ASRC 2020

Introduction to African Philosophy

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2014-2015.

The central questions of philosophy are perennial and universal. But the answers that are given to them are always historical and idiomatic.  This course aims to introduce its enrollees to how these questions have been answered in the global African world made up of, specifically Africans, African Americans, and peoples of African descent in the African Diaspora; how they have thought about and sought to make sense of or solve some of the same philosophical problems that have remained at the core of the "Western" tradition. The readings for the course are chosen from a global African perspective. This does not mean that we will not read any of the 'traditional' texts. What it means is that we will be yielding the pride of place to much maligned and characteristically absent from the "mainstream" philosophical traditions and the ideas of people that are not normally considered worthy of study in the American academy. We wish to broaden our repertoire so that, at the end of the class, our knowledge will reflect the comparative perspectives that studying different traditions can offer while at the same time giving us access to the wisdom of peoples other than our own.

When Offered Fall.

Distribution Category (SBA-AS)

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