Philosophy and African Development : Theory and Practice

Authors

Samir Amin
Wilfred L. David
Souleymane Bachir Diagne
Paulin Hountondji
Messay Kebede
Sanya Osha
Kwesi Kwaa Prah
Jean-Pierre Ymele
Eiman Osman Zein-Elabdin
publication system

Keywords:

Philosophy
African Development
Theory
Practice

Synopsis

Philosophy and African Development:Theory and Practice appraises development in a holistic manner. It goes beyond the usual measurement in terms of economic achievement and widens the scope to include the impact that history of ideas, political theory, sociology, social and political philosophy, and political economy have had on development in Africa. It is a departure from the traditional treatment of development by economists who point towards the so-called time-tested assertions and recommendations for ‘sustainable development’, but which are yet bring about significant change in the economies of the so-called ‘developing’ societies. It is on account of the failures of the economic development theory, with its tepid prescriptions for ‘sustainable development’ and ‘poverty reduction’ that theories of development have now been expanded from mere economic analysis to include considerations of history, sociology, political economy and anthropology, as could be discovered in this book.

Most of the contributions in this book have been prepared by philosophers across Africa and the United States who implicitly practise their discipline as one whose most effective modern function would be to appraise the human experience in all its dimensions from the standpoints of modern social and natural sciences, all disciplinary offspring of philosophy itself. With chapters ranging from issues of modernity and religious interpretations, the human right to development, the idea of ‘African time’, the primacy of mental decolonisation, and the type of education we are offering in Africa today and as a tool for development, to development planning, science, technology and globalisation, as well as issues of post-coloniality among others, the tenor of the contributions is not only proportional, but also engaged in the meta-analysis of the theories on which the concept of development is founded and practised.

This book is strongly recommended as a useful text in the hands of scholars, researchers and students of development studies. It approaches the important
issue of African development from the broad perspective of the social sciences in general, and buttresses this with the keen analytical approach of its contributors.

Chapters

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Author Biographies

Lansana Keita

 is Associate Professor of Economics and Philosophy at the University of the Gambia. His publications include Science, Rationality and Neoclassical Economics (1992) and Philosophy and Development (2004).

Samir Amin

 is Director of Third World Forum, Senegal. His most recent publications
include Eurocentrism (1989 and 2010), Capitalism in the Age of Globalization (1997), and Aid to
Africa: Redeemer or Coloniser (2009).

Wilfred L. David

is Professor of African Studies, Howard University, USA. Among his
publications are The Conversation of Economic Development (1997) and The Humanitarian
Development Paradigm: Search for Global Justice (2004).

Souleymane Bachir Diagne

is Professor of Philosophy, Columbia University, USA. His
recent publications include (co-editor) The Meanings of Timbuktu (2008) and Comment philosopher en Islam (2010).

Lewis R. Gordon

is Professor of Philosophy, Temple University , USA. Among his publications are Fanon and the Crisis of European Man (1995) and Divine Warning: Reading Disaster in
the Modern Age (2009).

Paulin Hountondji

 is Professor of Philosophy, Universite’ de Cotonou, Republique du
Benin. He is author of African Philosophy: Myth and Reality (1983) and La rationalite’, une ou
plurielle? (2007).

Messay Kebede

 is Professor of Philosophy, University of Dayton, USA. He is the author
of Meaning and Development (1994) and most recently Education, Politics and Social Change in
Ethiopia (2010).

Francis B. Nyamnjoh

 is Professor of Social Anthropology, University of Cape Town,
South Africa. Among his publications are Insiders and Outsiders: Citizenship and Xenophobia in
Contemporary Southern Africa (2006) and Intimate Strangers (2010).

Sanya Osha

is Research Fellow at the Institute of Economic Research on Innovation,
Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, South Africa. He is the author of Kwasi Wiredu
and Beyond: The Text, Writing and Thought in Africa and Ken Saro-Wiwa’s Shadow (2007).

Kwesi Kwaa Prah

 is Director of the Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society
(CASAS), Cape Town, South Africa. He is co-author of Africa in Transformation: Political and
Economic Transformation and Socio-Political Responses in Africa (2000). He is also a co-author
of African Perspectives on China in Africa (2007).

Godfrey B. Tangwa

 is Professor of Philosophy, University of Yaounde I, Cameroon. He
is the author of Road Companion to Democracy and Meritocracy (1998) and The Traditional
African Perception of a Person: Some Implications for Bioethics (2000).

Jean-Pierre Ymele

 is Lecturer, Department of Philosophy, University of Yaounde I,
Cameroon. He is the author of ‘De Descartes a Newton: la querrelle des “qualites occultes”
et l’ouverture de la rationalite’, Terroirs, April, 2007, and ‘Le vanhivaux : regard sociologique’, Share. Revue de communication scientifique , Vol. 1, No. 1, 2009.

Eiman Osman Zein-Elabdin

 is Professor, Department of Economics, Franklin and
Marshall College, USA. She is co-editor of Postcolonialism Meets Economics (2004) and author
of Economics, Culture and Development (2010).

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Published

April 29, 2011

Details about the available publication format: PDF file

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Physical Dimensions

Details about the available publication format: Preface

Preface

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Details about the available publication format: Modernity and Religious Interpretations

Modernity and Religious Interpretations

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Details about the available publication format: The Human Right to Development

The Human Right to Development

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Details about the available publication format: On Prospective: Development and a Political Culture of Time

On Prospective: Development and a Political Culture of Time

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Details about the available publication format: Fanon and Development: A Philosophical Look

Fanon and Development: A Philosophical Look

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Details about the available publication format: Dialogue with Lansana Keita: Reflections on African Development

Dialogue with Lansana Keita: Reflections on African Development

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Details about the available publication format: African Development and the Primacy of Mental Decolonisation

African Development and the Primacy of Mental Decolonisation

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Details about the available publication format: Philosophy and Development: On the Problematic African Development - A Diachronic Analysis

Philosophy and Development: On the Problematic African Development - A Diachronic Analysis

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Details about the available publication format: A Relevant Education for African Development: Some Epistemological Considerations

A Relevant Education for African Development: Some Epistemological Considerations

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Details about the available publication format: Culture: The Missing Link in Development Planning in Africa

Culture: The Missing Link in Development Planning in Africa

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Details about the available publication format: Appraising Africa: Modernity, Decolonisation and Globalisation

Appraising Africa: Modernity, Decolonisation and Globalisation

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Details about the available publication format: Philosophy, Democracy and Development: History and the Case of Cameroon

Philosophy, Democracy and Development: History and the Case of Cameroon

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Details about the available publication format: Science, Technology and Development: Stakes of Globalisation

Science, Technology and Development: Stakes of Globalisation

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Details about the available publication format: Postcoloniality and Development: Development as a Colonial Discourse

Postcoloniality and Development: Development as a Colonial Discourse

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