Menkiti Slide Show - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Menkiti Slide Show
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Menkiti Slide Show HMXP 102 Dr. Fike Ifeanyi A. Menkiti Menkiti s Life Menkiti was born in Onitsha, Nigeria. He came to the United States to attend Pomona ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation
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Title: Menkiti Slide Show
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Menkiti Slide Show
- HMXP 102
- Dr. Fike
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Ifeanyi A. Menkiti
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Menkitis Life
- Menkiti was born in Onitsha, Nigeria. He came to
the United States to attend Pomona College and
went onto Columbia and New York universities for
further studies. He earned a Ph.D. in philosophy
from Harvard and has taught at Wellesley for more
than 30 years. He teaches courses in the area of
medical ethics, philosophy of law, philosophy and
literature and African philosophy. He has
produced two previous collections of poetry,
Affirmations (1971) and The Jubilation of Falling
Bodies (1978). Published widely in African and
American journals, including Philosophical Forum,
Harvard Educational Review and Journal of the
American Academy of Religion, his poetry has been
read on National Public Radio and has received an
award from the National Endowment for the Arts.
- Source http//www.wellesley.edu/PublicAffairs/Re
leases/2005/0428052.html
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Vocabulary
- perduring (3)
- dictum
- ontology (re. being)
- epistemology (re. knowledge)
- plenitude (5)
- ontological progression (7)
- ontological status (9)
- circumscribe (22)
- sine qua non (23)
- metaphysics (re. reality)
- atomic (27)
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Activity 7 minutes
- On the following slide there are seven concepts
from Menkitis essay. - In groups of 2-3 persons, work together to
understand one of these concepts. - As you do so, find one or more quotations to
support your answer. You will report to the whole
class. - If you finish your groups concept in the time
provided, move on to one of the other concepts.
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Key Concepts
- Society ?? Persons (esp. 28)
- The role of language (3-11)
- Minimal and maximal views of the person (6)
- "the processual nature of being" (5)
- "a qualitative difference...between old and
young" (7) - ethical maturitya key difference (14-17)
- personal immortality vs. collective immortality
(11-12)
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Two More Concepts
- Existentialism
- Community
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Existentialism
- Sartre was the only self-declared existentialist
among the major thinkers. For him the central
idea of all existential thought is that existence
precedes essence. For Sartre there is no God and
therefore no fixed human nature that forces one
to act. Man is totally free and entirely
responsible for what he makes of himself. It is
this freedom and responsibility that, as for
Kierkegaard, is the source of man's dread. - Source http//0-www.xreferplus.com.library.winthr
op.edu/entry.jsp?xrefid4272380secid.-hh1
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Existentialisms Key Points
- There is no God at the core of existence.
- The universe is indifferent to human beings.
- The ultimate reality is not consciousness
(Descartes) but existence. - Existence precedes essence (meaning).
- We are completely free to determine own meaning
through decision and action. - We make decisions based on what brings meaning,
not necessarily on what is rational. - We are completely responsible for creating our
lives meaning.
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Existentialism vs. Africa
- Similarities
- Both view "personhood, or selfhood, as something
acquired" (21) - and "existence does precede essence" (22).
- Existentialism
- "emphasis on individuals solely constituting
themselves into selves" (22) - "man's freedom...from all determining factors,
including even reason" (22). - Infant/child and adult have equivalent
ontological status. - African thought
- Developing selfhood is related to life in
community - infants and children are NOT equal to
adultsthere is "a qualitative difference" (7). - Summary next slide.
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Summary Existentialism vs. Africa
- In the light of the foregoing observations, I
take it then that the African view of human
personhood and the Existentialist view should not
be conflated. Even though both views adopt a
dynamic, non-static approach to the problem of
definition of human selfhood, the underpinning
metaphysical assumptions diverge significantly.
Above all, whereas in the African understanding
human community plays a crucial role in the
individuals acquisition of full personhood, in
the Sartrean existentialist view, the individual
alone defines the self, or person, he is to
become. Such collectivist insistences as we find
in the African world-view are utterly lacking in
the Existentialist tradition (25).
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Existentialism
- Albert Camus is an existentialist.
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Camus
- It is a story about the choice Sisyphus can make
between melancholy and happiness (par. 7).
True, it is absurd to be happy in the face of
eternal torment, but existentialisms point is
that one makes meaning as one goes along.
Meaning, happiness, and well-being are not
external constructs they arise from within us.
We choose thema function of point of view.
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More on Camus
- Absurdity arises from accomplishing nothing
(par. 4). - Heroism relates to joy, happiness, and meaning.
- One is an absurd hero for concluding that all is
well despite failure. - Absurdity and happiness lead to each other and
reinforce each other. - Consciousness makes Sisyphus tragic, but it also
marks his triumph. - Sisyphuss actions make his fate it is created
by him (par. 9). - Existentialism the wholly human origin of all
that is human is a matter of individual acts of
creation, not a societal function as in Menkitis
text.
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Community
- What is the difference between the African and
the Western conceptions of community? - See pars. 26-27.
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Community
- Western thought
- Community is a mere collection of
self-interested persons - a community is the aggregated sum of individuals
comprising it (26). - A community is a random collection of
individuals and a non-organic bringing together
of atomic individuals into a unit more akin to an
association (27). - The emphasis is on individual rights.
- African thought
- Communities are collectivities that have an
organic dimension to the relationship between the
component individuals (27). - The emphasis is on duty.
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Three Types of Communities
- How would you illustrate each type?
- random collections of individuals
- constituted human groups a non-organic
bringing together of atomic individuals into a
unit more akin to an association than to a
community - collectivities there is assumed to be an
organic dimension to the relationship between the
component individuals
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Large-group Discussion
- We now need to evaluate Menkitis stark
distinction between Western culture and African
culture. - Is the difference as stark as he believes? In
other words, do some of the characteristics that
he attributes to African culture also
characterize American culture? See next slide.
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Do you find any of these supposedly African
characteristics in America?
- language and its associated social rules (3)
- a long process of social and ritual
transformation (5) - rituals of incorporation (6)
- the older an individual gets the more of a
person he becomes (7) - initiation at puberty time (10)
- Ethical maturity as a part of personhood (14)
- Animal rights challenge to personhood (19)
- Society ? personhood (29)
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Please Note
- The items on the previous slide can help you
generate paper topics.
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Final Question
- Could it be that Menkiti takes a binary
(either/or) approach to cultural difference when
it would be more appropriate to suggest
difference in degree as in a continuum? In other
words, is it possible that he has produced a
cultural version of the fallacy of false
dichotomy? Isnt it possible to take a
maximalist view of personhood and still have
rituals of incorporation? - END
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