Existence and consolation : reinventing ontology, gnosis, and values in African philosophy / Ada Agada.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Agada, Adam, author.

Series:

Paragon issues in philosophy

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Philosophy, African--20th century.

Philosophy, African.

Philosophy, African--21st century.

Consolation.

Philosophy and religion.

Philosophical theology.

Physical Description:

xxi, 368 pages ; 23 cm.

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

St. Paul : Paragon House, 2015.

Summary:

"An original and constructive African though system with universal reach. Existence and consolation transcends the ethno-philosophies the dominated in the post-colonial period. While the African experience might lead one to say human life is pointless, the author argues that meaning comes in the form of consolation and is rooted in mood"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

General Introduction to the African Synthesis and the Plan of Existence and Consolation 1

Background of Our Research 1

Stating the Problem of Our Research 8

Scope and General Plan of Our Research 11

Part 1 Consolation Philosophy as African Philosophy 15

Chapter 1 Introduction to Consolation Philosophy 17

A Brief Reconsideration of the Old Debate on the Existence of African Philosophy 17

Preliminary Outline of Our Metaphysics of Terror and the Morality of Consolation 23

Existential Background of Consolation Philosophy 27

Chapter 2 Countdown to Consolation Philosophy 31

On the Necessity of the Justification of Consolation Philosophy as Authentic African Philosophy 31

A Brief Preparatory Analysis of the Egyptian Principle of Maat as Philosophically Contemporaneous with the Ujamaa and Ubuniu Communal Wisdom of the People of Black Africa 33

Ethno-philosophy as the Foundation of Our Late and Early Synthesis 35

Transition from Ethno-philosophy to the Metaphysical Vision of Leopold Sedar Senghor 46

Transition from the Metaphysical Vision of Senghor to the Rationalism of Asouzu 51

Transition from the Rationalism of Asouzu to the Doctrine of Mood as the Synthesis of the Philosophy of Consolation 59

Part 2 the Doctrine of God and Nature 67

Chapter 3 Consolationist Metaphysics 69

General Preamble 69

Clarification of the Nature of the Eternal Mood 72

The Eternal Mood as the Mood of Melancholy 74

The Eternal Mood as the Mythopoeic Dream of Existence 75

The Dialectic of Mood and the Inevitability of Creation External to the Eternal Mood 77

Creationism and Evolutionism 81

Early Explication of the Question of Fatalism 87

Fatalism and the Dialectic of Mood 96

Rationality and Emotionality: The Human Mood and the Mood of the World 100

Chapter 4 Consolationist Metaphysics and Epistemology 107

The Vertical Analysis of Cosmic Emotion in the Consolationist Perspective 107

The Existence of God 109

On the Categories of Power and Glory 118

Chapter 5 The Problem or Evil in the World 123

Preparatory Exposition of Consolationist Theodicy and the Response to the Logical and Evidential Problem of Evil 123

Preliminary Solution to the Problem of the Relation of God with the World 124

Solution to the Problem of the Existence of Evil in the World 129

Of the Origin of the Evil in the World (Continued) 133

Chapter 6 Recapitulation, Probability, and Summary 139

On the Silence of the "World as Arguing for the Supposition of a Missing God and Finally the Impossibility of God's Existence 139

The Demonstration of the Existence of God as Merely the Justification of a Belief in God Masquerading as Proof of God's Existence 142

Probability in the Perspective of Our Consolation Philosophy 146

On the External World and the Demand for a Proof of Its Existence 150

An Anatomy of Skepticism According with the Doctrine of Mood 153

Conclusion to the Second Part of the African Philosophical Synthesis 158

Part 3 The Doctrine of Human Existence 161

Chapter 7 The Human Phenomenon 163

The Scientific Vision of Humanity 163

The Philosophical Vision of the Human Being 166

On the Necessity of the Transcendental Appeal in the Face of a Consolation-seeking Practice 169

The Question of Human Rationality 171

Chapter 8 The Human Community 177

The Existence of the Other as My Brother 177

The Existence of My Brother as the justification of My Own Existence and the Affirmation of Faith in the Reality of the External World 178

Human Capacity for Inter-personal Communication as Fundamental co the Justification of the Existence of My Brother 181

Friendly Communication as the Fundamental Condition for the Justification of My Brother's Existence and the Original Relations of Minds 183

The Individual and the Community 188

Pessimism and Optimism 191

Chapter 9 The Second Witness to Liberty 195

On the Enduring Question of Freedom 195

The Problem of Freedom in Perspective 198

The Vanishing Ideality 201

Liberty 205

Fatalism, Determinism, and Indeterminism 210

Emotional Being 217

Intelligent Being 221

Human Yearning, 224

Chapter 10 The Metaphysics of Morality 227

Preamble 227

Is Human Life Pointless? 229

The Objectivity of Morality 234

The Relativization of Morality 237

God and Morality 240

Chapter 11 Anatomy of the Melancholy Being 245

The Melancholy Being 245

Human Empathy and Its Philosophical Grounds 246

Despair 252

Anxiety 253

Death and Immortality 259

Conclusion to the Third Part of the African Philosophical Synthesis 266

Part 4 Comparative Philosophy 271

Chapter 12 The Fundamental Harmony of Consolation Philosophy with the Basic Western Philosophical Imagination 273

Preamble 273

Plato and Aristotle 274

Benedict Spinoza 281

From David Hume to Immanuel Kant 286

G.W.E Hegel and F.H. Bradley 294

The Existentialists I: Martin Heidegger and Jean-Paul Sartre 297

The Existentialists II: Sören Kierkegaard and Miguel de Unamuno 308

Conclusion to the Fourth Part of the African Philosophical Synthesis 315.

Notes:

"A Jonathan Chimakonam Book."

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781557789143

1557789142

OCLC:

893668921