6 - The ’Universal’ in science as a Dilemma for scholarship in Africa
Corresponding Author(s) : Olajide Oloyede
Identity, Culture and Politics,
Vol. 12 No. 2 (2011): Identity, Culture and Politics: An Afro - Asian dialogue
Abstract
The dominant of western knowledge in the understanding of the complexion of the social reality in Africa is widely acknowledged. The attempt at a corrective to this perverse dominance has seen the increasing acceptance in the social sciences, in particular sociology, that there is at least two different realms of knowledge to be gained – scientific and non-scientific both of which are generally considered to characterize western knowledge and non-western knowledge respectively and how, to a different extent, we relate ourselves to our world intimately connected to these realms. The idea that there are realms of knowledge somehow poses a problem of the relation of knowledge to relevance where the concern is primarily with the relevance of knowledge gained in the quest for understanding our world for some kind of social action. The problem of knowledge to relevance becomes the problem of the ‘universal’. This paper argues that this is the dilemma for African social science. It steps a back into the history of western thought to point to the enduring nature of the ‘tools’ of understanding that scholars of Africa (Africans and Europeans) use to make sense of the African context as part of the dilemma.
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- Adam, B., Timescape of modernity, Routledge, London, 1998
- Adesina, Jimi, O (2003) Sociology and Yoruba Studies: epistemic intervention or doing sociology in the vernacular
- Alexander, J.C., Modern, Anti, Post and Neo, New Left Review, March/April, number 210, 1995:63-104
- Condorcet, M., Sketch for a Historical Picture of the Progress of the Human Mind, Translated by J. Barraclough, Weidenfeld and Nicholson, London, 1955
- Halbfass, (1988)
- Hegel, F (1900, 1955)
- Kuhn, T.S., The Structure of Scientific Revolution, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1970
- Le Bon, G., The Psychology of Peoples, G.E. Stechert, New York, 1894, 1912
- Levi-Strauss, C., The Naked Man, Translated by. John Weightman and Doreen Weightman, Harper and Row, New Your, 1981
- Levi-Strauss, C., Structural Anthropology, Translated by Claire Jacobson and Brooke Grundfest Schoepf, Basic Books, New York, 1963
- Levi-Strauss, C., Structural Anthropology, Vol. 2, Translated by Monique Layton, Basic Books, New York, 1976
- Levi-Strauss, C., Tristes Tropique, Translated by John Weightman and Doreen Weightman, Atheneum, New York, 1974
- Merchant, C., The death of nature, Harper Collins, San Fransisco, 1980
- Merton, R.K., Sciences, Technology and Society in Seventh Century England, Howard Fertiz, New York, 1970
- Oliver, A., “The metaphysics of properties”, Mind, January, 1996
- Oloyede, O., “Mental illness in culture, Culture in mental illness: An anthropological view from South Africa”, Medische Anthropology, December, 2002
- Pap, A., Elements of Analytic Philosophy, The Macmillan Company, New York, 1949
- Rule, J.B., Theory and progress in Social Science, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1997
- Todorov, T., On Human Diversity: Nationalism, Racism and Exoticism in French Thought, Seconde printing, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1994
References
Adam, B., Timescape of modernity, Routledge, London, 1998
Adesina, Jimi, O (2003) Sociology and Yoruba Studies: epistemic intervention or doing sociology in the vernacular
Alexander, J.C., Modern, Anti, Post and Neo, New Left Review, March/April, number 210, 1995:63-104
Condorcet, M., Sketch for a Historical Picture of the Progress of the Human Mind, Translated by J. Barraclough, Weidenfeld and Nicholson, London, 1955
Halbfass, (1988)
Hegel, F (1900, 1955)
Kuhn, T.S., The Structure of Scientific Revolution, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1970
Le Bon, G., The Psychology of Peoples, G.E. Stechert, New York, 1894, 1912
Levi-Strauss, C., The Naked Man, Translated by. John Weightman and Doreen Weightman, Harper and Row, New Your, 1981
Levi-Strauss, C., Structural Anthropology, Translated by Claire Jacobson and Brooke Grundfest Schoepf, Basic Books, New York, 1963
Levi-Strauss, C., Structural Anthropology, Vol. 2, Translated by Monique Layton, Basic Books, New York, 1976
Levi-Strauss, C., Tristes Tropique, Translated by John Weightman and Doreen Weightman, Atheneum, New York, 1974
Merchant, C., The death of nature, Harper Collins, San Fransisco, 1980
Merton, R.K., Sciences, Technology and Society in Seventh Century England, Howard Fertiz, New York, 1970
Oliver, A., “The metaphysics of properties”, Mind, January, 1996
Oloyede, O., “Mental illness in culture, Culture in mental illness: An anthropological view from South Africa”, Medische Anthropology, December, 2002
Pap, A., Elements of Analytic Philosophy, The Macmillan Company, New York, 1949
Rule, J.B., Theory and progress in Social Science, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1997
Todorov, T., On Human Diversity: Nationalism, Racism and Exoticism in French Thought, Seconde printing, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1994