Introduction Philosophy and Development

These days, Africa is seen as an underdeveloped or developing continent, but this qualification has been with us for many decades, dating immediately from post-colonial times. What is meant by this is that Africa as a whole lags behind other areas in terms of measurable economic output and general (quality of life' indices for its inhabitants. An evident paradox in the attempts made to solve the problem of underdevelopment in Africa is that the vast majority of the research into the causes of Africa's present condition emanates from research centres and universities located in the West. And what is evident about the majority of such theories is that they tend to focus narrowly on strictly economic issues geared towards 'alleviating poverty' and creating piecemeal conditions for 'sustainable development'. The collection of essays in this issue approach the problem of development from a broader, more holistic perspective with analyses that explore Africa's present status theoretically, from the standpoint of all the social sciences, not just economics. The reason for this broader approach is that this collection of paper attempts to explain the issue of development from the standpoint of philosophical analysis, given its evident intractability. One reason for attacking the problem from the standpoint of philosophy is that philosophy, above all, is concerned with critical analysis of all forms of knowledge, and that given the intractability of the problem of development in Africa, attempts to examine this problem from all angles would undoubtedly be more illuminating than employing standard modes of analysis. It is also instructive to note that, merely for reasons of reference, the development of the West was accompanied by important