The Question of Being in Western and African Analytic Metaphysics (eBook)

The main aim of this book is to discuss fundamental developments on the question of being in Western and African philosophy using analytic metaphysics as a framework. It starts with the two orthodox responses to the question of being, namely, the subject-verb-object language view and the rheomodic language view. In the first view, being is conceived through the analysis of language structure, where it is represented by subjects (particulars), objects, and relations (often universals). In the second view, there are different variations; however, the common idea is that the world's structure is revealed in the root verb of terms. This suggests a holistic and dynamic conception of being, where everything is in a continuous process of action. The book builds on analytic philosophy and explores metaphysical concepts such as space-time, modality, causation, indeterminism versus determinism, and mind and body. The book shows that in both Western and African thought, (i) similarities in different studies confirm that philosophy is a universal activity, (ii) differences within a context and beyond confirm the perspectival nature of human knowledge as individuals attempt to interpret reality, and (iii) language influences the conceptualization of being in a particular area. One of the novel aspects is the development of visual and mathematical African models of space and time.

Grivas Muchineripi Kayange is an Associate Professor of Philosophy and Out-going Dean of Humanities at Chancellor College, University of Malawi. He was a visiting scholar at the Center of Philosophy of Natural and Social Sciences at the London School of Economics and Political Science in 2006 and a Post-graduate visiting scholar at the University of Edinburgh from 2008 to 2009. He graduated in philosophy at the Gregorian Pontifical University in Rome in 2007. His expertise includes Theories/logic and practice, African philosophy, Analytic philosophy, and Ethics. He has done research and published in different areas since 2008; some of his most recent books include; Meaning and Truth in African Philosophy (2018), Capitalism and Freedom in African Philosophy (2020), Co-editor Addiction in East and Southern Africa (2020), and Ethics in Malawi (2021). Some of his commonly read articles include 'Restoration of Ubuntu as an Autocentric Virtue-Phronesis Theory' (2020), 'Rethinking African Analytic Philosophy: A Perspectival Approach' (2019), and 'An Alternative to Giere's Perspectival Realism' (2019).