Phronimon

More than one Culprit? Notes on the Ukraine Conflict. History, US and NATO’s push against the “East” drives Ukraine War

Ian Liebenberg — 2023-05-15

Moderate Communitarianism: A Conceptual Interpretation

Tosin Adeate — 2023-10-20

Kwame Gyekye’s moderate communitarianism is considered a defence of individual rights and the equal worth of rights and duties in Afro-communitarianism. It concerns the primary status of rights and duties in modern African thought. However, moderate communitarianism has been received with strong reactions, one of which is the supposed serious consideration it gives to duties and community in the final analysis of its argument regarding the conception of personhood and the relationship between the self and its community. Criticism of moderate communitarianism is about its inability to capture the rights of individuals that is bold in its demand for primary status in the Afro-communitarian political thought dominated by the supremacy of communal duties—a stance that triggered its emergence. Nonetheless, I argue that a reading of moderate communitarianism demonstrates that its criticism is mainly due to some unclarity in Gyekye’s analysis and that, contrary to existing defence, moderate communitarianism, as an account of moderate persons and moderate communities, is not a description of what exists in Afro-communitarianism but a designed framework for modern Afro-communitarianism in a way that redefines the communitarian nature of African thought. Interpreting moderate communitarianism as suggesting a direction for Afro-communitarianism would be essential for a meaningful engagement with it.

White Settler-colonialism and Epistemic Violence in “Post-apartheid South Africa”: An Azanian Philosophical Analysis

Masilo Lepuru — 2023-05-16

This article is a critical attempt to problematise the notions of European Modernity and Rationality. It is fundamentally an Afrikan philosophical critique of epistemic violence that comes with European Modernity and Rationality. It argues that European Modernity triumphed in “South Africa” following unjust conquest of the Indigenous people since 1652, which was characterised by loss of sovereignty and epistemicide. This resulted in the violent imposition of the law and jurisprudence of White settlers, which are antithetical to Afrikan law and jurisprudence. This epistemicidal nature of White settler colonialism manifests itself through the legal technicalisation of issues of historical injustice.

How (Most) Philosophers Have Failed Humanity

Bert Olivier — 2023-07-06

This paper focuses on the theme of “how (most) philosophers have been struck by blindness in the age of the ‘great reset’ and failed humanity.” I have been able to trace only a few philosophers or intellectuals who have seen through the fog of dis- and misinformation to grasp the iatrocratic and corporatocratic aims of private global organisations, namely to reduce the numbers of, and enslave the rest of humanity by various lethal and otherwise destructive means. The paper initially concentrates on the question of what a philosopher is, followed by a discussion of the contributions of four exemplary philosophers who have had the perspicacity and courage to grasp the true nature of forced global events since the start of the “pandemic.” It further focuses on some criticism against their position(s), where necessary providing evidence to either support or invalidate the positions concerned. Evidence is adduced for the claim that those who submitted to Draconian rules and unjustified injections did not think through the manner in which this happened, nor did the necessary prior research concerning the vaunted safety of the “vaccines” or the probable ultimate goal of forces driving the neo-fascist transformation of contemporary society.

Gentle Justice Reduces Recidivism and Incarceration: Can South Africa Benefit from the Finnish Experience?

Casper Lötter — 2023-09-21

This is a study of how Finland, a Western democracy which has considerably reduced its rate of recidivism, could help South Africa achieve more effective crime control, despite vested interests (such as the prison-industrial-complex, which profits from the perpetuation of crime). This contribution also considers Braithwaite’s seminal distinction between stigmatising and integrative shaming cultures and how Finland, even though it has a stigmatising shaming culture, has achieved a recidivism rate of around 31% (with deincarceration at 53/100 000). This is much better than South Africa’s unacceptably high 86–94% (259/100 000). By using a conflict transformation theoretical lens, it is argued that this great accomplishment in Finland manifests as a result of a meaningful acknowledgement of offenders’ and ex-offenders’ basic human needs, thereby removing this primary source of human conflict. In conclusion, Finland’s criminal justice system is a good blueprint that South Africa’s Department of Correctional Services should seriously consider emulating.

Mbiti on Community in African Political Thought: Reconciling the “I” and the “We”

Tosin Adeate — 2023-05-08

In this article, I draw attention to the value of community in John Mbiti’s philosophy using his famous axiom by reconciling the tension between the individual and community his philosophy envisages. To do this, I offer a reconstruction of Mbiti’s communitarian axiom: “I am because we are; and since we are, therefore I am.” Mbiti is considered one of the forerunners of the communitarian debate in African philosophy. His axiom, which describes his idea of Afro-communitarianism, accounts for the importance of individual and community in thinking about social existence in African thought. However, Mbiti’s argument for the direct influence of the community in the formation of the individual is taken to mean the supremacy of the community over the individual. Mbiti’s concept of community has implications for the idea of personhood in that it raises the question of individual agency. This has affected the reception of Mbiti’s contribution to the idea of community in African political thought. While Mbiti’s contributions to Afro-communitarianism transcend the discourse of personhood, I argue that maximising the potential of his idea requires reconstruction and a critical analysis of his axiom. In doing that, I demonstrate that a possible relationship exists between the “I” and “we” in his axiom that represents a harmony between the community and individual and does not suggest a primacy of either but the significance of community. This analysis will enable fair engagement with Mbiti’s conception of community.