Kwasi wiredu biography of rory

But more than that, he eloquently used well-known Akan proverbs to make his lyrics memorable. And he inspired Onyina to compose lyrics that comforted those who needed to shore up their psyches! Two questions that decisively shaped these discussions were: what is the distinguishing feature of an African philosophical work, and who counts as an African philosopher?

He prescribed for African philosophy an orientation that involves constructive self-criticism; i. He argued across millennia, with his contemporaries, and he will continue to argue with future scholars. Hence, he will not be forgotten in the history of philosophy. Africans are a much oppressed and disparaged people; some foreigners have not even conceded that Africans, as a traditional people, were capable of a coherent worldview.

While some brilliant insights resulted, there were misinterpretations and factual errors as well. After graduating inhe went to University College, Oxford to read for the B. Upon graduating in he was appointed to a teaching post at the University College of North Staffordshire now the University of Keelewhere he stayed for a year. A very simple example of this is the Cartesian cogito.

Wiredu, in turn, took specific examples from the Akan languages to relativize and put in their proper place some of the most classic notions of the Western philosophical tradition. I have never forgotten this lesson from Wiredu. It came to meet my militant convictions on the need for rehabilitation and development of African languages. But what Wiredu shows is that this claim, which at first sight is simply political, refers to an infinitely deeper issue; that beyond political, economic and cultural decolonization, the most radical issue is conceptual decolonization.

Born on January 5,Ngugi is six years younger than Wiredu. He did not say goodbye to the English language. He has not resolved to write now only in his mother tongue, Twi, or in another Akan language. But the difficulty was not the same. Because philosophy is not literature.

Kwasi wiredu biography of rory

Telling is one thing, thinking is another. Telling a story, real or fictional, in an African language is different to analysing problems and forging the right concepts for this purpose. In line with what Wiredu wanted, 15 years ago the African-Canadian philosopher Chike Jeffers remarkably solicited several African philosophers to write original articles in their languages.

The young academic won his bet. The result was a multilingual collection where the original texts appeared on the left and the English translation on the right. Beyond the Legon campus, Wiredu has enjoyed national influence in his country. Philosophy and an African Culture was originally the title of his acceptance speech at the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences, delivered in Octoberbefore it became the title of a book of which this speech constituted the first chapter.

Beyond Ghana, he radiated on the continent, lecturing in various countries in sometimes restricted frameworks, as in Benin, or in broader frameworks as in Abidjan, Nairobi and elsewhere. In he carried out a visiting professorship at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria. The Conversation. Retrieved 19 January Critique — : — African Studies Quarterly.

Archived from the original PDF on 25 July Retrieved 17 July Quest: Revue Africaine de Philosophie. Archived from the original PDF on 3 March African Studies Center Leiden. Retrieved 16 July The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of religion Second ed. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. ISBN University of Nairobi's Reginald M. Oduor talks to Anteneh Roba and Rainer Ebert".

Rainer Ebert. Retrieved 21 September External links [ edit ]. Authority control databases. Hidden categories: Articles with French-language sources fr Articles with short description Short description is different from Wikidata EngvarB from January Use dmy dates from January Pages using infobox philosopher with embed equal yes Articles with hCards.