African Philosophy and the Challenge of Science and Technology

Abstract

Lauer argues in this chapter that the challenge faced by contemporary African philosophers is to defeat the tyranny of foreign expertise which undermines the biosphere and therefore threatens human survival, as it commands the pursuit of science-for-profit in the twenty-first century. The chapter contends that African professional intellectuals can meet this challenge as philosophers without borders, utilizing their competitive advantage in defying the disciplinary boundaries that retard researchers and developers in G8 countries in their effort to grapple with egregious human distress. Lauer further argues that African intellectuals in all fields working as philosophers without borders are well positioned to infiltrate the global division of intellectual labour, while amplifying otherwise suppressed critical voices of indigenous authority and of Western-trained African specialists—whose testimonies are disregarded if they threaten a lucrative agenda. The world’s “remote” regions afford the best location for recognizing the shortfalls of profit-driven initiatives in pursuit of post-2015 UN sustainable development goals. Working in the poorest economies, African professionals are the best suited to study and reflect upon local conditions, and from there to extrapolate internationally, speaking on behalf of populations throughout the Two Thirds World who have the most to gain by radical transformation of the global knowledge economy.