Papers by Bernard Matolino
Springer eBooks, 2018
Talk of a future presupposes the existence of a past and a present. Anticipating the future may e... more Talk of a future presupposes the existence of a past and a present. Anticipating the future may effectively be a search to break with either the past or the present or both. Alternatively, talk of the future may seek to affirm the veracity and efficacy of either the past or the present, or both. Through a brief and selective analysis of the development of philosophy thus far on this continent, I seek to offer reasons why we should not talk of the future of African philosophy. The legitimacy of the refusal to talk about the future of African philosophy will principally rest on rejecting an essentialist but subtle rendering of what is African; and what is philosophy prefixed by African. Positively, I wish to offer an outline of what I consider to be the task of any philosopher in any environment.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Routledge eBooks, Jul 10, 2023
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Arụmarụka, Jan 18, 2023
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Routledge eBooks, Jun 8, 2022
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Arụmarụka: Journal of Conversational Thinking, 2022
Jonathan Chimakonam’s advocacy of conversational thinking has taken African philosophy by storm. ... more Jonathan Chimakonam’s advocacy of conversational thinking has taken African philosophy by storm. It is not an exaggeration to say that no one working in African philosophy, today, can say they are unaware of the so-called Conversational Society of Philosophy (CSP). Equally, I doubt if anyone working in the field could ever say they are not aware of the name Johnathan Chimakonam. His courageous effort to advance a particular form of thinking in the African philosophical tradition is a welcome innovation. While I admire his efforts, I remain unconvinced by some of his claims. Two important claims will be the target of my discussion. The first is his insistence on using very strange language in the pursuit of a conversation. The second is his insistence that his methodology is different from other forms of philosophizing.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
South African Journal of Philosophy, 2009
The question of what political system best suites post colonial/independent African states remain... more The question of what political system best suites post colonial/independent African states remain alive and ever more pertinent particularly in the face of failed attempts at democratisation. Kwasi Wiredu notes that the adversarial nature of Western democratic practices along party ...
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
South African Journal of Philosophy, 2009
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
African Philosophy and the Epistemic Marginalization of Women
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
African Studies
Every human society has a history that it takes pride in. In times of despair there could be invo... more Every human society has a history that it takes pride in. In times of despair there could be invocation or calls to return to that history either as an informant of correct practice or as an inspiration of what current practice should be. Hence some African scholars and politicians have made calls that seek to return to that source. At least three problems pose some significant threat to the project of the return to the source. Firstly, there is a problem of interpreting what the exact nature of that traditional set up was, secondly there is a problem of working out how the traditional mode can fit into the modern, and thirdly there is the problem of the possibility that different sources existed in that pristine past. Without an adequate response to these threats, the return may not be as smooth as its advocates have thought it to be.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
African Virtue Ethics Traditions for Business and Management
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Transformation in Higher Education
Philosophy teachers owe their students a little more than mere formal instruction of topics popul... more Philosophy teachers owe their students a little more than mere formal instruction of topics popular in philosophy. What they owe their students is largely influenced by philosophy’s claims to be a discipline that is principally dedicated to the study and fostering of wisdom. Therefore, there is an obligation to be wise on the part of philosophy teachers so that they can deliver that wisdom. A big part of this would involve a sort of transformation in knowledge and character that the teachers themselves must go through as a result of engaging in philosophy. Such transformation will not only show in ways that philosophers live their private lives, as wise people, but will certainly show in the topics they teach their students and how they help their students to wisely respond to their environment through an enlightened, relevant and empowering curriculum. If philosophers fail at this task, they will only dispatch fragmented pieces of information about philosophical topics and method t...
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Filosofia Theoretica: Journal of African Philosophy, Culture and Religions
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Theoria
In classical African communitarianism, individual rights have tended to be accorded a secondary s... more In classical African communitarianism, individual rights have tended to be accorded a secondary status to the good of the community. What is prioritised are the duties and obligations the individual has to the whole as opposed to the entitlements one can expect to derive from a community qua individual. I seek to show that this view, by its own standards and assumptions, is erroneous in framing rights as secondary to the good of the community. I attempt to show that individual rights are an inherent component of classical African communitarian accounts. Further, I seek to argue for a non-communalist view of African communitarianism which takes into full account the multiple factors that constitute modern African communities. Such a view, I suggest, will avoid the unnecessary dichotomisation of rights which has become synonymous with the classical African communitarian account.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Filosofia Theoretica: Journal of African Philosophy, Culture and Religions
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Phronimon
Taking it to be the case that there are reasonable grounds to compare African communitarianism an... more Taking it to be the case that there are reasonable grounds to compare African communitarianism and Aristotle’s eudaimonia, or any aspect of African philosophy with some ancient Greek philosophy,1;2 I suggest that it is worthwhile to revisit an interesting aspect of interpreting Aristotelian virtue and how that sort of interpretation may rehabilitate the role of emotion in African communitarianism. There has been debate on whether Aristotle’s ethic is exclusively committed to an intellectualist version or a combination of intellectualism and emotion. There are good arguments for holding either view. The same has not quite been attempted with African communitarianism. This paper seeks to work out whether African communitarianism can be viewed on an exclusively emotional basis or a combination of emotion and intellect.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Phronimon
In recent times there has been an upsurge in the rejection of gay orientation. A number of Africa... more In recent times there has been an upsurge in the rejection of gay orientation. A number of African countries have openly legislated against homosexual acts to undergird the belief that such orientation is alien to being African. The vitriol directed at gay people does not make much sense apart from displaying either a deep-seated resentment for the persons or their orientation. What seems valuable and worth of engagement is the claim that being gay or upholding same-sex orientation, is essentially un-African. By setting up a charitable interpretation of what opponents of same-sex relations could possibly take African reality to be, I chart a way that seeks to establish whether their interpretation of that reality is philosophically sound. What could be the basis of objections to homosexuality? What values do they articulate? Crucial to this consideration is the idea of harm. While societies are entitled to protecting themselves (through legislation and other actions if need be) from...
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Philosophical Papers
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Acta Academica, 2017
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Handbook of Research on Social, Cultural, and Educational Considerations of Indigenous Knowledge in Developing Countries, 2000
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Uploads
Papers by Bernard Matolino