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African Philosophy and the Future of Africa Cultural Heritage and Contemporary Change Series II, Africa, Volume 14 General Editor George F. McLean African Philosophy and the Future of Africa Edited by Gerard Walmsley The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy Copyright © 2011 by The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy Box 261 Cardinal Station Washington, D.C. 20064 All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication African philosophy and the future of Africa / edited by Gerard Walmsley. p. cm. -- (Cultural heritage and contemporary change. Series II, Africa ; v. 14) Proceedings of a conference held in Oct. 2007 at St. Augustine College of South Africa. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Philosophy, African--Congresses. I. Walmsley, Gerard, 1954- B5300.5.A47 2011 2011036333 199'.6--dc23 CIP ISBN 9781565182707 (pbk.) (This study has been peer viewed.) TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction: African Philosophy and the Future of Africa 1 Gerard Walmsley Part I. African Epistemology: Culture and Truth Chapter I. Reason and Culture: Understanding 11 the African Experience Emmanuel Eze Chapter II. Truth, Power, Intellectuals and Universities 23 Bert Olivier Chapter III. The Role of the Public Intellectual in 47 an African Context: Naming the Present Gabriel Massi Part II. Ubuntu: Individual and Community Chapter IV. On the Tension between Ubuntu and Simunye 61 Jason Van Niekerk Chapter V. Abantu and their Ethic in the Face of AIDS 71 Bernard Matolino Chapter VI. African Values and Capital Punishment 83 Thaddeus Metz Part III. African Identity Chapter VII. Fanon and Recognition in the Colonial Context 93 Charles Villet Chapter VIII. The Politics of Identity in Africa: 101 Diversity and Inclusion Paulin Manwelo Chapter IX. Old Wives’ Tales and Philosophical Delusions: 111 On “The Problem of Women and African Philosophy” Louise du Toit Chapter X. Identity Issues amongst South African Pentecostal 129 Charismatic Christians: Between Oreos and Romany Creams: Maria Frahm-Arp Part IV. Development and African Culture Chapter XI. Black Economic Empowerment 139 Gampi Matheba Chapter XII. Building on the Indigenous: An Appropriate 153 Paradigm for Sustainable Development in Africa Mogommo A Masoga and Hassan Kaya Chapter XIII. The Concept as Object, Mode, and 171 Catalyst in African Philosophy Bruce Janz Contributors 189 Index 191 INTRODUCTION AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY AND THE FUTURE OF AFRICA1 GERARD WALMSLEY The papers in this volume were all presented at a conference on African Philosophy and the Future of Africa (St Augustine College of South Africa, October 2007). The call for papers prior to the conference asked for presenters that were (a) passionate about philosophy and (b) passionate about Africa. In issuing such an invitation the organizers were at one with Joseph Margolis who says: I would mistrust a career in philosophy that didn’t address - philosophically as well as personally- the natural bearing of all the philosophical specialties one might pursue [on] personal and political conduct and responsibility (2002: 192) Margolis criticizes those who too confidently and neatly separate the best professional work in philosophy from personal commitment and social and cultural contexts. There is a suggestion also that this is inexcusable in a world of crimes against humanity and genocide. For Margolis there is a “conceptual continuity between the analysis of knowledge and the direction of human life” (2002: 193). This resonates with the thought of Voegelin: Philosophy has its origin not just simply in a desire to understand more clearly or deeply or systematically, but also in the philosophers felt awareness of and resistance to the disorder in his surrounding culture or society -an awareness that threatens the philosophers own soul.2 To my mind this brings out something of the character of African philosophy. Here passionate thinking is united to deep concern for concrete issues. Hence we have titles such as Philosophy Born of Struggle 1 The papers in this volume are dedicated to the memory of Emmanuel Eze, a major proponent and supporter of African philosophy. His death, shortly after the conference at which he was a keynote speaker, was a loss to many. 2 I base this on Glenn Hughes’ characterization of Voeglin’s thought in ‘Insight and the Foundations of Human Dignity’. He makes reference to The Collected Works of Eric Voegelin, vol. 16, Order and History, Volume III: Plato and Aristotle (Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 2000), 124. 2 Gerard Walmsley (Edited by Leonard Harris, 1983, 2000) or Africa’s Quest for a Philosophy of Decolonialization (Kebede, 2004). And as Charles W. Mills remarks, black philosophers often choose to specialize in ethics or social- political philosophy, or in philosophy of culture, because their lived contexts directs them to these areas of philosophy (2002: 158). I am also reminded of Steve Biko’s well known remark: “It is better to die for an idea that will live than live for an idea that will die.” The theme of the conference of which the presentations were first given was rather wide ranging. This was intentional. The aim was to invite reflections that would both demonstrate the relevance of philosophy for life in the African context and also the importance of philosophy from Africa for the wider world context. I hope that the following papers fulfill these aims. Let me now give an outline of their content. The first keynote speaker gave a particularly challenging address ‘Reason and Culture: Understanding the African Experience.’ Emmanuel Eze begins by discussing the problem of “reason in culture.” He goes on to use the African experience as a “test case for any kind of research program interested in making explicit the conceptual diversity implicit in what we generally call cultural experience.” Initially the key question is formulated as “How can we find the best model of a philosophical method to conceptualize the diversity of reason in experience?” Eze attempts to move beyond the treatment of diversity in the practical realm of multiculturalism and debates about gender, race and class -- debates that are often elusive and controversial -- to consider diversity in the act of thought itself. This withdrawal to a consideration of the conditions for thinking diversity as found in the nature of thought itself, is understood as allowing a more fruitful return to the practical realm, for it leads to an understanding of how thought is embedded in what Eze calls “ordinary experience.” The paper may be seen as an anticipation of Eze’s fuller reflection On Reason: Rationality in a World of Cultural Conflict and Racism (2008). This is concerned with questions such as the following: Does everyone possess rationality in the same way to the same degree? Do different forms of reason exist in diverse cultures? How do those who possess rationality express this in the activity of reasoning? What activity of reason manifests the possession of rationality? What should we take as evidence for the possession of rationality? Questions such as these are particularly relevant to African Philosophy and questions of African Identity. However, the question of whether or not the processes of reason are the same in all cultures, or whether they are shaped by the particular conditions of particular cultures and places and times is relevant to anyone interested in the nature of human thought and rationality. The question challenges those who too quickly conclude they have discerned a universal “Enlightenment” account of “Reason” that can be imposed unproblematically on any non- western context. African Philosophy and the Future of Africa 3 In both this paper and in the fuller book length treatment Eze tries to discern the roots of diversity in the very nature of the mind itself. His key question may be reformulated as “How do you articulate diverse forms of rationality?” His response is to introduce the notion of ordinary experience and explain how this, of its nature, leads to diverse forms of reason and diverse manifestations of rationality. For Eze a fundamental feature of the human condition is the gap between ordinary experience (or thought) and its expression. This gap allows room for the freedom of thought. It allows thought to express itself in diverse ways according to the resourcefulness of intelligence. Thought is found to be a need for tongue, a desire for expression. Hence we cannot expect there to be only one way of expressing thoughts, of reasoning, of manifesting rationality: “There are many universal languages of reason.” In this way a reflection from the point of view of “an Afromodern postcolonial sensibility” brings “ordinary experience” to the foreground in a way that illuminates conceptual diversity in cultural experience and in human experience generally. We discover how from ordinary experience emerge many forms of reason within various contexts. This may be seen as the resourcefulness of intelligence. So to discern reason and rationality we need to consider both performance and context. Only then can we decide what counts as reason and rationality. A better grasp of reason itself, rather than the assumption of a fixed “universal” model that often imports the particularities of a dominant culture, leaves us open to recognizing reason in various cultural contexts. Eze makes an important contribution to the re-thinking of reason and rationality. In ‘Truth, Power, Intellectuals and Universities’ Bert Olivier offers a stimulating reflection on the future of Africa in relation to the future of higher education in Africa. The linking concern is the formation of reflective citizens and critical and responsible leaders. This far reaching paper opens with a reflection on the barriers to the proper functioning of the university as a cultivator of mature citizens as opposed to simply being the producer of laborers. Olivier is concerned that Universities be centers of opposition to the paralyzing power of much of popular entertainment and of bureaucracy.
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