Professor Esteve Morera

Office:  S419 Ross

Phone: 736 2100, ext. 77591

Email: morera@yorku.ca

Virtual office hours: Wednesday 10:00 -11:30

or by appointment.

This course provides an overview of the development of African philosophy since the publication of Tempels’ book on Bantu Philosophy in 1945. The course will explore two broad themes.  First, it will focus on the question of the distinctive nature of contemporary debates amongst African philosophers. In so doing, it will focus on such questions as: What is philosophy? Are there any universal philosophical principles?  Or, on the contrary, Are philosophical problems and ideas relative to cultural practices and worldviews?  The various answers to these questions form the ground on which the ethno‑philosophical, the universalist, and the hermeneutical schools are rooted.  Secondly, the course explores a number of texts written by Africans on epistemology, metaphysics, and ethics.  These texts represent the latest efforts to define the field of African philosophy and to develop an original philosophical critique of diverse cultural conceptual frameworks.

1. Gyekye, Kwame. An Essay on African Philosophical Thought: the Akan Conceptual Scheme. Cambridge, New York:  Cambridge University Press, 1987.
2. PHIL 3180 KIT (To be purchased from the York Bookstore)

Test (Feb. 22)  . . . . . . . .…  30%

Research Paper (April 5) … 35%

Final Exam ..……………….. 35%

The main purpose of our meetings will be to make sure that you achieve your academic goals.  Learning is an activity that is best accomplished by actively participating in discussion, raising questions, and suggesting ways of understanding a text or solving a problem.  Instructors should facilitate this activity.  Current research demonstrates the importance of active learning, but this is indeed a very old idea, one that the great thinkers of the past already understood well.

To that end, each session will be divided into sections:  some of them will be devoted to lectures providing background information that may be needed to understand a text or a problem, and to explicate concepts or analyze arguments; others will be devoted to group discussion, and Q&A. Questions are always a welcome; I encourage you to interrupt lectures with any relevant questions you may have.

The student completing this course will

• acquire understanding of the debates about African philosophy in the second half of the 20^th century.
• appreciate the links and differences between culture and philosophy
• have a greater appreciation of the nature of philosophical questions and how they are answered.

Course policies

1. Academic honesty and integrity

In this course, we strive to maintain academic integrity to the highest extent possible. Please familiarize yourself with the meaning of academic integrity by completing SPARK’s Academic Integrity module at the beginning of the course. Breaches of academic integrity range from cheating to plagiarism (i.e., the improper crediting of another’s work, the representation of another’s ideas as your own, etc.). All instances of academic dishonesty in this course will be reported to the appropriate university authorities, and can be punishable according to the Senate Policy on Academic Honesty.

Note:

Notes-sharing websites (NSW), such as Course Hero enable students to upload and access course materials including tests, test answers and assignments. They are often used to plagiarize assignments or cheat on tests. The Dean's Office maintains that any student who uploads course material on these websites without permission of the instructor violates York's Academic Honesty Policy, even if that material is not used by another student to cheat or plagiarize. Uploading course material onto an NSW potentially violates two sections of the Senate Policy:

2.1.6 Dissemination of information without permission. Information or experimental data that was collected with a member of faculty or another student, and other works that involved the participation of a faculty member or another student, should not be submitted for publication or otherwise disseminated without their permission.

2.1.10 Encouraging, enabling or causing others to do or attempt any of the above with intent to mislead an instructor, academic unit, program, office or committee as to a student's academic status, qualifications, actions or preparation, or knowingly aiding or abetting anyone in a breach of academic honesty shall itself be considered misconduct. Taking any action which can reasonably be interpreted as intending to encourage or enable others to commit an offence of academic honesty.

2. Turnitin

To promote academic integrity in this course, students will be required to submit their written assignments to Turnitin (via the course Moodle) for a review of textual similarity and the detection of possible plagiarism. In so doing, students will allow their material to be included as source documents in the Turnitin.com reference database, where they will be used only for the purpose of detecting plagiarism. The terms that apply to the University’s use of the Turnitin service are described on the Turnitin.com website.

3. Copy Rights

Note that all lectures, both their content and recordings of them, are protected by copyright law:

1) the recordings should be used for educational purposes only and as a means for enhancing accessibility; 2) students do not have permission to duplicate, copy or distribute the recordings outside of the class (these acts can violate not only copyright laws but also FIPPA -Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. F.31); and 3) all recordings will be destroyed after the end of classes.

4. Late policy.

Assignments must be submitted on time.  No extensions will be generally granted for papers, other than in some officially documented exceptional circumstances (illness, bereavement, disability, special needs.)  Late papers will be penalized 5% per day.  There are no exceptions to this rule.

5. Course information

All students are expected to familiarize themselves with the following information:

• Student Rights & Responsibilities
• Academic Accommodation for Students with Disabilities

6. Times and locations:

This course will be taught in person,  Wednesday 11:300 - 2:30 pm in ACW  003.