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Original scientific paper

https://doi.org/10.21464/sp35108

Complementarism and Consolationism: Mapping Out a 21st-Century African Philosophical Trajectory

Ada Agada orcid id orcid.org/0000-0002-3616-3608 ; University of Calabar, The Conversational School of Philosophy, Box 3684, Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria


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Full text: french pdf 427 Kb

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Full text: german pdf 427 Kb

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Abstract

African philosophy has been compelled to constantly define itself in relation to a domineering Western philosophy given the historical circumstances of colonialism and the dual heritage of the professional African philosopher, who is at once an African by cultural affiliation and a participant in Western civilisation by reason of their Western education. Many notable African philosophers have responded to the challenge posed by the tremendous success of Western philosophy by philosophising in ways that seek to transcend a purely Afrocentric agenda on the one hand and an uncritical acceptance of Western philosophical methods on the other hand. In this paper, I present and interrogate the response of the noted Nigerian philosopher, Innocent Asouzu, to the crisis of identity in African philosophy. I demonstrate that Asouzu’s ibuanyidanda philosophy of complementarism is a philosophical synthesis that seeks to transcend the famous universalism-particularism divide in African philosophy. Adopting an expository, analytical, and evaluative methodology, I show how the philosophical current of consolationism advances the philosophical trajectory Asouzu was blazing. I introduce into African philosophical discourse the universal category of consolation which supplies a panpsychist framework for exploring meaning in a tragic universe.

Keywords

complementarism; consolationism; African philosophy; ibuanyidanda philosophy; mood; panpsychism

Hrčak ID:

246333

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/246333

Publication date:

24.9.2020.

Article data in other languages: croatian french german

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