M.A. / This thesis assumes three main objectives: Firstly, the author recognises the problematic status of Henry Odera Oruka's classification of the Trends African philosophy. Oruka's classification displays inherent presuppositions that are recognised as being damaging to the discourse of African philosophy. The main problems that are highlighted with respect to Oruka's classification can be summarised as follows: The assumption of a linear pattern, presenting the Trend of Ethnophilosophy as the lowest station in the classification by virtue of its "traditional" manifestation, assuming thereby that philosophy in Africa is "developing", in an evolutionary manner, into a higher, more Western-like paradigm. The classification is recognised as being simplistic in form, thereby not allowing an interval for growth or dynamism. The designations of various of the Trends are recognised as being problematic. Oruka's exclusion of two significant Trends is critically addressed. In view of the problematic nature of Oruka's classification, a suggestion as to the revised classification of the discourse is made. Secondly, the author has recognised problems pertaining to the commonly assumed interpretation of African philosophy. She thus contextualizes the Trends in African philosophy in relation to the history of the African continent, specifically in terms of colonialism and the intellectual justifications given by the thinkers of the Enlightenment to the colonialist movement. In considering the various manifestations of the Trends, the author deems it significant to note that each of the Trends reacts and responds to the debased assumptions of the colonialist movement, and asserts the propensity of the African mind in reaction to the European assumptions of African intellectual backwardness, which served as the justification for the colonialist domination of Africa. In relation to the reactionary nature of African philosophy as discourse, the author recognises a further attribute, that of the reformationary capacity of African philosophy in relation to the injurious effects of colonialism on the African continent. Through its reformatory capacity, African philosophy addresses and attempts to reform the debilitating effects of colonialism on the African mind, namely the crises of inferiority, identity and alienation. In order to achieve its effectiveness as a philosophy of liberation, the author suggests the creative negotiation of modern and traditional modes of being.In the third instance, the author considers whether there are not significant definitional forms of philosophy which emanate from the African discourse. In this, the author recognises that each of the Trends presents its own unique definition of what philosophy is, and how philosophy should be interpreted if it is to be regarded as African. Ethnophilosophy and Sage Philosophy are recognised as presenting a traditional, that is, indigenous form of philosophy. Universalist Philosophy is recognised as emanating from the Western discourse, and presents African philosophy with a universalist definition of philosophy. Negritude and African Political Philosophy are recognised as presenting a philosophical perspective that engenders an emancipatory frame of mind. Hermeneutical African Philosophy utilises the concepts of "deconstruction" and "reconstruction" in order to "decolonize", that is, rid the African mind of the debilitating effects of colonialist subjugation, domination and suppression.

In this thesis I shall outline various modernist authors' arguments that collectivities (such as ethnic groups, nations, states and cultures) and subjectivities employ sacrificial violence to establish and assert their identity where identity is inescapably (?) understood in terms of the sovereignty of the collective or the post-Oedipal autonomy of the individual. To this end, violence has been posited as a historical and conceptual inevitability and is set as the default-state of human nature and politics. In recent times, protesting voices (from post-feminist, post-colonial, post-modern and the emerging human rights discourses) have begun to rigorously contest the notion of violence as the default-state. As a result, the legitimacy of sacrifice as the primary modus to an autonomous selfhood has been radically problematised. I believe that a comprehensive understanding of the nature of this crisis of identity formation , and the possibility of transcending it, is to be found in the paradigmatic shift away from Newtonian thought toward a post-Newtonian worldview. In seeking to challenge the assumption of violence-as-default, I shall translate the comprehensive sacrificial nature of collective identity and subjectivity into a complexity-based model that allowed me to make three crucial conceptual moves toward a comprehensive understanding of post-sacrificial identities that occupy an important place in a post-Newtonian world. First, it will allow me to challenge the assumptions that supported the Hobbesian myth of autonomy/sovereignty sacrificially achieved by charting the ontological shift that compels us to understand "entities" (be it a cell, an individual or a state) not in terms of autonomy but interdependence. Secondly, it provides the conceptual tools needed to understand the systemic nature of sacrificial violence by reading subjectivity violence and collectivity violence in terms of their organic self-similarity. This will equip me to comprehensively explore a postsacrificial epistemology valid for both collective identities and subjectivity. Thirdly, I propose a model of post-sacrificial identities that are created and sustained at the edge of chaos through the dynamic interplay of order and disorder that reconciles creative and destructive forces in a generative unity. I believe that this post-Newtonian reading will clear the conceptual space needed to suggest there might yet be hope for a future that does not embrace violence as default-state.

Nous partons d’un constat :plusieurs Etats d’Afrique, en général, et d’Afrique centrale, en particulier, connaissent un déficit très aigu de justice et de démocratie dans la répartition de biens sociaux premiers. En outre, ces Etats ne sont pas bien organisés politiquement, économiquement et socialement. Par conséquent, ils ne respectent pas les principes de justice politique à l’échelle domestique, ni les principes du droit des peuples au niveau international ou supranational. <p>Devant ce constat amer, nous nous sommes proposé de réfléchir en profondeur sur la théorie de la justice politique de Rawls en vue de nous imprégner de principes susceptibles de garantir les droits et devoirs fondamentaux des citoyens et des peuples bien ordonnés.<p>Nous avons ainsi examiné les conditions de possibilité de l’application de la théorie de la justice politique de Rawls pour une intégration politique réussie à l’échelle interne, en République Démocratique du Congo, et au niveau international ou supranational des Etats de l’Afrique centrale. Il ressort que la mise en place des institutions politiques, économiques, socioculturelles viables, de l’Etat de droit et du modèle de la démocratie représentativo-délibérative constituent, à notre sens, des préalables indispensables en vue de postuler, à un second niveau, une intégration politique supranationale dans la sous-région de l’Afrique des Grands Lacs caractérisée par des guerres récurrentes interétatiques. Les principes rawlsiens du droit des peuples peuvent aider à repenser la politique étrangère des pays de la sous-région de l’Afrique centrale et celle des organisations supranationales existantes. <p>Néanmoins, nous avons soutenu que l’application de certains principes rawlsiens du droit des peuples, comme celui du respect des traités et des engagements, nécessite que ceux-ci soient signés au sein d’une « fédération pacifique » des Etats. En effet, dans l’entendement d’Emmanuel Kant, des traités signés dans une « fédération pacifique » mettent fin à la fois aux guerres présentes et futures.<p>Dans cet ordre d’idées, nous avons souligné qu’une « fédération pacifique » des Etats pourra créer un cadre important pour l’émergence d’une « communauté de sécurité » au sens deutschien du terme, nécessaire pour la paix durable dans la sous-région de l’Afrique des Grands Lacs. La « communauté de sécurité » préconise que les Etats entretenant des relations réciproques ne recourent pas à la violence physique et règlent leurs problèmes par des « mécanismes de changement pacifique ». Dans cette logique, la guerre n’est plus facilement envisageable. De plus, nous avons estimé, en nous inspirant d’Habermas, qu’il est pertinent que les pays de l’Afrique centrale s’engagent sur la voie de l’« afrofédération », assurant la transformation des traités interétatiques conclus en une Constitution politique que chaque Etat de la fédération devra respecter.<p> / Doctorat en Philosophie / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished