the only difference between non-African anthropology or ethnology and African philosophy seems to be the nationality of the researcher.
Critics argue further that the problem with both ethnophilosophy and philosophical sagacity is that there is surely an important distinction between philosophy and the history of ideas, although other philosophers consider the two topics to be remarkably similar. The argument is that no matter how interesting the beliefs of a people such as the Akan or the Yoruba may be to the philosopher, they remain beliefs, not philosophy. To call them philosophy is to use a secondary sense of that term, such as in "my philosophy is live and let live.
Professional philosophy
Professional philosophy is usually identified as that produced by African philosophers trained in the Western philosophical tradition, that embraces a universal view of the methods and concerns of philosophy. Those philosophers identified in this category often explicitly reject the assumptions of ethnophilosophy and adopt a universalist worldview of philosophy that requires all philosophy to be accessible and applicable to all peoples and cultures in the world This is even if the specific philosophical questions prioritized by individual national or regional philosophies may differ. Some African philosophers classified in this category are Odera Oruka,Paulin Hountondji, Peter Bodunrin, Kwasi Wiredu, Tsenay Serequeberhan, Marcien Towa and Lansana Keita.
Nationalist and ideological philosophy
Further information: African nationalismNationalist and ideological philosophy might be considered a special case of philosophic sagacity, in which not sages but ideologues are the subjects. Alternatively, it has been considered as a subcategory of professional political philosophy. In either case, the same sort of problem arises with retaining a distinction between ideology and philosophy, and also between sets of ideas and a special way of reasoning. Examples include African socialism, Nkrumaism, Harambee and Authenticité.
African ethics
Although Africa is extremely diverse, there appear to be some shared moral ideas across many ethnic groups. In a number of African cultures, ethics is centered on a person's character, and saying "he has no morals" translates as something like "he has no character". A person's character reflects the accumulation of their deeds and their habits of conduct; hence, it can be changed over a person's life. In some African cultures, "personhood" refers to an adult human who exhibits moral virtues, and one who behaves badly is not considered a person, even if he is considered a human.
While many traditional African societies are highly religious, their religions are not revealed, and hence, ethics does not center around divine commands. Instead, ethics is humanistic and utilitarian: it focuses on improving social functioning and human flourishing. On the other hand, social welfare is not a mere aggregate of individual welfare; rather, there is a collective "social good" embodying values that everyone wants, like peace and stability. In general, African ethics is social or collectivistic rather than individualistic and united in ideology. Cooperation and altruism are considered crucial. African ethics places more weight on duties of prosocial behaviour than on rights per se, in contrast to most of Western ethics.
List of African philosophers
This is a list of notable philosophers who theorize in the African tradition.
- Chinua Achebe
- Linda Martín Alcoff
- Anita L. Allen
- William B. Allen
- Anton Wilhelm Amo
- Kwame Anthony Appiah
- Molefi Kete Asante
- Nana Asma'u
- Obafemi Awolowo
- James Baldwin
- Yosef Ben-Jochannan
- Robert Bernasconi
- Jean-Godefroy Bidima
- Steven Biko
- Carole Boyce Davies
- Aimé Césaire
- John Henrik Clarke
- Anna Julia Cooper
- Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw
- Tommy J. Curry
- Léon Damas
- Angela Davis
- Martin Delany
- Jacques Depelchin
- Souleymane Bachir Diagne
- Cheikh Anta Diop
- Frederick Douglass
- Nah Dove
- John Langalibalele Dube
- W. E. B. Du Bois
- Emmanuel Chukwudi Eze
- Kocc Barma Fall
- Frantz Fanon
- Grant Farred
- Anténor Firmin
- William Fontaine
- Marcus Garvey
- Nigel Gibson
- David Theo Goldberg
- Lewis Gordon
- Kwame Gyekye
- Leonard Harris
- Hubert Harrison
- Walda Heywat
- Asa Hilliard
- bell hooks
- Paulin Hountondji
- Abiola Irele
- C. L. R. James
- Alieu Ebrima Cham Joof
- Alexis Kagame
- Martin Luther King Jr.
- Alain Locke
- Audre Lorde
- PLO Lumumba
- Achille Mbembe
- John Mbiti
- John H. McClendon
- Charles Mills
- Michele Moody-Adams
- Mabogo P. More
- Toni Morrison
- Fred Moten
- Es'kia Mphahlele
- V. Y. Mudimbe
- Micere Githae Mugo
- Kwame Nkrumah
- Julius Nyerere
- Theophile Obenga
- Ike Odimegwu
- Josephat Obi Oguejiofor
- Sophie Oluwole
- Henry Odera Oruka
- Ato Sekyi-Otu
- Anthony B. Pinn
- Adrian Piper
- Mogobe Ramose
- Léopold Sédar Senghor
- Tommie Shelby
- John Olubi Sodipo
- Wole Soyinka
- Al-Hajj Salim Suwari
- Kenneth Allen Taylor
- Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
- Laurence Thomas
- Mpho Tshivhase
- Ernest Wamba dia Wamba
- Booker T. Washington
- Cornel West
- John Edgar Wideman
- Kwasi Wiredu
- Zera Yacob
List of scholarly and academic journals
See also
Notes and references
- ^ Wiredu, Kwasi, ed. (2005-01-01). A Companion to African Philosophy. doi:10.1002/9780470997154. ISBN 9780470997154.
- Mucale, Ergimino Pedro (Fall 2015). "The Libertarian Paradigm in Ngoenha: A Contribution to the African Philosophy". Philosophia Africana. 17: 45–54. doi:10.5840/philafricana20151715.
- Holton, Robert; Nasson, William Richard (2009-09-29). World Civilizations And History Of Human Development. EOLSS Publications. ISBN 978-1-84826-213-3.
- Etieyibo, Edwin; Chimakonam, Jonathan (Fall 2015). "African Philosophy: Past, Present, and Future". Philosophia Africana.
- Maurice Muhatia Makumba, An Introduction to African Philosophy: Past and Present (2007), p. 25.
- Peters, R.S. (1959). Authority, Responsibility and Education. London: G. Allen & Unwin.
- ^ Gyekye, Kwame (9 Sep 2010). "African Ethics". The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Fall 2011 Edition. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
- Outlaw Jr., Lucius T. (2017), "Africana Philosophy", in Zalta, Edward N. (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2017 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, retrieved 2019-12-17
- ^ Outlaw Jr., Lucius T. (2017). Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). "Africana Philosophy". The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2017 ed.). Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. Retrieved 2021-03-21.
- Gyeke, Kwame (1987). An Essay in African Philosophical Thought: The Akan Conceptual Scheme. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Gordon, Lewis R. "Introduction: Africana philosophy in context". Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511800726.002.
- ^ Wiredu, Kwasi (1989). On Defining African Philosophy. APP Publications.
- "African Philosophy: An Anthology". Wiley.com. Retrieved 2021-06-04.
- Chimakonam, Jonathan. "History of African Philosophy". Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- Ware, Rudolph T., The Walking Qurʼan: Islamic Education, Embodied Knowledge, and History in West Africa, UNC Press Books (2014), p. 101, ISBN 9781469614311
- Murphy, David, Sembene: Imagining Alternatives in Film & Fiction. James Currey Publishers (200), p. 63, ISBN 978-0-85255-555-2
- Hunwick, J. O. (October 1964). "A New Source For the Biography of Aḥmad Bābā Al-Tinbuktī (1556–1627)". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. 27 (3): 568–593. doi:10.1017/S0041977X00118385. ISSN 1474-0699.
- "Before the canon: the non-European women who founded philosophy – Dag Herbjørnsrud | Aeon Essays". Aeon. Retrieved 2021-06-04.
- "Yacob and Amo: Africa's precursors to Locke, Hume and Kant – Dag Herbjørnsrud | Aeon Essays". Aeon. Retrieved 2019-06-20.
- Herbjørnsrud, Dag (2019-05-10). "Beyond decolonizing: global intellectual history and reconstruction of a comparative method". Global Intellectual History. 6 (5): 614–640. doi:10.1080/23801883.2019.1616310. ISSN 2380-1883. S2CID 166543159.
- Sumner, Claude (1994). Ethiopian Philosophy.
- Menn, Stephen; Smith, Justin E. H. (2020-09-05). Anton Wilhelm Amo's Philosophical Dissertations on Mind and Body. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-750162-7.
- ^ Samuel Oluoch Imbo, An Introduction to African Philosophy (1998), pp. 38-39,
- says, Shaka Yesufu. "MBEMBE, Achille". GLOBAL SOCIAL THEORY. Retrieved 2019-12-17.
- "Overview African Philosophy", p. 172, One Hundred Philosophers, Peter J. King, Zebra, 2006
Further reading
- Amo, Antin Wilhelm Amo: Anton Wilhelm Amo's Philosophical Dissertations on Mind and Body (Edited and translated by Stephen Menn and Justin E. H. Smith) (2000: Oxford University Press)
- K.C. Anyanwu (and E.A. Ruch), African Philosophy: An Introduction, Catholic Book Agency 1981
- Mubabinge Bilolo, Contribution à l'histoire de la reconnaissance de Philosophie en Afrique Noire Traditionnelle, (1978: Kinshasa, Facultés Catholiques de Kinshasa, Licence en Philosophie et Religions Africaines)
- Mubabinge Bilolo, Les cosmo-théologies philosophiques de l'Égypte Antique. Problématiques, Prémisses herméneutiques et problèmes majeurs. Academy of African Thought, Sect. I, vol. 1, (1986: Kinshasa-Munich-Libreville, African University Studies)
- Peter O. Bodunrin, Philosophy in Africa: Trends and Perspectives (1985: University of Ife Press)
- Babajide Dasaolu/Demilade Oyelakun ,The concept of evil in Yoruba and Igbo thoughts: Some Comparisons in: Philosophia: E-Journal of Philosophy and Culture – 10/2015.
- Emmanuel Chukwudi Eze (Ed.): African Philosophy. An Anthology (1998: Blackwell Publishers)
- Christian B. N. Gade, A Discourse on African Philosophy: A New Perspective on Ubuntu and Transitional Justice in South Africa (2017: Lexington Books)
- Dag Herbjørnsrud, The African Enlightenment. Aeon, December 2017.
- Dag Herbjørnsrud, The Radical Philosophy of Egypt: Forget God and Family, Write! Blog of the American Philosophical Association, December 2018.
- Paulin J. Hountondji, African Philosophy: Myth and Reality (1983: Bloomington, Indiana University Press)
- Samuel Oluoch Imbo, An Introduction to African Philosophy (1998: Rowman & Littlefield) ISBN 0-8476-8841-0
- Janheinz Jahn, Muntu: African culture and the Western world (1990: Grove Weidenfeld) ISBN 0802132081
- Bruce B. Janz, African Philosophy (PDF)
- Alexis Kagame, La philosophie bantu-rwandaise de l'être (1966 Johnson Reprint)
- Gyekye Kwame, An Essay of African Philosophical Thought: The Akan Conceptual Scheme (1995: Temple University Press) ISBN 1-56639-380-9
- Safro Kwame, Reading in African Philosophy: An Akan Collection (1995: University Press of America) ISBN 0-8191-9911-7
- T. Uzodinma Nwala, Igbo Philosophy, ISBN 978-245-453-2
- Joseph I. Omoregbe, African philosophy: yesterday and today (in Bodunrin; references to reprint in African Philosophy: An Anthology (1998: Oxford, Blackwell))
- H. Odera Oruka (ed.), Sage Philosophy (1990: E.J. Brill) ISBN 90-04-09283-8, ISSN 0922-6001
- Tsenay Serequeberhan (ed.), African Philosophy: The Essential Readings (1991: Paragon House) ISBN 1-55778-309-8
- Placide Tempels, La philosophie bantoue (Bantu Philosophy), Elisabethville, 1945, Full text in French here.
- Kwasi Wiredu, Philosophy and an African (1980: Cambridge University Press)
- Kwasi Wiredu (ed.), A Companion to African Philosophy (2004: Blackwell)
- Kwasi Wiredu Toward Decolonizing African Philosophy And Religion In: African Studies Quarterly, The Online Journal for African Studies, Volume 1, Issue 4, 1998
- Olabiyi Babalola Yai, (Guest Editor), African Studies Quarterly, Volume 1, Issue 4 (1998): Religion and Philosophy in Africa
- An Introduction to Africana Philosophy by Lewis Gordon
- Philosophy Born of Struggle by Leonard Harris
- Race and Racism in Continental Philosophy by Robert Bernasconi
- A Companion to African-American Philosophy by Tommy L. Lott and John Pittman
- African-American Perspectives and Philosophical Traditions by John P. Pittman
- Blacks and Social Justice by Bernard R. Boxill
- African American Philosophers by George Yancy
- Black Skin, White Masks by Frantz Fanon
- Philosophies Africaines, Jean-Godefroy Bidima ed., Collège international de philosophie journal Rue Descartes, 2002.
- Outlaw, Jr., L., “Africana Philosophy: Origins and Prospects,” in Kwasi Wiredu (ed.), A Companion to African Philosophy, Malden, MA: Blackwell, pp. 90–98.
External links
- Africana philosophy from Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy.
- Collection of articles on Africana philosophy in Philpapers.
- Caribbean Philosophical Association
- Jonathan O. Chimakonam, History of African Philosophy in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Gail M. Presbey, African Sage Philosophy in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Lucius T. Outlaw Jr. "Africana Philosophy". In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- Igwebuikepedia: Internet Encyclopedia of African Philosophy
- African Philosophy — African Studies Centre
- Africana Philosophy series of the History of Philosophy without any gaps podcast
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