One of the central questions concerning modern African intellectual history has to do with the relationship between modernity and colonialism. This book approaches this question from the standpoint of debates about modern science on the African continent. This topic, despite its importance, has not received much attention in the writings of African philosophers. However, there is an African philosopher who has provided us with what is perhaps the most well-articulated African theory of the relationship between modern science, African cultural identity, and colonialism. The philosopher in question is the Beninois philosopher, Paulin Hountondji (1942–2024). While Hountondji’s critique of what he called “ethnophilosophy” has been tremendously influential in shaping African philosophy, his later work on scientific dependency has not received the level of attention that it warrants. What is especially significant about Hountondji’s work on scientific dependency is that it approaches the issue from four disciplinary angles: philosophy, history, sociology of knowledge, and political economy. At the (meta-)philosophical level, Hountondji argues that philosophy itself is dependent on science. Moreover, he implicitly provides an answer to a classical problem in philosophy of science as it pertains to African philosophy of culture, namely the demarcation problem (i.e., the problem of how to distinguish between scientific theories and other knowledge claims). Hountondji’s solution to the demarcation problem forces us to turn to history, because he makes it clear that the relevant demarcation problem for African philosophers has to do with the demarcation between modern science (as opposed to science without qualifications) and other bodies of belief that make knowledge claims. In addition, Hountondji turns to the history of colonialism in order to understand the relationship between colonialism on the African continent and modern science. At the level of the sociology of knowledge, Hountondji makes claims about the conditions which make modern science possible, and which are relevant to understanding the relationship between capitalism, modern science, modern technology, and modern philosophy. At the level of political economy, Hountondji draws on dependency theory in order to contextualize his claims about scientific dependency and to tether this phenomenon to neo-colonial macro-level structures. The unifying theoretical orientation behind these four different disciplinary angles is his commitment to historical materialism as a theoretical framework.

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2025年

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One of the central questions concerning modern African intellectual history has to do with the relationship between modernity and colonialism. This book approaches this question from the standpoint of debates about modern science on the African continent. This topic, despite its importance, has not received much attention in the writings of African philosophers. However, there is an African philosopher who has provided us with what is perhaps the most well-articulated African theory of the relationship between modern science, African cultural identity, and colonialism. The philosopher in question is the Beninois philosopher, Paulin Hountondji (1942–2024). While Hountondji’s critique of what he called “ethnophilosophy” has been tremendously influential in shaping African philosophy, his later work on scientific dependency has not received the level of attention that it warrants. What is especially significant about Hountondji’s work on scientific dependency is that it approaches the issue from four disciplinary angles: philosophy, history, sociology of knowledge, and political economy. At the (meta-)philosophical level, Hountondji argues that philosophy itself is dependent on science. Moreover, he implicitly provides an answer to a classical problem in philosophy of science as it pertains to African philosophy of culture, namely the demarcation problem (i.e., the problem of how to distinguish between scientific theories and other knowledge claims). Hountondji’s solution to the demarcation problem forces us to turn to history, because he makes it clear that the relevant demarcation problem for African philosophers has to do with the demarcation between modern science (as opposed to science without qualifications) and other bodies of belief that make knowledge claims. In addition, Hountondji turns to the history of colonialism in order to understand the relationship between colonialism on the African continent and modern science. At the level of the sociology of knowledge, Hountondji makes claims about the conditions which make modern science possible, and which are relevant to understanding the relationship between capitalism, modern science, modern technology, and modern philosophy. At the level of political economy, Hountondji draws on dependency theory in order to contextualize his claims about scientific dependency and to tether this phenomenon to neo-colonial macro-level structures. The unifying theoretical orientation behind these four different disciplinary angles is his commitment to historical materialism as a theoretical framework.