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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Presuppositions in the study of African social and political thought
Author:Assimeng, M.ISNI
Year:1986
Periodical:Research Review
Volume:2
Issue:2
Pages:167-200
Language:English
Geographic term:Subsaharan Africa
Subjects:world view
sociology
Abstract:What is social thought? What are people doing when it is said or claimed that they are thinking about society? First-order questions such as these must be addressed before proceeding to second-order questions such as whether or not there is an African social thought? what is its nature, essence, and typifications? why has it been neglected in global intellectual history and sociological analyses? The author concludes that attempts are generally made by Africans to seek and construct some sort of explanation of the nature and development of human society. However, by comparison with thought styles in the West, Africans are barely making an effort in regard of description, analysis, and generalization. Africans have not yet got down to the actual root of social science theory construction, or even science enterprise, unless one grants that every culture has its own social science, with its own content and method. In Western traditions of social thought, thought is seen basically in terms of disinterested speculation, coherence, logic, and system, while African social thought seems to be concerned essentially with knowledge for action. Bibliogr., notes.
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