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Meaning of Justice in African Philosophy

Part of the book series: Philosophy and Politics - Critical Explorations ((PPCE,volume 28))

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Abstract

What is the meaning of justice in African philosophy? The chapter introduces the central themes of this book. It first presents highlights of the general meaning and theoretical views on justice in philosophy. The aim is to introduce the common philosophical meanings of justice. After this presentation, I focus on some introductory meanings/ideas on justice in African philosophy, mainly in English-speaking Africa. This is the context I use to discuss issues of philosophical importance, partly selected for convenience’s sake (I use the English language together with some Bantu languages in my research). The chapter will also introduce ‘African political philosophy,’ an area this manuscript mainly belongs to.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    My research uses English and some Bantu languages (mostly Chichewa).

  2. 2.

    I follow the classical Aristotelian view, where political philosophy overlaps with ethics.

  3. 3.

    I will consider this below and later in this work.

  4. 4.

    For more discussion, refer to the earlier work, The Question of Being in Western and African Analytic Philosophy (Kayange 2021).

  5. 5.

    I will discuss Frege’s ideas further in Chap. 5 of this work, where I will indicate the contribution of sense and denotation in understanding complex meanings in the use of language and meaning in the African context.

  6. 6.

    In my different works (such as Kayange 2018), I noted that this theory of truth was in the philosophy of Aristotle as he was investigating the meaning of being. For example, in Metaphysics, the meaning of the word truth is the relation between what is said of a thing and what it is. In other words, truth is affirming that a thing ‘is’ when ‘it is’ or denying what ‘is not.’ Similarly, falsity is denying a thing that ‘it is not’ when ‘it is,’ or vice versa, denying what ‘is’ when ‘it is.’

  7. 7.

    Although he denied being one of the adherents to the neo-positivism of the Vienna Circle, see Popper 1974.

  8. 8.

    I will consider this later in this work since it is fundamental for this study.

  9. 9.

    This reflects the views of Austin starting from 1939.

  10. 10.

    I added this to the citation for gender purposes.

  11. 11.

    For a further survey on universals, hence a further understanding of justice, refer to Kayange (2020b).

  12. 12.

    This is the second edition; the first was in 1981.

  13. 13.

    I discuss Nozick’s notion of justice later in this work.

  14. 14.

    Rawls (2001), Justice as fairness: A restatement. Harvard University Press: Harvard.

  15. 15.

    Everything changes when one holds a different belief in the supreme, the source and owner of everything.

  16. 16.

    (Treatise on justice – www3.nd.edu).

  17. 17.

    See Kayange 2021 on positive philosophy and Kwacha philosophy.

  18. 18.

    Convention People’s Party of Nkrumah call it scientific socialism.

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  1. University of Malawi, Zomba, Malawi

    Grivas Muchineripi Kayange

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Kayange, G.M. (2023). General Introduction. In: Meaning of Justice in African Philosophy. Philosophy and Politics - Critical Explorations, vol 28. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-47598-6_1

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