The history of the methodology of African philosophy can be divided into two periods: the nascent stage that’s characterized by a rigor-demand, and the contemporary stage that’s characterized by a relevance-demand. In this, paper, I argue for one way to strike the appropriate balance between relevance and rigor in African philosophy. Specifically, I argue that the unconscious rejection of conceptual analysis as a philosophical method by contemporary African philosophers played a major role in how African philosophy came to be characterized (...) by a relevance-demand. Consequently, I submit that even though being only or excessively relevance-oriented is not bad, African philosophy would become rich enough to compete with other regional philosophies—Western, Chinese, and so on—if it re-installs conceptual analysis as part of its methodology. (shrink)

Discusses the conditions of possibility for intercultural and comparative philosophy, and for crosscultural communication at large. This innovative book explores the preconditions necessary for intercultural and comparative philosophy. Philosophical practices that involve at least two different traditions with no common heritage and whose languages have very different grammatical structure, such as Indo-Germanic languages and classical Chinese, are a particular focus. Lin Ma and Jaap van Brakel look at the necessary and not-so-necessary conditions of possibility of interpretation, comparison, and other forms (...) of interaction and how we can speak of similarities and differences in this context. The authors posit that it is necessary to dissolve the question of universalism versus relativism by replacing the ideal language paradigm with a paradigm of family resemblances and that it is not necessary to share a common language to engage in comparison. Numerous case studies are presented, including many comparisons of Western and Chinese concepts. (shrink)

Against a background of the predominance of Western philosophy in Africa, and the marginalisation of African philosophy (real or perceived), it is, or at least it should be, evident that the quest to Africanise the philosophy curricula in universities in Africa is a welcome initiative. Even so, this paper argues that there are some serious challenges that will need to be addressed if this initiative is to be accomplished successfully. The challenges at issue include the tension between Western philosophy and (...) African philosophy, and relatedly, some key controversies within African philosophy. Looking at philosophy as arising from and pointing to the nature of human beings as rational creatures, this paper argues for a review of the predominant conception of philosophy in order to establish an understanding of philosophy that will make the Africanisation initiative much more viable. In so doing, it will be possible to address the tension between Western philosophy and African philosophy, not to mention some controversies within African philosophy as well. In order to avoid some of the problems that may be associated with Afrocentric positions in dealing with Africanisation, I suggest that the focus should be on making philosophy relevant to Africa and not to make Africa relevant to philosophy. I have also taken note of the challenge of how to balance the practical and pure intellectual aspects of philosophy. In considering the prospects, the paper will also outline some of the key benefits that can arise from Africanising the philosophy curricula in universities in Africa. (shrink)

The Southern Journal of Philosophy, Volume 60, Issue 2, Page 154-172, June 2022.