A Critical Exposition of Kwame Gyekye's Communitarianism
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A CRITICAL EXPOSITION OF KWAME GYEKYE’S COMMUNITARIANISM by ODIRACHUKWU STEPHEN MWIMNOBI submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of MASTERS OF ARTS in the subject PHILOSOPHY at the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA PROMOTER: DR MES VAN DEN BERG JOINT PROMOTER: PROF MB RAMOSE NOVEMBER 2003 ` I declare that A Critical Exposition of Kwame Gyekye’s Communitarianism is my own work and that all the sources that I have used or quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by means of complete references. ______________________ ___________________ SIGNATURE DATE (Mr OS Mwimnobi) ii KEY TERMS Communitarianism; Equiprimordiality; Federal Republic of Nigeria; Metanationality; Multicultural community; National culture and national identity; Nation-state; Personhood; The common good; Towards nationhood. iii SUMMARY This dissertation argues that Gyekye, in his idea of communitarianism, has a contribution to make towards the understanding of the socio- political structures of multicultural communities in Africa. Gyekye’s construct of metanationality, in relation to his communitarian ethics, addresses the socio-political and cultural problems confronting multicultural communities, with particular reference to Nigeria. In an attempt to achieve his idea of a “metanational state”, Gyekye claims that: (1) “personhood” is partially defined by a communal structure; (2) equal moral attention should be given both to individual interests and community interests; (3) it is necessary to integrate the “ethic of responsibility” with “rights”; (4) members of the nation-state should be considered equal; (5) in order to achieve nationhood in a multicultural community, it is essential to move beyond “ethnicity” and (6) in an attempt to form a national culture, attention should be drawn to “the elegant” aspects of cultures of various ethno-cultural communities. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I remain grateful to Dr MES van den Berg and Prof MB Ramose who acted as my promoter and co-promoter respectively. Both of you are a source of inspiration to me. Your assistance and guidance throughout the period I was writing this dissertation means a lot to me. I cherish all your comments, advice, suggestions and constructive criticisms. I have learnt a lot from both of you. I also thank Mr PH Coetzee, who acted as my former promoter, for his initial support. I also remain thankful to my dear parents, Ichie & Mrs MM Mwimnobi, for their parental love and guidance. Both of you assisted me immensely in becoming what I am today. In the same vein I want to use this opportunity to express my regard and gratitude to my brother, Dr OM Mwimnobi for his support. I will always appreciate you as a brother and a friend. To my lovely and caring wife, I want you to know that I acknowledge your encouragement and support throughout the period I was writing this dissertation. Your presence in my life makes a lot of difference. I will always love you. I thank Mr Hassan and Mrs Mustafa, who are members of the Nigerian Diplomatic Mission in South Africa, for giving me access to the Nigerian High Commission library. I also want to extend my gratitude to Dr MSS Tsie, Mr M Osuala and Mr E Akor for editing the initial draft of this dissertation. I thank Sr M Fisher for editing the final draft of this dissertation. I am grateful to Me W Reinach for arranging the work and getting it ready for binding. I thank Mr D Noah for binding the work. Above all I salute “the Infinite Being” who remains the primary source of my enlightenment. v vi CONTENTS Key terms ............................................... iii Summary ................................................ iv Acknowledgements ........................................ v 1 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ........................ 1 1.1 Research Objective .............................1 1.2 Federalism in Nigeria ............................3 1.3 Gyekye on Metanationality ....................... 16 1.4 Thesis ..................................... 17 1.5 Approach ................................... 18 1.6 Previews of Chapters ........................... 20 2 CHAPTER TWO: THE IDEA OF PERSONHOOD AND RIGHTS .. 27 2.1 Introduction ................................. 27 2.2 Personhood as Fully Defined by a Communal Structure .... 28 2.2.1 An Exposition of Mbiti’s and Menkiti’s Arguments ........ 29 2.2.2 A “Set” within a “Set” .......................... 34 2.3 Personhood as Partially Defined by the Communal Structure 35 2.4 Individual Autonomy as the Underlying Principle of Personhood48 2.5 Towards Communitarian Ethics .................... 54 2.6 Conclusion .................................. 55 3 CHAPTER THREE: GYEKYE’S IDEA OF COMMUNITARIAN ETHICS ........................................... 58 3.1 Introduction ................................. 58 3.2 Gyekye’s Notion of Community .................... 60 3.3 The Meaning of Communitarianism ................. 62 3.4 Ethical Values Underpinning Gyekye’s Idea of Communitarianism ......................................... 65 3.4.1 The Common Good and Community of Mutuality ........ 66 3.4.2 The Principle of Reciprocity ....................... 73 3.4.3 Responsibility as a Principle of Morality .............. 77 3.5 The Role of “Rights” in Regulating Relationships Among Members of the Nation-state ..................... 81 3.6 Conclusion .................................. 87 4 CHAPTER FOUR: TOWARDS NATIONHOOD .............. 89 vii 4.1 Introduction ................................. 89 4.2 Socio-Political Problems in Nigeria .................. 89 4.3 Nationhood: A Problem in Nigeria .................. 92 4.4 In Pursuit of Nationhood ........................ 93 4.4.1 Gyekye’s Understanding of the Term Nation ........... 93 4.4.2 Building a Nation ............................. 96 4.4.2.1 Mutual Interests Among Members ............... 97 4.4.2.2 Social Mobility ........................... 100 4.4.2.3 Political Power to be Shared Equality ............ 102 4.4.2.4 The Policy of Decentralization ................. 104 4.4.2.5 Social and Moral Attitude of Members ........... 106 4.4.2.6 Dignity of Members ........................ 108 4.4.2.7 Cultural and Political Equality ................. 110 4.5 The Nature of Nation-state ..................... 112 4.5.1 Introduction ................................ 112 4.5.2 Ethnicity and its Implications .................... 113 4.5.2.1 Derivation of the Term Ethnicity ............... 114 4.5.2.2 Historical and Social Influences ................ 115 4.5.2.3 Beyond Ethnicity .......................... 117 4.5.3 The Concept of Metanationality ................... 118 4.5.3.1 The Meaning of Metanationality ............... 120 4.5.3.2 The Objective of Metanationality ............... 122 4.5.3.3 Metanationality and the Idea of Common Good ..... 123 4.6 Conclusion ................................. 125 5 CHAPTER FIVE: ACHIEVING A NATIONAL CULTURE IN A MULTI-CULTURAL COMMUNITY .................. 127 5.1 Introduction ................................ 127 5.2 Cultural Issues in Nigeria ....................... 128 5.3 What is a National Culture? ..................... 131 5.4 Cultural Diversity ............................ 132 5.5 How to Develop a National Culture ................ 135 5.5.1 Nurturing the Existing Common Elements of the Component Cultures .......................... 135 5.5.2 Developing a National Culture that is Neutral ......... 139 5.5.3 Forming a National Language .................... 143 5.6 National Culture and National Identity .............. 152 5.7 Strong and Weak Sense of the Idea of a Unified Cultural Life154 5.8 Conclusion ................................. 157 6 SUMMARY AND EVALUATION ........................ 159 viii BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................... 163 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION The most important question... relates to the extent to which the individualist outlook will take over from the ethos of the communal way of life evolved by African cultures. Can it be expected that the individualistic ethos will cut into the pristine communal orientation sufficiently deeply to numb or vitiate the sentiments of a shared, communal life that characterizes pre-urban life? Will the ethos of individualism, in the wake of urbanization, make demolitionary inroads into the traditional communal values? Well, maybe; and perhaps to some extent.... I do not imply, given the fundamental importance of the value of the community for human life, that the African communitarian social or moral practice should be totally abandoned, that communitarian values should give way to extreme individualism - the type that tends to ride roughshod over the claims of the community. I mean to suggest instead that the practice would need to be re-evaluated and the necessary refinements made to it (Gyekye 1997:278). 1.1 RESEARCH OBJECTIVE The aim of my research is to give a critical exposition of Kwame Gyekye’s idea of communitarianism1. I will investigate Gyekye’s construct of 1 Communitarianism derives its principles from the idea that a person, when born, finds himself or herself, not in isolation but, among other individuals and thus establishing the relational nature of a person. 1 metanationality2 with its emphasis on moderate communitarianism. It is my contention that Gyekye has a contribution to make towards the understanding of the social and political structures of multicultural communities in Africa. Although Gyekye is a Ghanaian philosopher and draws most of his examples from an analysis of the social order of the traditional Akan society of Ghana, his ideas have relevance to other African