Ok, not really in the mood right now I just had a heavy dinner but I'm going to go through it and post to come back and fill it in bit by bit....

First off I'm not sure the author really knows where hes coming from himself the below paragraph being an example, does he consider himself to be a philosopher?

Now if you learn philosophy in a given language, that is the language in which you naturally philosophize, not just during the learning period but also, all things being equal, for life. But a language, most assuredly, is not conceptually neutral; syntax and vocabulary are apt to suggest definite modes of conceptualization.

So here hes saying that learningphilosophy in amother toungue language (one in which you naturally philosophize)means that you have to understand that culture to understand that philosophy, therefore seeing things in that cultures light to understand and speak of it... european philosophy is to understand the europeans. Thus being colonialised thought. Being learned in African philosophy in an African mother tounge language is to understand the African way of seeing things, non - colonial thought.

To that same extent he may have become de-Africanized. It does not matter if the philosophy learned was African philosophy. If that philosophy was academically formulated in English and articulated therein, the message was already substantially westernized, unless there was a conscious effort toward cross-cultural filtration.

So to then truly understand African philosophy a person must learn the language in which it is spoken to fully grasp the cultural perspective they speak from.... this is true of the Egyptian philosophies, translated into english they loose certain things in their understanding, diffrent letters mean diffrent things just as Yesuah is now Josuah.

Consider, for example, the use of the word "idea" in British empiricism. By "idea" Locke says he means the immediate object of our perception. But it turns out that he takes this to mean a sensation.

Interesting.

The situation is more complex in the case of Africans who have been trained in some foreign philosophical tradition, for instance, English-speaking philosophy, for there is now a cross-cultural dimension. They must assume both of the critical duties just noticed. But in addition, they must not forget that they have their own languages which have their own conceptual suggestiveness calling for critical study; which is why I said early on that African philosophers have to be doubly critical.

Pretty much a given as most europeanized africans take (or should take) what they are taught as from the perspective of their colonialisers and may not be accurate or may be distorted.

Clearly, African philosophy at this historical juncture has of necessity to be comparative.

To balance the perspective of the european teacher to compare it to see if it fits...

This comparative approach is required not only when African philosophers work in areas of discourse called African philosophy in so many words but also in all philosophical work on all philosophical topics whatsoever. In particular, African philosophers should not wait until they are doing courses specifically designated African philosophy before they bring their African conceptual resources to bear on their treatments of issues. Whether it be in logic, or epistemology, or ethics, or metaphysics, or whatever, they must introduce African inputs wherever feasible.

Dosen't a person have to do this anyway?

If a person dosen't break down the teachings of ethics for example, by comparing what is being taught to their own cultural understanding how would they understand it at all? Unless the person has totally cast(e) off their roots to augment into European thinking they would naturally balance and introduce their culture to the teachings to grasp it. I'm not saying that this is happening as too many look down on themselves and their culture as inferior to their oppressors but isn't comparioson a given? A form of cultural translation as it were? Even then taking those teachings and at least interpreting them into black culture would be the norm as said person would/should be surrounded by his or her own...

Ithink that it is a colonial type of mentality that regards African philosophy as something that should be kept apart from the mainstream of philosophical thinking. Compare how things stand or might stand in, say, the study of British philosophy. Surely, it would be more than mildlyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiosyncraticfor a British teacher of philosophy in a British university to propose, in his teaching of, Metaphysics, for example, to hold in abeyance all metaphysical insights deriving from British sources until s/he has the occasion to teach a course on British philosophy. In fact, there may be no such course in the given British university for the good reason that there may be no need for it. It would be a great day for African philosophy when the same becomes true of an African university, for it would mean that African insights have become fully integrated into the principal branches of philosophy.

[align=center]confused2[/align]
[align=left]So it would be unique for a teacher of metaphysics to hold back their knowledge of British Metaphysics waiting for a class on British Philosophy rather than teach it alongside Metaphysics in general... there may not be a need for the British understanding of it as it may already be incorporated... It would be a great day for us when a teacher of African Metaphysics doesn't need to teach his/her understanding of the topic as it may already be covered????[/align]
[align=left]That time has not come yet. In colonial times little, if anything, was heard about African philosophy. I finished my undergraduate studies in Philosophy in Ghana in 1958 just a year after our independence from Britain. In the whole of that period of philosophical study not a single word was said about African philosophy, nor, indeed, was the phrase "African philosophy" ever mentioned. In all fairness, my teachers cannot be blamed for this. They were hired to teach us Western philosophy, and that is what they did. Actually, it probably would have been an advantage if contemporary African philosophers had had to begin with a totally clean slate when they began in post-independence times to research into African philosophy. But, as it happens, religious and anthropological studies had been made of African world views in departments of religion and anthropology, and these tended to contain elements relevant to African philosophy. Now, although these studies were not technically philosophical, they were conducted not only in foreign languages, such as English, French and German, but also in terms of categories of Western metaphysical thought that have become widely received in Western culture. [/align]
[align=left]This part got to me, I misunderstood it and used it in another topic... So, it would have been good if the Afrian peoples began again and studied African philosophy whenindependace was won but the Europeans (as they do) had already studied African Philosophy and world veiws(withheld it from the people to brainwash them into European thinking) [/align]
[align=left]To take only a few examples, consider such categories of thought as those contained in the following dichotomies: the spiritual versus the physical, the supernatural versus the natural, the mystical versus the non-mystical, the religious versus the secular, being versus nothingness. These are modes of conceptualization that are very deeply entrenched in Western thought. I do not mean to suggest that every Western thinker believes that there are things falling under one side or the other of each of these dichotomies. What I think is the case is that most Western thinkers would find these dichotomies at least intelligible. Thus even a Western religious skeptic, while denying that there are any spiritual or supernatural beings, may, nevertheless, at the same time grant that the notion of a spiritual entity is not meaningless. Only logical positivists, and perhaps a few others, have wanted to say that such notions are meaningless. But the requiem for logical positivism is generally considered to be concluded.[/align]
[align=left](lol @ myself)[/align]
[align=left]So they studied African veiws and critiqued them, taking what they wanted (obviously) but balanced the African veiws off of their European understanding of things, hence some of the books on Africa that've always been around, that degrading colonial stuff.Here hes' saying that although they balanced their veiws off of itto do so they had to first accept that one or the other exsisted beforederiving what they wanted from it?[/align]
[align=left]When African thought was approached with intellectual categories such as the ones just mentioned some quite lopsided results ensued, although they did not seem to bother people much. Some of the findings of this sort of study of African thought that were, and still are, assiduously disseminated are that Africans see the world as being full of spiritual entities, that Africans are religious in all things, not even separating the secular from the religious, that African thought is, through and through, mystical, and so on. Some African philosophers have followed this way of talking of African thought quite cheerfully. One reason may be that in their academic training they may themselves have come to internalize such accounts of African thought so thoroughly that they have become part of the furniture of their minds. Such minds are what may justly be called colonized.[/align]
[align=left]They came to belive that Africans see the world as being full of spiritual entities... isn't that true? Not full of entities, thats an over exaggeration but there are things such as Ancestor worship, many dieties, a belief in reincarnation etc, the central aspect of cultureas an outlook on the world.... that African thought is, through and through, mystical, and so on. Some African philosophers have followed this way of talking of African thought quite cheerfully. One reason may be that in their academic training they may themselves have come to internalize such accounts of African thought so thoroughly that they have become part of the furniture of their minds. Such minds are what may justly be called colonized.[/align]
[align=left]I don't get that part... One reason may be that in their academic training they may themselves have come to internalize such accounts of African thought so thoroughly that they have become part of the furniture of their minds. Such minds are what may justly be called colonized.[/align]
[align=left]So through my schooling I've internalized their account of African thought? Seeing as I'd be one of those that has followed this way of talking of African thought quite cheerfully. I think I disagree with his point here or prehaps the way he brings it across. Not sure.[/align]
[align=left]They are minds that think about and expound their own culture in terms of categories of a colonial origin without any qualms as to any possible conceptual incongruities.[/align]
[align=left]I think this is an African attempt at understanding the disporate or those in the west, no one understands their culture in a given colonial category its imposible, the two clash from the beginning. Eg; If I am to understand Carribean culture I would have to read into what happened to my people and the effect it had... from there know that the colonial account is biased and often rubbish. Most even reject a colonial veiw/understanding after that as we're all taught not to trust it... If you don't ground yourself in your own culture you can't go anywhere, some people loose their roots but theres plenty of other African centered cultures to attach ones self to. [/align]
[align=left]It may well be that if the concepts in question had been critically examined, they might have been found to be appropriate, but it may very well also be that they might have been found to be inapplicable in the context of African thought[/align]
[align=left]Can i say 'duh' without sounding too childish here? Maybe I'm being biased, I agree in general decolonization means the rejection of most colonial teachings in replacement for African ones but thats a given.... [/align]
[align=left]God help me, there like 3/4 of a scroll bar to get through... gonna have to revisit.... need a smoke...[/align]