Reason and Rationality in Eze's On Reason

    Authors

    B. B. Janz

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    South Afr. J. Philos.

    Keywords

    AFRICAN TRADITIONAL THOUGHT; SOCIOLOGICAL THESIS; WESTERN SCIENCE; PHILOSOPHY; PEARCE; Philosophy

    Abstract

    The title of Emmanuel Eze's final, posthumously published book uses the words "reason" and "rationality" in a manner that might suggest they are interchangeable. I would like to suggest that we not treat them as the same, but rather tease out a difference in emphasis and reference between the two. In African philosophy, the problem of reason is really two separate problems, the first of which I will call the "problem of reason" (that is, the question of whether there are diverse forms of reason or only one universal form) and the second the "problem of rationality" (that is, the question of whether everyone has the capacity to deploy reason past what mimicry or programming makes possible). Both of these problems are addressed by Eze's schema for forms of reason. He identifies several forms, but focuses on "ordinary reason", which allows all the other forms to operate. Ordinary reason also makes rationality possible, that is, the culturally specific yet emergent way of navigating forms of reason. Reason is necessarily diverse, because its multiple forms are deployed differently by different rationalities.

    Journal Title

    South African Journal of Philosophy

    Volume

    27

    Issue/Number

    4

    Publication Date

    1-1-2008

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    296

    Last Page

    309

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000262753900004

    ISSN

    0258-0136

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