Philosophy and an African culture

Author(s)

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Philosophy and an African culture

Kwasi Wiredu

Cambridge University Press, 1980

  • : pbk

Available at  / 12 libraries

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Includes index

Description and Table of Contents

Volume

ISBN 9780521227940

Description

What can philosophy contribute to African culture? What can it draw from it? Could there be a truly African philosophy that goes beyond traditional folk thought? Kwasi Wiredu tries in these essays to define and demonstrate a role for contemporary African philosophers which is distinctive but by no means parochial. He shows how they can assimilate the advances of analytical philosophy and apply them to the general social and intellectual changes associated with 'modernisation' and the transition to new national identities. But we see too how they can exploit traditional resources and test the assumptions of Western philosophy against the intimations of their own language and culture. The volume as a whole presents some of the best non-technical work of a distinguished African philosopher, of importance equally to professional philosophers and to those with a more general interest in contemporary African thought and culture.
Volume

: pbk ISBN 9780521296472

Description

What can philosophy contribute to African culture? What can it draw from it? Could there be a truly African philosophy that goes beyond traditional folk thought? Kwasi Wiredu tries in these essays to define and demonstrate a role for contemporary African philosophers which is distinctive but by no means parochial. He shows how they can assimilate the advances of analytical philosophy and apply them to the general social and intellectual changes associated with 'modernisation' and the transition to new national identities. But we see too how they can exploit traditional resources and test the assumptions of Western philosophy against the intimations of their own language and culture. The volume as a whole presents some of the best non-technical work of a distinguished African philosopher, of importance equally to professional philosophers and to those with a more general interest in contemporary African thought and culture.

Table of Contents

  • Part I: 1. Philosophy and an African culture
  • 2. On an African orientation in philosophy
  • 3. How not to compare African traditional thought with Western thought
  • 4. What can philosophy do for Africa?
  • Part II: 5. Marxism, philosophy and ideology
  • 6. In praise of utopianism
  • Part III: 7. Philosophy, mysticism and rationality
  • 8. Truth as opinion
  • 9. To be is to be known
  • 10. What is philosophy?
  • 11. In defence of opinion
  • 12. Truth: a dialogue
  • Origins of the essays
  • Index.

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