Causality in Western Science and Traditional African Thought: a Study in Comparative Philosophy

The pervasive misconception of Africans as a people without scientific outlook and scientific mode of explanation is critically interrogated in this book, Causality in Western Science and Traditional African Thought: A Study in Comparative Philosophy. The author, Balogun A. Oladele establishes that the scientific model of explanation is not a unique feature limited to Western thought, but that it is also applicable to traditional African thought. Using the conceptual, critical and comparative tools of philosophy, the author explores the nature, goals and components of causal explanations in both thought systems in pursuit of a critical comparison of the similitude and differences in these non-conflicting modes of thought. This book is a bold and welcome attempt at not only understanding causality as a conceptual datum in intercultural philosophy, but also drawing attention to the vital and highly indispensable role of causality to practical life and human daily operations in the world. To the students, researchers and teachers of African philosophy, philosophy of science and intercultural philosophy, this book is useful; it offers stimulating challenges for further discussions.