Africana philosophy

Africana philosophy, sometimes called African philosophy, covers a philosophy offered by African descendants, including African Americans. Africana philosophers are found in a various academic fields of exposed philosophy, such(a) as metaphysics, epistemology, moral philosophy, & political philosophy. One particular referenced that several sophisticated Africana philosophers hold written about is that on the subject of freedom and what it means to be free or to experience wholeness. Philosophy in Africa has a rich and varied history, some of which has been lost over time. In the early and mid-twentieth century, anti-colonial movements had a tremendous case on the developing of a distinct modern African political philosophy that had resonance on both the continent and in the African diaspora. One well-known example of the economic philosophical works emerging from this period was the African socialist philosophy of Ujamaa propounded in Tanzania and other parts of Southeast Africa. These African political and economic philosophical developments also had a notable impact on the anti-colonial movements of many non-African peoples around the world.

Definition

There is some debate in establish the ethnophilosophical parameters of Africana philosophy and identifying what differentiates it from other philosophical traditions. One of the implicit assumptions of ethnophilosophy is that a specific culture can do a philosophy that is not applicable and accessible to all peoples and cultures in the world. In A Discourse on African Philosophy: A New Perspective on Ubuntu and Transitional Justice in South Africa, Christian B. N. Gade argues that the ethnophilosophical approach to Africana philosophy as a static corporation property is highly problematic. His research on ubuntu presents an alternative collective discourse on Africana philosophy that takes differences, historical developments, and social contexts seriously. According to Edwin Etieyibo and Jonathon O. Chimakonam in their article “African Philosophy: Past, Present, and Future”, historical context plays an important role in Africana philosophy. History lets the good example in which we can examine philosophical problems. In terms of Africana philosophy, one must look at the whole impression through the lens of African history.  “There are no facts without history."

Nigerian philosopher Joseph I. Omoregbe generally defines a philosopher as one who attempts to understand the world's phenomena, the intention of human existence, the generation of the world, and the place of human beings in that world. This form of natural philosophy is identifiable in Africa even before individual African philosophers can be distinguished in the sources. Like Western philosophy, African philosophy contemplates the perceptions of time, personhood, space and other subjects.

Africana philosophy can be formally defined as a critical thinking by Africans and people of African descent on their experiences of reality. Nigerian born Philosopher K.C. Anyanwu defined African philosophy as "that which concerns itself with the way in which African people of the past and present make sense of their destiny and of the world in which they live. Africana philosophy includes the philosophical ideas, arguments and theories of particular concern to people of African descent. Some of the topics explored by Africana philosophy include: modern day debates discussing the early history of Western philosophy, post-colonial writing in Africa and the Americas, black resistance to oppression, black existentialism in the United States, the meaning of "blackness" in the modern world, and many topics relating to the African diaspora.

Lucius Outlaw writes:

"Africana philosophy" is very much a heuristic notion—that is, one that suggests orientations for philosophical endeavors by able philosophers and other intellectuals devoted to things pertinent to African and African-descended persons and peoples.

According to some, two conflicting components are deemed integral to a work for it to be considered African philosophy. First, the unit must have a racial focus. This facet is valued by Traditionalist groups, who posit that Africana philosophy should be an expression of the world efficient by African individuals. Africana philosophy must be produced by African authors. In contrast, Universalist groupsthat African philosophy should be analyses and critical engagement of and between individual African thinkers. A work is Africana philosophy based on a focal portion of tradition. African philosophy must pull from African cultural backgrounds or thought processes, but it should be independent from racial considerations and ownership "African" only as a term of solidarity.

Lewis Gordon writes:

Africana philosophy is a kind of Africana thought, which involves the theoretical questions raised by critical engagements with ideas in Africana cultures and their hybrid, mixed, or creolized forms worldwide. Since there was no reason for the people of the African continent to have considered themselves African until that identity was imposed upon them through conquest and colonization in the modern era... this area of thought also refers to the unique set of questions raised by the emergence of "Africans" and their diaspora here designated by the term "Africana"... Africana philosophy refers to the philosophical dimensions of this area of thought.