A Philosopher in Lagos Already Knew
Elvis Imafidon, a philosopher working at SOAS, published an argument this week that African philosophical traditions — Ubuntu in particular — challenge Western reductionism at its root. Not at the level of conclusions. At the level of assumptions. The Western analytical tradition assumes that parts precede wholes. You understand a system by breaking it into components, studying each component in isolation, and then reassembling the explanation. This works beautifully for engines. It works less well for minds. ...