Existence and Heritage: Hermeneutic Explorations in African and Continental Philosophy

by Tsenay Serequeberhan

Overview

In Existence and Heritage, Tsenay Serequeberhan examines what the European philosophical tradition has to offer when encountered from the outsider perspective of postcolonial African thought. He reads Kant in the context of contemporary international relations, finds in Gadamer's work a way of conceiving relations among differing traditions, and explores Heidegger's analysis of existence as it converges with Marx's critique of alienation. In the confluence of these different assessments, Serequeberhan articulates both a need and example of responding to Fanon's call for a new kind of thinking in philosophy. He demonstrates both how continental philosophy can be a useful resource for theorizing Africa's postcolonial condition and how postcolonial thought and African philosophy can provide a new way of approaching and understanding the Western tradition.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781438457901
Publisher:	State University of New York Press
Publication date:	07/02/2016
Series:	SUNY series, Philosophy and Race
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	202
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Tsenay Serequeberhan is Professor of Philosophy at Morgan State University and the author of several books, including Contested Memory: The Icons of the Occidental Tradition and The Hermeneutics of African Philosophy: Horizon and Discourse.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Preface: The Possible in Philosophy

Introduction: Reflections and Encounters

I. Reflections

1. Decolonization and Philosophy

2. Continental and African Philosophy: Dialogue at a Distance

II. Encounters

3. Post-9/11, Perpetual Peace? A Reading of Immanuel Kant

4. Hermeneutics and Differing Traditions: A Reading of Hans-Georg Gadamer

5. Karl Marx, Martin Heidegger, and Postcolonial Africa

Conclusion: Frantz Fanon, Thinking as Openness

Notes
Bibliography
Index