African Philosophy and the Quest for Autonomy: A Philosophical InvestigationRodopi, 2000 - 322 páginas As academic subject African philosophy is predominantly concerned with epistemology. It aims at re-presenting a lost body of authentic African thought. This apparently austere a-historical concern is framed by a grand narrative of liberation that cannot but politicise the quest for epistemological autonomy. By "politicise" I mean that the desire to re-cover an authentic African epistemology in order to establish African philosophy as autonomous subject, ironically re-iterates Western, enlightenment notions of the autonomous subject. Here, in the pursuit of an autonomous subject the terms of historical oppression are necessarily duplicated in the terms of liberation. In this study I use the term disfigurement to refer to the double-bind - peculiar to post-coloniality - in which the African subject finds itself when it has to establish and affirm a sense of apartheid (in order to confirm the assumption of difference) by inventing its own autonomy in a way that ironically conflicts with an African conception of the autonomous subject. The transcendental concern with epistemological authenticity and autonomy - indicative of an oppressive desire for Western style autonomy - necessary as it may be in a post-colonial context, is placed in an ethical framework that seeks to remain faithful to the African dictum of identity and autonomy "I am because we are". Whereas the first three chapters are concerned with the transcendental question 'what is African philosophy?', the fourth and last chapter situates the ethical framework within which this question arises in the context of the recently "completed" South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission. |
Contenido
i | |
viii | |
The social contract | 1 |
B Linguistic conventions as social contract | 41 |
Conclusion | 60 |
B Missionary orthodox speech | 69 |
A politics of return | 89 |
Speaking precisely | 121 |
An epistemological undecidability | 164 |
A representational undecidability | 191 |
Conclusion | 212 |
a social contract | 220 |
commodification | 228 |
narrating the social bond | 246 |
Koinonia as social bond | 257 |
Conclusion | 301 |
Otras ediciones - Ver todas
African Philosophy and the Quest for Autonomy: A Philosophical Investigation Leonhard Praeg Vista previa limitada - 2022 |
Términos y frases comunes
African philosophy agreement aliunde analysis anthropology apartheid Asmal assumed attempt authentic autonomy Bantu Philosophy binary Boesak break-down chapter Christian civil society collapse colonialism conceived concerned condition confession constitutive constructed contemporary context contract narrative contract theory contractarian conventions of understanding corpus delicti cultural desire difference differend discussion disfigurement Eboussi-Boulaga emphasis added epistemological ethical imperative ethnophilosophy existence fact function Glaucon historical Hobbes Hountondji human identify identity ideological in(ter)vention individual invention of Africa investigation justice knowledge Krog language Leviathan liberal democratic liberation linguistic logic Lyotard Masolo meaning meta-narrative moral Mudimbe myth narration narrative of return nation nationalist nature narrative negritude nonetheless ontological past possible post-colonial pre-colonial pre-political present problematic realisation reason reconciliation relation represent representational contract sense signifier social bond social contract social contract theory South Africa sovereign specific speech acts statements stories Tempels traditional transcendental truth ubuntu undecidability values victim Western words
Referencias a este libro
Reconciliation Discourse: The Case of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Annelies Verdoolaege Vista previa limitada - 2008 |