On Reason: Rationality in a World of Cultural Conflict and Racism

319 Pages·2008·1.39 MB·English

by  Emmanuel Chukwudi Eze

On Reason
On Reason
RATIONALITY IN A WORLD OF CULTURAL CONFLICT AND
RACISM
EMMANUEL CHUKWUDI EZE
DUKE UNIVERSITY PRESS Durham and London 2008
© 2008 Duke University Press
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper ∞
Designed by C. H. Westmoreland
Typeset in Warnock Pro by Keystone Typesetting, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data appear on the last printed page of
this book.
CONTENTS
Publisher’s Note
Preface: What Is Rationality?
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Diversity and the Social Questions of Reason
IDENTITY
DIVERSITY
INDIVIDUALITY AND TYPE
UNIVERSALITY
AUTONOMY OF THE WORLD
1: Varieties of Rational Experience
CALCULATIVE REASON
FORMAL REASON
HERMENEUTICAL REASON
EMPIRICAL REASON
PHENOMENOLOGICAL REASON
CRITIQUE OF TRANSCENDENTAL REASON
ORDINARY REASON
2: Ordinary Historical Reason
THOUGHT AND THINGS
THREE VERSIONS OF PRAGMATISM
THE IDEA OF CONCEPTUAL DIVERSITY
PHILOSOPHY IN POSTCOLONIAL VERNACULAR
THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF THINGS
REASON IN HISTORY
3: Science, Culture, and Principles of Rationality
FREEDOM OF SCIENCE
FREEDOM OF CULTURE
THE CHARACTER OF FREEDOM
SCIENCE OF “RACE”
ETHICS OF THE UNIVERSAL
4: Languages of Time in Postcolonial Memory
COLONIALISM AND HISTORY
POSTCOLONIAL HISTORICAL REASON
LANGUAGE AND TIME IN POSTCOLONIAL EXPERIENCE
HISTORY AND THE POSTCOLONIAL EVENT
HISTORY AS THE FUTURE OF MEMORY
LANGUAGE AND EXISTENCE
LANGUAGE AS TRADITION
5: Reason and Unreason in Politics
MORALITY AND POLITICS IN A POSTRACIAL DEMOCRACY
REASON AND UNREASON IN ART AND POLITICS
REASON: AN ASCETIC IDEAL
RATIONALITY AND THE POLITICS OF MEMORY
PHILOSOPHY, POLITICS, AND AUTONOMY
Notes
Bibliography
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
On December 31, 2007, while this book was in production at Duke University Press,
Emmanuel Chukwudi Eze died after a brief illness. Emmanuel was born in Agbokete in
northern Nigeria, received his early education at Jesuit schools in the Congo, and
earned his Ph.D. from Fordham University in 1993. He taught at Bucknell University
from 1993 to 2000, when he joined the philosophy department at DePaul University. He
was the founding editor of Philosophia Africana and published influential postcolonial
histories of philosophy in Africa, Europe, and the Americas. He was a brilliant and
provocative thinker as well as a compassionate human being. Duke University Press
joins his family, friends, and colleagues in the academy in mourning his untimely loss.
Reynolds Smith
FOR THE PUBLISHERFOR
FOR NNAMDI
our coming was expected