This following represents the framework of a course I have designed which I will teach in Spring, 1998: PHIL 4/59995: Special Topics: African and African-American Philosophies. It is pertinent to mention that this course design is currently being considered for permanent adoption in the Department of Philosophy, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio. This course has been designed to be flexible and broad in scope in order to meet several needs. However, for my specific purpose, it is designed to be taught as an upper level course as well as a graduate course. Students who will take this course are primarily those have some background courses or at least one course in philosophy such as Introduction to philosophy. This is the kind of course that is called is some places as "slash" course; that is, it is an undergraduate "slash" ("/") graduate course.

This course explores various philosophical issues in African and African-American philosophies. These issues which are categorized under eight main headings cover the "old" and emerging issues and debates in Africa and African-American philosophies. These are: (1) metaphilosophical questions about the nature and existence of African and African-American philosophies as autochthonous philosophies, and the debate between universalist and particularist views of philosophy with respect to African and African-American philosophies. (2) The roots, sources, and history of Western philosophy and the place of African and African-American thought and belief systems in this historical tradition and pedigree. (3) The issue of race, ethnicity, culture, identity in African and African-American philosophies, and the plausible historical and cultural foundations for autochthonous African and African-American philosophies. (4) Epistemological, methodological, and logical issues in African and African-American philosophies. (5) Metaphysical, ontological, and cosmological issues in African and African-American philosophies. (6) Moral, Social, and Political issues in African and African-American philosophies. (7) Aesthetic issues, and (8) Feminist issues in African and African-American philosophies. Not only will students be expected to familiarize, understand, and articulate the different arguments and stances with respect to these issues, they will also be expect to critically reflect on and analyze them.

However, the requirements are specified in such a way that graduate students have to do more work: more readings are specified for them, their papers are supposed to be more "sophisticated," rigorous, and longer. For instance, two extra articles or chapters may be assigned to graduate students each week. However, I have made the design flexible enough to allow it to be taught as a lower level. In which case, anyone teaching it may have to choose readings that are much simpler and can easily be accessed by lower level students. However, when this course is taught at a lower level where students may not have the requisite philosophical background to wade through the rigor of the readings, the instructor may have to resort to some significant amount of lecturing to set the context for the readings, summarize them, in order for students to engage the substantive points and arguments in some meaningful in-class and out-of-class discussions. One of the "informal" requirements, obviously, is that students do all the readings and prepare themselves to engage the readings. However, any student who does not totally and fully understand the readings should at least be ready with questions and be able to identify points that need clarification.

The "formal" requirements are as follows:

For Undergraduates: There will be two main papers of about 6 to 8 pages. There will be two short reflective, expository, or critical papers of about 2-3 pages each. There will also be occasional in-class individual or group presentations or reports. These presentations or reports will involve students leading or facilitating class discussions.

First Main paper: 30%

Second Main paper: 30%

First short paper: 15%

Second short paper: 15%

Reports and Presentations: 10%

For graduate Students: There will be two main papers of about 10 to 15 pages. There will be two short reflective, expository, or critical papers of about 5-7 pages each. There will also be occasional in-class individual or group presentations or reports. These presentations or reports will involve students leading or facilitating class discussions.

First Main paper: 30%

Second Main paper: 30%

First short paper: 15%

Second short paper: 15%

Reports and Presentations: 10%

MAIN TEXTS

Albert G. Mosley, African Philosophy: Selected Readings, (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1995).

Richard A. Wright, ed., African Philosophy: An Introduction, (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1984).

John P. Pittman, ed., African-American Perspectives and Philosophical Traditions, (New York: Routledge, 1997).

Fred Lee Hord and Jonathan Scoff Lee, eds., I Am Because We Are: Readings in Black Philosophy, (Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 1995).

George James, Stolen Legacy, (New York: Philosophical Library, 1954).

C.A. Diop, The African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality (New York: Lawrence Hill and Company, 1974).

Leonard Harris, ed., Philosophy Born of Struggle: Anthology of Afro-American Philosophy from 1917, (Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing, 1993).

Lucius T. Outlaw, Jr., On Race and Philosophy, (New York: Routledge, 1996).

Cornel West, Keeping Faith: Philosophy and Race in America (New York: Routiedge, 1993).

Kwasi Wiredu, Philosophy and An African Culture, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980).

Kwasi Wiredu, Cultural Universals and Particulars: An African Perspective, (Bloomington, IN: University of Indiana Press, 1996).

Paulin Hountondji, African Philosophy; Mtb and Reality, (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1983).

Kwame Anthony Appiah, In My Father's House: Africa in the Philosophy of Culture, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992).

Bernard Boxhill, Blacks and Social Justice, (Totowa, NJ: Rowman and Littlefield, 1992).

READING ASSIGNMENTS

TOPIC: Metaphilosophical Question of the nature and existence of African/African-American Philosophies.

The nature of Philosophy: its Content and Method.

The Universalist and Particularist View of 'Philosophy' and 'African/African-American Philosophies'.

The designation of African Philosophy as ethnophilosophy; the criticism of ethnophilosophy.

P.O. Bodunrin, "The Question of African Philosophy" in Richard A. Wright, ed., African Philosophy: An Introduction, (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1984)

Selections from Kwasi Wiredu, Philosophy and An African Culture (Cambridge University Press, 1980).

K. Anthony Appiah, "African-American Philosophy?" in John P. Pittman, ad., African-American Perspectives and Philosophical Traditions, (New York: Routledge, 1997).

Lucius Outlaw, "African, African American, Africana Philosophy" in John P. Pittman, ed.

Selections from Paulin Hountondji, African Philosophy: Myth and Reality (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1983).

Polycarp Ikuenobe, "The Parochial Universalist Conception of 'Philosophy' and 'African Philosophy'," Philosophy East and West Vol. 47, No. 2, April 1997.

Polycarp Ikuenobe, "An Examination of the Universalist Trend Regarding the Nature of African Philosophy," Journal of Social Philosophy, Vol. 27, No. 2, Fall, 1996.

William R. Jones, "The Legitimacy and Necessity of Black Philosophy: Some Preliminary Considerations," The Philosophical Forum, Vol. 9, No. 2-3 (Winter/Spring 1977-78).

Oyekan Owomoyela, "Africa and the Imperative of Philos-ophy: A Skeptical Consideration," in Albert G. Mosley, ed., African Philosophy: Selected Readings, (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1995).

TOPIC: African/Negro Culture, History, and Philosophy: A Foundation for Classical and Western Philosophical Traditions.

African/African-American Philosophies in historical context of 'Western' and classical philosophical traditions.

African/Egyptian contributions to Greek and Roman Civilization, and hence Western Civilization

George James, Stolen Legacy, (New York: Philosophical Library, 1954).

Henry Olela, "The African Foundations of Greek Philosophy," in Richard A. Wright, ed., African Philosophy: An Introduction, (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1984).

Lancinay Kefta, "The African Philosophical Tradition," in Richard A. Wright, ed.

C.A. Diop, The African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality (Now York: Lawrence Hill and Company, 1974).

Jeffrey Crawford, "Cheikh Anta Diop, the 'Stolen Legacy', and Afrocentricism," in Albert Mosley.

TOPIC: The Question of Race, Cultural Identity, and Ethnicity In African/African-American Philosophies.

African Cultural heritage, Ethnicity, and Race as the bases for an autochthonous African/African-American Philosophies.

African/African-American Philosophies: Philosophy bom of struggle from oppression, colonialism, slavery, racism.

Leonard Harris, "Philosophy Born of Struggle: Afro-American Philosophy since 1918," in H. O. Oruka and D. A. Masolo, eds., Philosophy and Cultures, (Nairobi: Bookwise Publishers 1983).

Lucius Outlaw, "Philosophy, Ethnicity, and Race," in Fred Lee Hord and Jonathan Scott Lee, eds., I Am Because We Are: Readings in Black Philosophy, (Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 1995).

Amilcar Cabral, "Identity and Dignity in the Context of the National Liberation," in Fred Lee Hord and Jonathan Scott Lee, eds.

W.E. DuBois, "The Concept of Race," and "On Being Ashamed of Oneself: An Essay on Race Pride," both in Fred Lee Hord and Jonathan Scoff Lee, eds.

Kwame Anthony Appiah "The Uncompleted Argument: Du Bois and the Illusion of Race," in Albert Mosley, ed.

Kwame Anthony Appiah, "Race, Culture, Identity: Misunderstood Connections" from Appiah and Amy Gutman, Color Conscious: The Political Morality of Race, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996.

Alain Locke, "The New Negro," in Fred Lee Hord and Jonathan Scott Lee, eds.

Tommy L. Lott, "Du Bois on the Invention of Race," in John Pittman, ed., African-American Perspectives and Philosophical Traditions, (New York: Routledge, 1997).

Martin Luther King Jr., "Black Power," in Fred Lee Hord and Jonathan Scott Lee, eds.

Cornel West, "The Black Underclass and Black Philosophers," in Fred Lee Hord and Jonathan Scott Lee, eds.

Frantz Fanon, "Racism and Culture," in Fred Lee Hord and Jonathan Scott Lee, eds.

Nkiru Nzegwu, "Questions of Identity and Inheritance: A Critical Review of Kwame Anthony Appiah's In My Father's House," Hypatia Vol. 1 1, No. 1 (Winter 1996).

Leopold Sedar Senghor, "Negritude: A Humanism of the Twentieth Century," in Fred Lee Hord and Jonathan Scott Lee, eds.

Wole Soyinka, from "Myth, Literature, and the African World," in Fred Lee Hord and Jonathan Scott Lee, ads.

Albert Mosley, "Negritude, Nationalism, and Nativism: Racists or Racialists?" in Albert Mosley, ed., African Philosophy: Selected Readings.

TOPIC: Epistemological, Logical, and Metaphysical Issues In African and African-American Philosophies.

Cosmology and Ontology in African thought and belief systems and the existence of metaphysical entities.

The concept of a person, mind-body problem, witchcraft, events, and causality.

The rationality of cultural beliefs and the method of science; rationality, universal reason, methodology, and postmodernism.

Myths, Tradition, Reliance on Elder, and Epistemic Authoritarianism: the process of acquiring and justifying beliefs in African cultures.

The concepts of Truth, Beliefs, Opinion, and Knowledge, and Epistemological foundations in African Thought Systems.

Kwasi Wiredu, "How Not to Compare African Thought with Western Thought," in Albert Mosley.

Leonard Harris, "Postmodernism and Utopia: An Unholy Alliance," in Fred Lee Hord and Jonathan Scott Lee.

Robin Horton, "African Traditional Thought and Western Science," in Albert Mosley, ed.

Kwasi Wiredu, "African Philosophical Tradition: A Case of the Akan," in John P. Pittman, ed.

Lucius Outlaw, "Life-Worlds, Modernity, and Philosophical Praxis: Race, Ethnicity, and Critical Social Theory," in Lucius Outlaw, On Race and Philosophy.

Kwasi Wiredu, "The Concept of Truth in the Akan Language," in Cultural Universals and Particulars: An African Perspective, (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1996).

Kwasi Wiredu, "Truth as Opinion," in Philosophy and An African Culture.

Kwasi Wiredu, "To be is to be Known," in Philosophy and An African Culture.

Kwasi Wiredu, "The Concept of Mind with Particular Reference to the Language and Thought of the Akans," in Safro Kwame, ed. Readings in African Philosophy, (Lanham, MD: University of America Press, 1995).

Lucius Outlaw, "The Future of 'Philosophy in America," in Lucius Outlaw, On Race and Philosophy.

P.O. Bodunrin, "Magic, Witchcraft, and ESP: A Defense of Scientific and Philosophical Skepticism," in Albert Mosley, ed.

Polycarp Ikuenobe, "A Defense of Epistemic Authoritarianism in African Cultures," (forthcoming) Journal of Philosophical Research, January 1998.

Ifeanyi A. Menkiti, "Person and Community in African Traditional Thought," in Richard Wright, ed.

Kwame Gyekye, "The Akan Concept of a Person," in Richard Wright, ed.

Albert Mosley, "The Metaphysics of Magic: Practical and Philosophical Implications," Second Order: African Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 2, Nos 1&2 (1978).

Sophie Oiuwole, "On the Existence of Witches," in Albert Mosley, ed.

Adrian Piper, "Xenophobia and Kantian Rationalism," in John P. Pittman, ad.

Richard C. Onwuanibe, "The Human Person and Immortality in lbo (African) Metaphysics," in Richard Wright, ed.

Helaine K. Minkus, "Causal Theory in Akwapim Akan Philosophy," in Richard Wright, ed.

J.A.A. Ayoade, "Time in Yoruba Thought," in Richard Wright, ed.

J. O. Sodipo, "Notes on the Concept of Cause and Change in Yoruba Traditional Thought," Second Order Vol. 2, No. 2, (1973), 12-20.

TOPIC: Moral, Political, Social, and Legal Issues In African/African-American Philosophies.

Communitarianism, Humanism, Naturalism, and Natural law theory in African/African American moral and social thought.

Cultural foundations for social and political systems in Africa.

Moral foundations for Independence, Liberation, and Civil Rights Movement; the morality of civil disobedience.

Human rights and Justice issues: Affirmative action; representation and electoral redistricting; desegregation (busing).

Colonialism, democratic issues, political obligation, and military rule.

Kwame Nkrumah, "Consciencism" in Fred Lee Hord and Jonathan Scott Lee.

Julius Nyerere, "Ujamaa: The Basis of African Socialism," in Fred Lee Hord and Jonathan Scott Lee.

Kwasi Wiredu, "Custom and Morality: A Comparative Analysis of Some African and Western Conceptions of Morals," in Albert Mosley.

Bernard Boxhill, Blacks and Social Justice, (Totowa, NJ: Rowman and Littlefield, 1992).

Parker English and Nancy Steele Hamme, "Morality, Art, and African Philosophy," in Albert Mosley.

Polycarp Ikuenobe, "Moral Reasoning and Moral Education in Traditional African Cultures," (forthcoming) Journal of Value Inquiry.

Martin Luther King, Jr. "Letter From Birmingham Jail," in Martin Luther King, Jr. Why We Can't Wait, (New York: Mentor Books, 1964).

Bernard Boxhill, "Two Traditions in African American Political Philosophy," in John P. Pittman, ed.

Diana E. Axelsen, "Philosophical Justifications For Contemporary African Social and Political Values and Strategies," in Richard Wright.

Olufemi Taiwo, "Political Obligation and Military Rule," The Philosophical Forum, Vol. XXXVII, No. 2, Winter 1996.

Simeon O. llesanmi, "Human Rights Discourse in Modem Africa: A Comparative Religious Ethical Perspective," Journal of Religious Ethics

Claude Ake, "The African Context of Human Rights," African Today Vol. 34, nos 1 & 2.

Kwasi Wiredu, "An Akan Perspective on Human Rights," in Kwasi Wiredu, Cultural Universals and Particulars.

Kwasi Wiredu, "Democracy and Consensus: A Plea for a Non-Party Polity," in Kwasi Wiredu, Cultural Universals and Particulars.

Michelle M. Moody-Adams, "Race, Class, and the Social Construction of Self-Respect," in John P. Pittman, ed.

Laurence Thomas, "Moral Deference," in John P. Pittman, ed.

Howard McGary, "Alienation and the African-American Experience," in John P. Piftman, ed. Anita L. Allen, "The Role Model Argument and Faculty Diversity," in John P. Piftman, ed.

TOPIC: Aesthetic and Feminist Issues In African/African-American Philosophies.

The nature of Aesthetics in African/African-American philosophies.

Feminism, Women Issues, and the role of women in African/African-American philosophies.

Innocent C. Onyewuenyi, "Traditional African Aesthetics," in Albert Mosley.

H. Gene Blocker, "On the Distinction Between Modem and Traditional African Aesthetics," in Albert Mosley.

Awa Thiam, "Feminism and Revolution," in Fred Lee Hord and Jonathan Scott Lee.

Radical Perspectives on the Empowerment of Afro-American Women: Lessons for the 1990s," in Fred Lee Hord and Jonathan Scott Lee.

bell hooks, "Feminism: A Transformational Politic," in Fred Lee Hord and Jonathan Scott Lee.

Florence Abena Dolphyne, "Polygamy and the Emancipation of Women: An African Perspective" in Safro Kwame, ed. Readings in African Philosophy, (Lanham, MD: University of America Press, 1995).

Safro Kwame, "Feminism and African Philosophy," in Safro Kwame, ed. Readings in African Philosophy.

In general, there is an overwhelming interest in courses that will expose students to different cultures, beliefs, and thought systems, other than the Western views that have dominated the curriculum in most universities. Obviously, courses in African and African-American philosophies would meet such needs and goals. It is a fact that there is scarcity of such courses in most universities; however, good efforts are being made in many schools to provide for them. The reasons for this are many. One of the reasons, however, is that many universities do not have faculty who are competent or have specialty in these areas, despite the fact that many faculty do indeed have interests in these areas. As such, many have told me that they have difficulty putting together such courses, since this requires some competence and familiarity with the literature. This design is detailed, broad, and flexible enough with respect to content and reading assignments that anyone who has interest in teaching it and is willing to read the materials can use this design as a guide to select readings which will form the content of this kind of course.

Moreover, in most cases when this kind of course is offered, a separate course in either African philosophy is offered or it is a course in African-American philosophy. This is not an accident. While this may be, in part, the result of a lack of competent faculty, it may also be due to view that African and African-American philosophies are different and one cannot do justice to both by combining them into one single course. This may be a valid concern. In an ideal world, you would like to have both and for interested students to take both. But we have to realize that there is only so much that a student can take in terms of courses, in order to meet the requirements for graduation. It is better, in my view, for a student to take a course which combines both than take one or none at all. In a substantive sense, the combination of both courses allows students to be familiar with differences and similarities between the beliefs, thought system, and issues that confront Africans and African-Americans.

For instance, while colonialism, imperialism, and independence movements may be important social, political, and economic issues in African philosophy, they are not issues in African-American philosophy. While the issues of racial discrimination, civil rights, affirmative action with respect to justice are issues in African-American philosophy, they may not be pertinent issues per se in African philosophy. However, the common ground between these issues is that the ideas that have emerged from these issues are ideas that are in some sense born of struggle (to borrow Leonard Harris' expression) from oppression and domination. There are also other common cultural, ethnic, and racial heritage as basis and context for discussing issues that confront Africans and African-Americans, which also shape their thinking. An example of such is the notion and perspective of community/person (in metaphysical, normative, and epistemological senses) and its place in the social, political, moral, economic issues that confront African and African-American peoples.

By integrating into one course, the thought systems of, and issues that confront Africans and African-Americans, we can begin to see similarities and differences. We can also begin to get a better understanding of the peoples and issues, in order to see how African thought systems and cultural heritage may provide a foundation for African-American thought system. Separate courses in African and African-American philosophies may not quite do this-at least not in the way a combined course would. Moreover, the way I have conceptualized and designed this course, I have been able to use some broad categories to summarize the issues and topics that are pertinent to the philosophies of Africans and African-Americans. On the basis of these categories, we may see their similarities in a Diasporic sense, and differences with respect to the different unique experiences as modes of expression and thought.

This conceptualization in terms of the suggested readings presupposes a conception of the nature of African and African-American philosophy which some may object to. Although I cannot address this issue here, I cannot claim to be oblivious of this pertinent philosophical issues. This is because one of the conceptual or philosophical issues associated with designing a course like this has to do with the nature of the content, in terms of what should be read and studied in the course. In this respect, my view is that African and African-American philosophies consist of the ideas of Africans and African-Americans and the ideas of others about issues confronting Africans and African-Americans with some sensitivity and appreciation of the context of their cultural, racial, and ethnic background. This is a commonplace and well articulated view such that it does not require my justification in this case with respect to this syllabus and its design.