"Hountondji... writes not as an 'African' philosopher but as a
philosopher on Africa.... Hountondji's deep understanding of any
civilization as necessarily pluralistic, and often even
self-contradicting as it evolves, is simply magisterial.... This is
a precious gem of a book for anyone who wishes to reflect on
civilization and culture." Choice
In this incisive, original exploration of the nature and future
of African philosophy, Paulin J. Hountondji attacks a myth
popularized by ethnophilosophers such as Placide Tempels and Alexis
Kagame that there is an indigenous, collective African philosophy
separate and distinct from the Western philosophical tradition.
Hountondji contends that ideological manifestations of this view
that stress the uniqueness of the African experience are
protonationalist reactions against colonialism conducted,
paradoxically, in the terms of colonialist discourse. Hountondji
argues that a genuine African philosophy must assimilate and
transcend the theoretical heritage of Western philosophy and must
reflect a rigorous process of independent scientific inquiry. This
edition is updated with a new preface in which Hountondji responds
to his critics and clarifies misunderstandings about the book's
conceptual framework."
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