Ethnophilosophy as a Global Development Goal

Tartaglia, James

Abstract

The ethnophilosophy debate in African philosophy has been primarily concerned with the nature and future direction of African philosophy, but I approach it in search of lessons about philosophy in general. I show how this ongoing debate has been obscured by varying understandings of "ethnophilosophy" and that a de facto victory has long since transpired, since "ethnophilosophy", in the sense I recommend, is flourishing. I argue that the political arguments with which Hountondji and Wiredu initiated the debate in the 1970s supervene on the metaphilosophical view that ethnophilosophy, if philosophy at all, is of a poor standard. Showing that ethnophilosophy must indeed be philosophy, I argue that the critics' low opinions of it depend on unrealistic assumptions about how philosophy makes progress. I conclude that Africa is lucky to have ethnophilosophies and that the rest of the world should hope to develop some.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 14, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Apr 15, 2024
• Publication Date: Apr 15, 2024
• Deposit Date: Mar 18, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 16, 2026
• Journal: Metaphilosophy
• Print ISSN: 0026-1068
• Electronic ISSN: 1467-9973
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/meta.12678
• Keywords: Ethnophilosophy; Metaphilosophy; African philosophy; Paulin Hountondji; Kwasi Wiredu Word Count 8159
• Public URL: https://keele-repository.worktribe.com/output/781186