Thought Experiments and Personal Identity in Africa

Simon Beck,Oritsegbubemi Anthony Oyowe

doi:10.1017/apa.2020.25

Abstract

AbstractAfrican perspectives on personhood and personal identity and their relation to those of the West have become far more central in mainstream Western discussion than they once were. Not only are African traditional views with their emphasis on the importance of community and social relations more widely discussed, but that emphasis has also received much wider acceptance and gained more influence among Western philosophers. Despite this convergence, there is at least one striking way in which the discussions remain apart and that is on a point of method. The Western discussion makes widespread use of thought experiments. In the African discussion, they are almost entirely absent. In this article, we put forward a possible explanation for the method of thought experiment being avoided that is based on considerations stemming from John Mbiti's account of the traditional African view of time. These considerations find an echo in criticism offered of the method in the Western debate. We consider whether a response to both trains of thought can be found that can further bring the Western and African philosophical traditions into fruitful dialogue.

Highlights

African perspectives on personhood and personal identity and their relation to those of the West have become far more central in mainstream Western discussion than they once were
Just as the futural dimension of time was imposed on Africans from outside (as Diagne ( : ) reads Mbiti to be saying), to call for the use of thought experiments seems to amount to an alien method of doing philosophy being imposed
There may be reasons for seeing this as an even more insidious form of epistemic injustice. These stem from the fact that there is a significant trend in the Western debate on personal identity itself that questions the method of thought experiment on grounds that appear to echo Mbiti’s words in significant ways

Summary

Introduction

African perspectives on personhood and personal identity and their relation to those of the West have become far more central in mainstream Western discussion than they once were. It can be the starting point of an explanation for the unpopularity of thought experiment in African discussions on personhood and personal identity. Mbiti points to how different African views of time are from Western ones: ‘time is a two-dimensional phenomenon, with a long past, a present and virtually no future.

Results

Conclusion