USF DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY

PHI 4073 : AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY

Fall 2003, Kwasi Wiredu

COURSE DESCRIPTION: A descriptive and analytical treatment of African philosophical ideas including the following: The Existence or Non-Existence of God; The Conception of the Cosmos; The Nature of Human Personality; Fate, Determinism and Responsibility, Goodness in the Individual and in the Community, Religion and Morality. These topics will be discussed with particular, though not exclusive reference to a selected African people of whom adequate anthropological information will be given. The treatment will, moreover, be comparative throughout, attempting reflective comparisons between African and Western categories of thought.

OBJECTIVE: To encourage the critical examination of fundamental intellectual presuppositions through the study of the alternative conceptual schemes of another culture and thereby to foster an intellectual sensitivity to the plurality of cultures or deepen it.

BOOKS

a) Required

1. Kwame Gyekye, An Essay on African Philosophical Thought (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1995)

2. Kwasi Wiredu, Cultural Universals and Particulars: an African Perspective

Optional:

3. Richard A. Wright, ed., African Philosophy: An Introduction (New York: University Press of America, Third Edition, 1984)

4. D. A. Masolo, African Philosophy in Search of Identity, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994.

(This book is a reflective history of contemporary African philosophy which will repay cover-to-cover reading quite apart from the specific chapters cited below with respect to specific topics.)

5. Kwasi Wiredu and Kwame Gyekye, eds., Person and Community: Ghanaian Philosophical Studies, (New York: University Press of America, 1992)

PRELIMINARY READING

I have brief articles on African Philosophy that you might like to read right away for a preliminary, bird=s-eye view of the territory to be traversed in this course. They are

1) AAfrican Philosophy@ in Ted Honderich, ed., the Oxford Companion to Philosophy, New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.

2) AMetaphysics in Africa@ in Jaegwon Kim and Ernest Sosa, eds., A Companion to Metaphysics, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1995.

3) AAfrican Philosophy@ in Donald M. Borchert, ed., The Encyclopedia of Philosophy Supplement, New York: Simon & Schuster Macmillan, 1996.

Read also

4) Kwame Gyekye, AAfrican Philosophy@ in Robert Audi, ed., The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995.

TOPICS

Because in this course we will often make comparisons between African and Western conceptions, almost every section in the following readings includes at least one Western source. These Western materials are important for the understanding of the issues and should be studied carefully.

I(a) METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES IN THE STUDY OF AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY

(1) Kwame Gyekye, An Essay on African Philosophical Thought, chaps. 1-3 and 12, especially pp. 186-195 and 210-212.

(2) Richard A. Wright, ed., African Philosophy: An Introduction, Chaps. 1-3, especially, 1: P.O. Bodunrin, "The Question of African Philosophy."

(3) Paulin J. Hountondji, African Philosophy: Myth and Reality, (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1983) Chaps. 1-3, especially, 3.

(4) Kwasi Wiredu, Philosophy and An African Culture, Chaps. 1-4, especially, 3.

(5) Kwame Anthony Appiah, In My Father's House, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992), chap. 5: AEthnophilosophy and its Critics.@.

(6) Segun Gbadegesin, African Philosophy: Yoruba Traditional Philosophy and Contemporary African Realities, chap. 1.

(8) D. A. Masolo, African Philosophy in Search of Identity, chap. 7: AExcavating Africa in Western Discourse@ and AConclusion: Experience and African Philosophy@

(7) Kwasi Wiredu, "On Defining African Philosophy," in Tsenay Serequeberhan, ed., African Philosophy: The Essential Readings, (New York: Paragon House, 1991).

I(b) PHILOSOPHY AND INTERCULTURAL DIALOGUE

(1) Kwasi Wiredu, AAfrican Philosophy and Intercultural Dialogue,@ Conference paper (Amsterdam, 1997).

(2) Kwasi Wiredu, Philosophy and an African Culture, chap. 2, esp. Pp. 33-35.

(3) Kwame Gyekye, An Essay on African Philosophical Thought, chap. 2, esp. Pp.32-43.

(4) D. A. Masolo, APhilosophy and Culture: A Critique@ in H. Odera Oruka and D. A Masolo, eds., Philosophy and Cultures.

(5) Evandro Agazzi, APhilosophies as Self-consciousness of Cultures,@ ibid.

(6) Ram Jee Singh, AContemporary Interpretation of Indian Culture: A case for Synthesis,@ ibid.

(7) Frederick Copleston, Philosophy and Cultures

I( c ) CRITIQUE OF RACISM IN THE HISTORY OF WESTERN PHILOSOPHY

(1) Emmanuel Chukwudi Eze, "The Color of Reason: The Idea of "Race" in Kant's Anthropology" in Emmanuel Chukwudi Eze, ed., Postcolonial African Philosophy (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1997)

(2) Tsenay Serequeberhan, "The Critique of Eurocentrism and the Practice of African Philosophy" in Eze, ibid.

(3) Richard H. Popkin, AHume=s Racism@ in The Philosophical Forum, Winter-Spring 1977-78.

II(a) THE IDEA OF AFRICAN RELIGIONS AND THE ROLE OF RELIGION IN AFRICAN LIFE

AND THOUGHT

(1) Kwasi Wiredu, AAfrican Religions from a Philosophical Point of View@ in Philip L Quinn and Charles Taliaferro, eds., A Companion to Philosophy of Religion, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1997.

(2) Rosalind Shaw, AThe Invention of >African Traditional Religions=,@ Religion, Vol. 20, 1990.

(3) Kwame Appiah, In My Father=s House: Africa in the Philosophy of Culture, New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.

(4) Robin Horton, AAfrican Traditional Thought and Western Science@ in Albert Mosley, African Philosophy: Selected Readings, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1995.

ON AKAN THOUGHT GENERALLY

The articles by Minkus ("Causal Theory in Akwapim Akan Philosophy") and Oguah ("African and Western Philosophy: A Comparative Study") mentioned in II(b) and VII below give brief but wide-ranging accounts of Akan thought. They are both well-written and perceptive, thought not necessarily uncontroversial in all aspects. It would be extremely useful to read both of them through at the outset.

II(b) GOD IN AKAN THOUGHT: HIS APPELLATIONS AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS.

(1) Gyekye, Essay, chap. 5, section 1.

(2) George Hagan, "The Concept of Creation in Akan Traditional Thought," (photocopied material from a conference paper)

(3) Kwesi Dickson, Theology in Africa, (New York: Orbis Books, 1984) pp. 47-62.

(4) Abraham, The Mind of Africa, pp. 51-59.

(5) Kofi Asare Opoku, West African Traditional Religion, Chap. 2, esp. pp. 14-27.

(6) B. E. Oguah, "African and Western Philosophy: A Comparative Study,@ pp. 215-217.

III GOD: CREATOR OR ARCHITECT?

(1) Gyekye, Essay, chap. 1 section 1 and chap 12, pp. 195-198.

(2) Hagan, "The Concept of Creation in Akan Traditional Thought."

(3) Kwasi Wiredu, Cultural Universals and Particulars, chap. 9: "African Philosophical Tradition: A Case Study of the Akan," Section III.

(4) Kofi Asare Opoku, West African Traditional Religion, (Singapore: FEP International Private Ltd., 1978) chap. 2, esp. pp. 19ff.

(5) Abraham, The Mind of Africa, Chap 2, Section 2.

(6) E. Bolaji Idowu, Olodumare, God in Yoruba Belief, (London: Longman, 1962) chap. 3.

(7) Roland W. Herpburn, ACreation, the Religious Doctrine of,@ in Paul Edwards, ed., The Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

(8) Anthony Flew, A Dictionary of Philosophy, p. 80: ACreation@

IV HOW IS GOD TO BE KNOWN? THE QUESTION OF FAITH AND REVELATION

(1) B.E. Oguah, "African and Western Philosophy: A Comparative Study," in Wright, ed., African Philosophy: an Introduction.

(2) Abraham, The Mind of Africa, chap. 2, section 2.

(3) Okot p' Bitek, African Religions in Western Scholarship, (Nairobi, Kenya: East African Literature Bureau, 1970) chap. 8.

(4) Kwasi Wiredu, AOn Decolonizing African Religions@ in Decolonizing the Mind: Proceedings of the Colloquium held at UNISA, October 1995, edited by Jeanette Malherbe, Pretoria, South Africa: Department of Philosophy, University of South Africa, 1995, pp 185-186.

(5) John Hick, AFaith,@ Paul Edwards, ed., The Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

(6) John Hick, ARevelation,@ Ibid.

(7) Kwasi Wiredu, AMorality and Religion in Akan Thought@ in Norm R. Allen Jr.,ed., African-American Humanism: An Anthology, p. 219. (On the lack of any doctrine of revelation in Akan religion.)

(8) Kwame Gyekye, An Essay on African Philosophical Thought, pp. 135-136. (On the lack of revelation in Akan religion.)

V THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD

(1) Gyekye, Essay, chap. 5, Section 1.

(2) Abraham, The Mind of Africa, pp. 52-56.

(3) J. B. Danquah, The Akan Doctrine of God, (London: Frank Cass, Second Edition, 1968) pp. 23-29, 55-56, and 87-89.

(4) K. A Busia, "The Ashanti," in Daryll Forde, ed., African Worlds: Studies in the Cosmological Ideas and Social Values of African Peoples, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1954), esp. pp. 191-194.

(5) Kofi Asare Opoku, West African Traditional Religion, chap. 2.

(6) E. Bolaji Idowu, Olodumare: God in Yoruba Belief, Chaps. 4-6.

(7) Kwasi Wiredu, Cultural Universals and Particulars, chap. 9: "African Philosophical Tradition: A Case Study of the Akan," Section III.

(9) H. P. Owen, AGod, Concepts of@ in Paul Edwards, ed., The Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

VI THE PROBLEM OF EVIL AND TWO CONCEPTS OF GOD

(1) Gyekye, Essay, chap. 7, section 4; chap. 12, pp. 200-201.

(2) Danquah, The Akan Doctrine of God, Section 3, chap. 2, esp. pp. 87-89.

(3) B.E. Oguah, "African and Western Philosophy," in Wright, ed., African Philosophy: An Introduction, esp. pp. 217-218

(4) Kofi Asare Opoku, West African Traditional Religion, pp. 27-29

(5) K. A. Busia, AThe African World-View@ in Jacob Drachler, ed., African Heritage, New York: Crowell Collier & Macmillan, 1963.

(6) Helaine Minkus, "Causal Theory in Akwapim Akan Philosophy," in Wright, op. cit., esp. pp. 115-116.

(7) Kwesi Dickson, Theology in Africa, chap. 2, esp. pp. 60-61.

(8) Kwasi Wiredu, AOn Decolonizing African Religions@ in Decolonizing the Mind edited by Jeanette Malherbe, pp. 188-191.

(9) John Hick, AEvil, the Problem of@ in Paul Edwards, ed., The Encyclopedia of Philosophy

(10) Michael Peterson, AThe Problem of Evil@ in Philip L. Quinn and Charles Taliafero, eds., A Companion to Philosophy of Religion.

(11) William L. Rowe, AEvil, the Problem of@ in Donald M. Borchert, ed, The Encyclopedia of Philosophy Supplement.

VII GOD AND THE EXTRA-HUMAN FORCES: NATURE OF THE FORCES, SPIRITUAL OR QUASI-MATERIAL? THE PLACE (OR LACK OF PLACE) OF MYSTICISM IN AFRICAN THOUGHT; AFRICAN ATTITUDE TO NATURE AND THE QUESTION OF ANIMISM; RELATIONSHIP OF THE FORCES TO GOD.

(1) K. A. Busia, `The Ashanti' in Forde, African Worlds, pp. 193- 196, 201, 205-206. (But see also Busia's remark on animism in his The Challenge of Africa, New York: Frederick A. Praeger Publisher, 1962, p. 19.)

(2) William Abraham, The Mind of Africa, pp. 56-58 (on the status of the `gods')

(3) Helaine Minkus, "Causal Theory in Akwapim Akan Philosophy," in Richard A. Wright, African Philosophy: An Introduction, pp. 117-131.

(4) Kofi Asare Opoku, West African Traditional Religion, chap. 1, esp. pp. 1-3; Chap 3 ("The Ancestors"); chap. 4 ("Divinities and Spirits") and chap. 6 ("Mystical Forces and Medicine")

(5) E. G. Parrinder, "Mysticism in African Religion," in J. S. Pobee, ed., Religion in a Pluralistic Society, Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1976.

(6) Kwasi Wiredu, Philosophy and An African Culture, chap. 7 ("Philosophy, Mysticism and Rationality")

(7) John S. Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy, chap. 8.

(8) E. Bolaji Idowu, African Traditional Religion: A Definition, (London: SCM Press Ltd., 1973), chap 4, esp. pp. 128-134.

(9) Kwesi Dickson, Theology in Africa, pp. 52-59 (Relationship of the forces to God), pp. 47-52 (African attitude to `nature').

(11) Kwasi Wiredu, Cultural Universals and Particulars, chap 5. (On the spiritual and the quasi-material etc.)

VIII IS BELIEF IN A SUPREME BEING UNIVERSAL IN AFRICA?

(1) Okot p'Bitek, African Religions in Western Scholarship, chap. 8 & 10.

(2) Okot p'Bitek, Religion of the Central Luo, (Nairobi, Kenya: East African Literature Bureau, 1971) chap. 3.

(3) J. J. Maquet, "The Kingdom of Ruanda," in Daryll Forde, ed., African Worlds, pp 166-170.

(4) John S. Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy, pp. 36 & 39.

IX TIME AND SPACE IN AFRICAN THOUGHT

(1) Kwame Gyekye, An Essay on African Philosophical Thought, chap. 11, section 2.

(2) John. S. Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy, chap.3.

(3) John Parratt, "Time in Traditional African Thought," Religion: Journal of Religion and Religions, Vol. 7, Autumn, 1977.

(4) John A.A. Ayoade, "Time in Yoruba Thought," in Richard A. Wright, ed., African Philosophy: An Introduction.

(5) Alexis Kagame, "The Empirical Apperception of Time and the Conception of History in Bantu Thought," in Paul Ricoeur, ed., Cultures and Time, Paris: The UNESCO Press, 1976.

(6) D. A. Masolo, African Philosophy in Search of Identity, pp. 108-129: AAfrican Concept of Time in Mbiti and its relation to Christian Eschatology@

(7) Kwasi Wiredu, "On the Empirical Character of Akan Thought," (photocopy of paper presented at Haverford College, Pennsylvania, April 1986).

(8) Kwasi Wiredu, ATime and African Thought@ in D. Tiemersma and H. A. F. Oosterling, eds., Time and Temporality in Intercultural Perspective.

(9) Cornelius Benjamin, AIdeas of Time in the History of Philosophy@ in J. T. Fraser, The Voices of Time (New York: George Frazer, 1966).

(10) W. H. Newton-Smith, ASpace, Time and Space-Time@ in Paul K. Moser, Reality in Focus (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall 1990).

X CAUSE, CHANCE AND PURPOSE IN AFRICAN THOUGHT

(1) Gyekye, Essay, chap. 5, section 2; chap. 12, pp. 197-198.

(2) J.O. Sodipo, "Notes on the Concept of Cause and Chance in Yoruba Traditional Thought," Second Order: An African Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 2, No. 2, July 1973.

(3) Robin Horton, "African Traditional Thought and Western Science," in Bryan R. Wilson, ed., Rationality, (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1974). Also in Albert G. Mosley, ed., African Philosophy: Selected Readings.

(4) Helaine Minkus, "Causal Theory in Akwapim Akan Philosophy," in Richard A. Wright, ed., African Philosophy: An Introduction, esp. pp. 115, 124, 141.

(5) K. A. Busia, The Challenge of Africa, pp. 19-21.

(6) P.O. Bodunrin, "The Question of African Philosophy," in Wright, op. cit., pp. 14-17.

(7) Kwasi Wiredu, "Death and the Afterlife in African Culture," in Arthur Berger et al., eds., Perspectives on Death and Dying: Cross-Cultural and Inter-Disciplinary Views, (Philadelphia: The Charles Press, 1989, esp. p. 33. Also in Wiredu and Gyekye, eds., Person and Community.)

XI THE CONCEPT OF A PERSON

(1) Gyekye, Essay, chap. 6; chap. 12, pp. 197-198.

(2) Ifeanyi A. Menkiti, "Person and Community in African Traditional Thought,@ in Richard Wright, ed., African Philosophy: An Introduction.

(3) Kwame Gyekye, "Person and Community in Akan Thought," in Kwasi Wiredu and Kwame Gyekye, eds., Person and Community: Ghanaian Philosophical Studies.

(4) Joyce Engmann, "Immortality and the Nature of Man in Ga Thought," in Wiredu and Gyekye, ibid.

(5) Kwasi Wiredu, "The Concept of Mind with Particular Reference to the Language and Thought of The Akans," in G. Floistad, ed., Contemporary Philosophy: A New Survey, Vol. 5: African Philosophy (Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1987), section 3.

(6) Kwasi Wiredu, "African Concept of Personhood," in Harley E. Flack and Edmund D. Pellegrino, African-American Perspectives on Biomedical Ethics, (Georgetown University Press, 1992).

(7) William Abraham, The Mind of Africa, pp. 59-64

(8) K. A. Busia, "The Ashanti," in Daryll Forde, ed., African Worlds, pp. 196-200.

(9) Kofi Asare Opoku, West African Traditional Religion, chap 5, esp. pp. 91-103 and 137-139.

(10) B. E Oguah, "African and Western Philosophy: A comparative Study," in Richard Wright, op. cit. pp. 214-215.

(11) E. Bolaji Idowu, Olodumare: God in Yoruba Belief, pp. 169-174 and chap. 14.

(12) Barry Hallen, "A Philosophical Approach to Traditional Culture," Theoria to Theory, Vol. 9, 1975, esp. pp. 264-270.

(13) P.O. Bodunrin, "The Question of African Philosophy," in Richard Wright, op. cit., pp. 8-10 and 16-17. (Comments on Hallen.)

(14) Segun Gbadegesin, African Philosophy: Traditional Yoruba Philosophy and Contemporary African Realities, chap. 2 ("Eniyan: The Yoruba Concept of a Person").

(15) Kwasi Wiredu, Cultural Universals and Particulars, Chap. 9, Section

(16) Arthur C. Danto, APersons@ in Paul Edwards, ed., The Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

XI(b) IMMORTALITY

(1) John S. Mbiti, African religions and Philosophy, pp. 25-27 and chapter 14.

(2) Kwasi Wiredu, "Death and the Afterlife in African Thought,@ in Wiredu and Gyekye, eds., Person and Community.

(3) Kwame Gyekye, An Essay on African Philosophical Thought, p. 168.

(4) Joyce Engmann, "Immortality and the Nature of Man in Ga Thought,@ ibid.

(5) Anthony Flew, AImmortality@ in Paul Edwards, ed., The Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

(6) Stephen Davies, ASurvival of Death@, in Philip L. Quinn and Charles Taliafero, Companion to Philosophy of Religion.

XII THE CONCEPT OF MIND

(1) Kwasi Wiredu, "The Concept of Mind with Particular Reference to the Language and Thought of the Akans," in Guttorm Floistad, Contemporary Philosophy: A New Survey, Vol. 5: African Philosophy. Also in Safro Kwame, ed., Readings in African Philosophy: An Akan Collection, New York: University Press of America, 1995.

(2) Kwasi Wiredu, AConceptual Decolonization as an Imperative in Contemporary African Philosophy: A personal Illustration@, Conference Paper, Vienna, 1995, PP 4-5 of typescript.

(3) Kwame Gyekye, An Essay on African Philosophical Thought, chap. 6, esp p. 8 and chap 11, pp. 163-168.

(4) Segun Gbadegesin, African Philosophy: Traditional Yoruba Philosophy and Contemporary African Realities, chap. 2, esp. pp. 40-41.

(5) Kwame Anthony Appiah, In My Father=s House, Chap.5, pp. 98-100.

(6) Jerome Shaffer, "Mind-Body Problem@ in Paul Edwards, The Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

(7) Kwame Anthony Appiah, Necessary Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy, Chap. 1: AMind.@

XIII FATE AND DESTINY: AKAN CONCEPTIONS, COMPARISON WITH YORUBA AND LUO CONCEPTIONS; IS DESTINY ALTERABLE? GOD AND THE PRAGMATIC CONCEPT OF DESTINY.

(1) Kwame Gyekye, An Essay on African Philosophical Thought, chap. 7, esp. pp. 104-123, chap. 12, pp. 199- 200.

(2) Kofi Asare Opoku, West African Traditional Religion, pp. 100-103.

(3) Helaine Minkus, "Causal Theory in Akwapim Akan Philosophy," in Richard Wright, ed., African Philosophy, An Introduction, pp. 132-135.

(4) Kwesi Dickson, Aspects of Religion and Life in Africa, (Accra, Ghana: Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1979, chap.1.

(5) Kwasi Wiredu, Philosophy and An African Culture, pp. 16-20.

(6) Kwasi Wiredu, "The Concept of Destiny in Akan Thought," (typescript).

(7) E. Bolaji Idowu, Olodumare: God in Yoruba Belief, chap. 13.<