Browsing by Author "Udefi, Amaechi"
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Item An analysis of some contemporary alternativies to traditional epistemology(Uludağ Üniversitesi, 2009) Udefi, AmaechiIn this essay, attempt is made to show that the pre-occupation within traditional epistemology with the search for the necessary and sufficient conditions for knowledge is inadequate. The assumption here is that traditional epistemologists conceive knowledge as justified true belief (J.T.B). In other words, once these conditions or criteria (i.e truth, belief and justification conditions) are satisfied, then knowledge is obtained or attained. But each of these conditions is fraught with serious problems as pointed out by Edmund Gettier whose three-page article published in 1963 served as a trenchant critique of the traditional (internalist) analysis of knowledge. It is our contention that these initial difficulties and despair with this view prompted some epistemologists to search for an alternative conception which would overcome or ameliorate these problems. These suggested alternatives further reinforce the argument or imperative for intercultural philosophy and/or social epistemology which attempts to integrate philosophical and epistemological traditions into a polylog between various philosophical, epistemological, and cultural systems? such as African epistemology, Japanese logic, Indian thought, and so on. This view is appealing because it is based on the belief that the interdependence of our world? presupposes an adoption of the principle of charity, respect and tolerance for other cultural and conceptual schemes. In other words, no such tradition should claim any privileged or absolute or overarching position over others since they are on a par.Item Distrusting the “Archimedean view” of philosophy: A plea for tolerance in the ”voices and conversations of mankind”(Uludağ Üniversitesi, 2015) Udefi, AmaechiIt is not uncommon to hear philosophers or even students of philosophy when asked to define their discipline to say that philosophy is the ‘queen of the sciences’, ‘first philosophy’, and so on. These phrases and appellations are often deliberately ascribed to philosophy to denote its centrality to human existence and pursuits as well as its rootedness or connection to other disciplines. They can attempt to justify this by jokingly saying that after all, the academic degree of Doctor of Philosophy’ (Ph.D), which is usually awarded after some years of research and course work is given in due respect and obeisance to its ancestry and gerontologically prior to all classes of knowledge viz, humanities, social sciences and natural science. At a deeper level, it offers useful insights into knowing the business and preoccupation of philosophers from the ancient through modern to contemporary periods. Here, the main concern of the philosopher is to conceive philosophy and its task as ‘a cognitive enterprise and attempt to establish/ through conceptual analysis, any claims to knowledge. In this conception, philosophy examines the substructure of issues and raises foundational or second-order questions. The intent of this paper is to show that philosophy still retains its original image, but its omnibus interpretation and application by some scholars in the present times throw up some problems, one of which is the dictatorial and hegemonic tone implicit in the conception which may inadvertently marginalize and sideline the emergence of other forms of discourses.