Tradition and modernity : philosophical reflections on the African experience

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Title:

Tradition and modernity : philosophical reflections on the African experience

Author:

Gyekye, Kwame.

ISBN:

9780195112252

9780195112269

Personal Author:

Gyekye, Kwame.

Publication Information:

New York : Oxford University Press, 1997.

Physical Description:

xix, 338 p. ; 24 cm.

Contents:

Philosophy and human affairs -- Person and community : in defense of moderate communitarianism -- Ethnicity, identity, and nationhood -- Traditional political ideas, values, and practices : their status in the modern setting -- The socialist interlude -- Quandaries in the legitimation of political power -- Political corruption : a moral pollution -- Tradition and modernity -- Epilogue : which modernity? whose tradition?

Geographic Term:

Africa, Sub-Saharan -- Civilization -- Philosophy.

Electronic Access:

Publisher description http://www.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy0605/96023814-d.html
Contributor biographical information http://www.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy0724/96023814-b.html

Copies:

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Item Barcode	Shelf Number	Copy	Status
Searching... 1:IIEMSA	1:GEN-BOOK	33168023690742	960.301 G996T 1997	1	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

This book offers a philosophical interpretation and critical analysis of the African cultural experience in modern times. In their attempt to evolve ways of life appropriate to our modern world culture, says Kwame Gyekye, African people face a number of unique societal challenges, some stemming from the values and practices of their traditional cultures, others representing the legacy of European colonialism. Defending the cross-cultural applicability of philosophical concepts developed in Western culture, Gyekye attempts to show the usefulness of such concepts in addressing a wide range of concrete and specifically African problems. Among the issues he considers are: economic development, nation-building, the evolution of viable and appropriate democratic political institutions, the development of appropriate and credible ideologies, political corruption, and the crumbling of traditional moral standards in the wake of rapid social change. Throughout, Gyekye challenges the notion that modernity for Africa must be equated with Western values and institutions, arguing instead that African modernity must be forged creatively within the furnace of Africa's many-sided cultural experience. A timely and powerful addition to postcolonial theory, Tradition and Modernity will interest scholars and students working in philosophy, political science, sociology, and African studies.