The idea of rights in the African thought scheme
Abstract
In Theoria 65(4), the editors of the special edition, Motsamai Molefe and Christopher Allsobrook, raised a cogent question on an issue that is neglected by the volume – that is, how to think of rights in and through the African thought scheme. As they put it: "What would it mean and imply to decolonise the discourse of rights?". In this work, I offer a set of views that address this question. I apply the African thought scheme as a plausible instance of a decolonial thought scheme, and illustrate what rights mean in the African thought scheme. The work addresses the following questions: from a distinctly African point of view, how can it be held that the idea of rights is available in African thought? What are the specific principles that this idea of rights defends, and how can it be held to suggest additional gains to the advancement of the philosophy of rights? To achieve the aims of the study, I (i) provide a theoretical justification for the study. I then (ii) conduct a broad review of the extant literature on the meaning of rights and illustrate its colonial quality and how it depends on Western thought schemes. I then (iii) articulate the meaning of rights in the African thought scheme, and (iv) illustrate its wider implication for the philosophy of rights. The methods applied are textual reviews, critical analysis and intuitive deductions.
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