The Pros And Cons Of African Universalism

General Introduction
Given Western philosophy’s claims to “universality” most of its authors pledge to provide it to “Others” as the only means to disclose evils of the world. Besides, it proclaims that the white race is “a superior” race endowed with reason dedicated to “civilize” “Others”. Some Western philosophers make a distinction between human races: “superior” and “inferior”, “black” and
“white” etc. which finally denies the humanity of Africans. Proponents of this philosophy are
Aristotle, G.W. F. Hegel, Levy Bruhl, Immanuel Kant, and David Hume. Besides, the “logic of evolutionism” assumes that “Africans were mentally equivalent to children and therefore could not produce art, religion, language, writing, literature, or political structures

Firstly, how does African philosophy react to the false universalism that underlies globalization itself? In other words, what can African philosophy contribute to the recognition of cultural alternatives in the formation of an enabling multilateral conversation of traditions and cultures? Secondly, how does African philosophy enable us in getting back an African identity and the calibration of African development in the face of global economy, culture, ideology and economic hindrances? In answering these and other sensitive issues, I will defend that African philosophy has a firm contribution in challenging Western hegemony and globalization on Africa.
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Finally, the thesis is structured into four chapters organized as follows that stress on the above trajectories: under chapter one an overview of Western hegemony on Africa will be thoroughly stated. I will evaluate the implication of Western philosophy of hierarchy on human races so as to unravel Western domination on African mentality, culture, and economy. Based on this, the claim herein will be Western dictum of universalizing common human values is pseudo-universalization, for it embraces its local values