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The Struggle for Meaning: Reflections on Philosophy, Culture, and Democracy in Africa
Contributor(s): Hountondji, Paulin J. (Author)
ISBN: 0896802256     ISBN-13: 9780896802254
Publisher: Ohio University Press
OUR PRICE:   $36.58  
Product Type: Paperback
Published: December 2002
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Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- Philosophy | History & Surveys - Modern
Dewey: 199.66
LCCN: 2002075229
Series: Research in International Studies: Africa
Physical Information: 0.75" H x 7.14" W x 8.32" (0.86 lbs) 368 pages
 
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Publisher Description:

The Struggle for Meaning is a landmark publication by one of African philosophy's leading figures, Paulin J. Hountondji, best known for his critique of ethnophilosophy in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In this volume, he responds with autobiographical and philosophical reflection to the dialogue and controversy he has provoked. He discusses the ideas, rooted in the work of such thinkers as Husserl and Hountondji's former teachers Derrida, Althusser, and Ricoeur, that helped shape his critique.

Applying his philosophical ideas to the critical issues of democracy, culture, and development in Africa today, he addresses three crucial topics: the nexus between scientific extraversion and economic dependence; the nature of endogenous traditions of thought and their relationship with modern science; and the implications--for political pluralism and democracy--of the emergence of "philosophies of subject" in Africa.

While the book's immediate concern is with Africa, the densely theoretical nature of its analyses, and its bearing on current postmodern theories of the "other," will make this timely and elegant translation of great interest to many disciplines, especially ethnic, gender, and multicultural studies.