Afro-Communitarian Democracy
Afro-Communitarian Democracy

Author: Bernard Matolino

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2019-09-09

Total Pages: 191

ISBN-13: 1498588298

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In going beyond African socialism and consensual democracy’s use of communitarianism, Bernard Matolino demonstrates that there is a mode of understanding communitarianism that need not necessarily be traditionalist. It is from this ever-evolving communitarian notion that an African-rooted form of democracy may arise. Such a democratic theory is one that seeks to prioritize reality and factors that have shaped and continue to shape current experience of life on the African continent. The work advocates a new mode of communitarianism, without the idealism of traditional foundations of kin connections and one which takes the ontological equality of the community and the individual. Such a communitarian outlook will secure the basic requirements of democratization without abdicating its communitarian responsibility. The communitarian democratic theory advocated here takes seriously the particular situation of each individual and yet points out the need to appreciate the inevitability of the connections among the same individuals.

Consensus as Democracy in Africa
Consensus as Democracy in Africa

Author: Bernard Matolino

Publisher: African Books Collective

Published: 2018-12-28

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 192003336X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Some philosophers on the African continent and beyond are convinced that consensus, as a polity, represents the best chance for Africa to fully democratise. In Consensus as Democracy in Africa, Bernard Matolino challenges the basic assumptions built into consensus as a social and political theory. Central to his challenge to the claimed viability of consensus as a democratic system are three major questions: Is consensus genuinely superior to its majoritarian counterpart? Is consensus itself truly a democratic system? Is consensus sufficiently different from the one-party system? In taking up these issues and others closely associated with them, Matolino shows that consensus as a system of democracy encounters several challenges that make its viability highly doubtful. Matolino then attempts a combination of an understanding of an authentic mode of democracy with African reality to work out what a more desirable polity would be for the continent.

Philosophical Perspectives on Communalism and Morality in African Traditions
Philosophical Perspectives on Communalism and Morality in African Traditions

Author: Polycarp Ikuenobe

Publisher: Lexington Books

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 346

ISBN-13: 9780739114926

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book examines the idea of communalism in African cultures as a dominant philosophical theme that provides the conceptual foundation for African traditional moral thoughts, moral education, values, beliefs, conceptions of reality, practices, ways of life, and the now popular African saying, 'it takes a village to raise a child.' It defends communalism against various criticisms and argues that when properly understood and harnessed, it could provide the necessary foundation for Africa's development.

Deciding in Unison: Themes in Consensual Democracy in Africa
Deciding in Unison: Themes in Consensual Democracy in Africa

Author: Emmanuel Ifeanyi Ani

Publisher: Vernon Press

Published: 2020-04-02

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 162273923X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

'Deciding in Unison: Themes in Consensual Democracy in Africa' is an edited volume that both scholars and students of African philosophy and politics will find interesting. The chapters trace the current state of the debate as well as the idea that the advancement of consensus democracy as unanimity democracy is no longer valid, and a democracy of compromise is suggested as an alternative for advancing consensus democracy. The collection also contains chapters dealing with Wiredu’s consensual proposal for the building of resistance movements as well as his views about the relativity of truth and the way we should handle it. However, there are also chapters that explore the non-party system Wiredu proposes as not applicable in practice. Furthermore, the issues related to transferring consensus-supporting values like communism into the contemporary Africa setting are also examined. Also discussed in the book is how current presentations of African epistemology cannot pass for epistemology, and how we could begin to think of fashioning an African epistemology from deliberation aimed at consensus.

Ethnophilosophy and the Search for the Wellspring of African Philosophy
Ethnophilosophy and the Search for the Wellspring of African Philosophy

Author: Ada Agada

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2023-01-14

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9783030788995

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book provides a case for the de-stigmatisation of ethnophilosophy by demonstrating its continuing relevance in contemporary African philosophy. The book brings together established and brilliant young scholars who defend ethnophilosophy as a unique source of African philosophy with the capacity to colour African philosophical scholarship, thereby distinguishing African philosophy from other philosophical traditions of the world and setting the stage for philosophical dialogue in the 21st century characterised by multiculturalism and globalisation. The volume addresses the future of African philosophy by closely linking the past of this tradition with the exciting projects of the contemporary system builders whose works emerge from the ethnophilosophical while transcending it. The book is aimed at African philosophy experts, scholars of intercultural philosophy, African studies scholars and graduate students of African and intercultural philosophy.

Freedom Dreams
Freedom Dreams

Author: Robin D.G. Kelley

Publisher: Beacon Press

Published: 2002-06-27

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 0807009784

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Kelley unearths freedom dreams in this exciting history of renegade intellectuals and artists of the African diaspora in the twentieth century. Focusing on the visions of activists from C. L. R. James to Aime Cesaire and Malcolm X, Kelley writes of the hope that Communism offered, the mindscapes of Surrealism, the transformative potential of radical feminism, and of the four-hundred-year-old dream of reparations for slavery and Jim Crow. From'the preeminent historian of black popular culture' (Cornel West), an inspiring work on the power of imagination to transform society.

Menkiti on Community and Becoming a Person
Menkiti on Community and Becoming a Person

Author: Edwin Etieyibo

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2020-07-24

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 1498583660

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Ifeanyi Menkiti’s articulation of an African conception of personhood—especially in “Person and Community in African Traditional Thought” —has become very influential in African philosophy. Menkiti on Community and Becoming a Person contributes to the debate in African philosophy on personhood by engaging with various aspects of Menkiti’s account of person and community. The contributors examine this account in relation to themes such as individualism, communalism, rights, individual liberty, moral agency, communal ethics, education, state and nation building, elderhood and ancestorhood. Through these themes, this book, edited by Edwin Etieyibo and Polycarp Ikuenobe, shows that Menkiti’s account of personhood in the context of community is both fundamental and foundational to epistemological, metaphysical, logical, ethical, legal, social and political issues in African thought systems.

Ethnophilosophy and the Search for the Wellspring of African Philosophy
Ethnophilosophy and the Search for the Wellspring of African Philosophy

Author: Ada Agada

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2022-01-12

Total Pages: 338

ISBN-13: 3030788970

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book provides a case for the de-stigmatisation of ethnophilosophy by demonstrating its continuing relevance in contemporary African philosophy. The book brings together established and brilliant young scholars who defend ethnophilosophy as a unique source of African philosophy with the capacity to colour African philosophical scholarship, thereby distinguishing African philosophy from other philosophical traditions of the world and setting the stage for philosophical dialogue in the 21st century characterised by multiculturalism and globalisation. The volume addresses the future of African philosophy by closely linking the past of this tradition with the exciting projects of the contemporary system builders whose works emerge from the ethnophilosophical while transcending it. The book is aimed at African philosophy experts, scholars of intercultural philosophy, African studies scholars and graduate students of African and intercultural philosophy.

Capitalism and Freedom in African Political Philosophy
Capitalism and Freedom in African Political Philosophy

Author: Grivas Muchineripi Kayange

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-05-05

Total Pages: 311

ISBN-13: 3030443604

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book investigates ‘capitalism and freedom’—the guiding forces of many political systems—in African philosophy. It builds on classical and neoliberal capitalism rooted in private property and freedom, and argues for the presence of these elements in the traditional and modern African political systems. The author argues that while these elements are partly imported from Western capitalists, they are equally traceable in African traditional political systems. Kayange argues that African politics is marred by a conflict between embracing capitalism and freedom (individualism), on the one hand, and socialism founded on African communitarianism and communist ideas, on the other. This conflict has affected policy development and implementation, and has significantly contributed towards the socio-economic and ethical crises that are recurrent in most of the African countries.