Deliberation is central to the pursuit of justice in African societies. In practices variously called palaver, public meetings or village assembly, attempts are made to do justice through deliberation. When parties disagree during a deliberation, they may choose to go their separate ways, or they may agree to reconvene on another date. Notwithstanding the positive senses in which otherness may be conceived, in this paper I consider the challenge negative constructions of otherness pose for the pursuit of justice through deliberation. (...) Is justice realizable through deliberation, if one or more parties to the deliberation regard other parties as absolute others, that is, as embodiment of everything abhorrent or aberrant? Through consideration of two models of deliberation – irenic and agonistic deliberation – I argue that the nature of a deliberation determines whether it must contend with the challenge of otherness. More generally, I argue that deliberation as a means to justice ultimately is contin... (shrink)

Can Philosophy perform a useful function in contemporary society? This question is usually answered in the affirmative by philosophy teachers who point to the development of the mind as its most important tool, claiming thereby that this prepares students for entry into any profession. Over the years this answer has become less persuasive as students and academic administrators become more and more interested in courses which either train students for entry into a profession or add value to such training. The (...) advent of Philosophical Practice has attempted to remove this doubt concerning the instrumental uses of philosophy and what follows consists of an attempt to show how courses in Critical Thinking can be used to redress perceived short comings in students’ attitude and approach to learning. It focuses on the ‘culture of silence’ which describes the tendency of university students to shy away from intellectual conversations in the classroom and has been identified as a detrimental learner/graduate attribute in an African university and demonstrates how a form of critical thinking therapy can redress the problem. (shrink)