180038 VO-L Philosophy in Africa - An Introduction (2012S)

This introductory lecture will provide knowledge on the history and development of philosophy in Africa, especially south of the Sahara. Initially, the concept of philosophy is put into question and a kind of "work in progress concept" of philosophy will be developed, a concept enabling us to approach philosophies of other continents in their difference - without losing the clear distinction between philosophy and religion, myth or folk wisdom. The lecture addresses the specific problems of the reconstruction of philosophy in Africa (the problem of oral traditions, the lack of written sources, the influence of colonialism). It discusses different theories on the development of philosophy in Africa, like it's localization in folk wisdom or the peculiarities of the language. Such theories are examined in respect to their relevance, likewise philosophical sources from ancient Egypt and Ethiopia.
A decisive influence on the development of modern philosophy in Africa had the experience of slavery and colonialism. It's cultural and educational dimension is explained and discussed. Here the statements of German classics like Kant and Hegel on the "black continent" will be mentioned and their impact on the perception of Africa. Their ideas on Africa will be situated into the "spirit of their time" (the enlightenment) and confronted with the work of the German philosophers of African descent Anton Wilhelm Amo (1703-1753).
It follows a detailed description of philosophical schools and movements after 1945, as well as individual philosophers, philosophical statesmen and leaders of liberation movements. These include the philosophical and literary movement of the Négritude (including Senghor and Cesaire) and their critic Frantz Fanon, ethnophilosophy (including Tempels, Kagame, Mbiti) and their critics (including Hountondji, Towa, Odera Oruka). And it includes an extensive discussion of the question: "What is African on the African philosophy?", that has determined the academic philosophy in Africa until the 1990s, a question centering around the tension between the universal claims of philosophy and its cultural context. Odera Orukas project "Sage-philosophy" is presented as an attempt to solve this tension.
Of large social impact was the movement of "African socialism" (including Nkrumah, Nyerere), which will find attention accordingly. As an outlook on the relevance of today's creative African man and woman philosophers the debate on identity (Masolo), the project of the "conceptual decolonization" by Kwasi Wiredu and African feminist philosophies will be presented.