180063 VO-L Introduction into the History of Philosophy in Africa (2014S)

This introductory lecture will provide knowledge on the history and development of philosophy in Africa, especially south of the Sahara. 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. 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) and African feminist philosophies will be presented.