Paulin Jidenu Hountondji was a Beninese philosopher, politician and academic, born in 1942 and died in 2024, considered one of the most important figures in the history of African philosophy. From the 1970s he taught at the Universite Nationale du Benin in Cotonou, where he was Professor of Philosophy, and in the early 1990s he briefly served as Minister of Education and Minister for Culture and Communications in the government of Benin.
Facts
Birth YearSourced to the subject's own account Defining MomentSourced to the subject's own accountHis 1976 book Sur la philosophie africaine: critique de l'ethnophilosophie argued that ethnophilosophy, as practiced by writers such as Placide Tempels and Alexis Kagame, confused the methods of anthropology with those of philosophy, becoming a founding text of the metaphilosophical debate over African philosophy's status as a discipline. 1 Birth DateSourced to the subject's own account Notable PublicationSourced to the subject's own accountSur la philosophie africaine: critique de l'ethnophilosophie (1976), published in English as African Philosophy: Myth and Reality (1983) 1 Office HeldSourced to the subject's own accountMinister of Education and Minister for Culture and Communications, Government of Benin, 1992 to 1994 1 Death YearSourced to the subject's own account Death DateSourced to the subject's own account BirthplaceSourced to the subject's own accountAbidjan, Colony of Cote d'Ivoire, French West Africa 1 Death PlaceSourced to the subject's own account TraditionSourced to the subject's own accountAfrican philosophy; a leading critic of ethnophilosophy 1 Classification
NationalitySourced to the subject's own account In the Other Atlases
- Also in Geography Atlas: France, originated there.
Sources
1. Paulin Hountondji (Wikipedia)
WikipediaInfobox person, birth_date
{{Birth date|1942|04|11|df=y}}
lead sentence
Paulin Jidenu Hountondji (11 April 1942-2 February 2024) was a Beninese philosopher, politician and academic
Death section
Hountondji died in Cotonou on 2 February 2024, at the age of 81.
Philosophical work section
His reputation rests primarily on his critical work concerning the nature of African philosophy. His main target was the ethnophilosophy of writers such as Placide Tempels and Alexis Kagame.
Bibliography section
Hountondji, Paulin J. (1976). Sur la "philosophie Africaine" : critique de l'ethnophilosophie, Paris: Maspéro, 1976.
Education and career section
served in the government as Minister of Education and Minister for Culture and Communications until his resignation and return to the University in 1994
Philosophical work section, ethnophilosophy critique
He argued that such an approach confuses the methods of anthropology with those of philosophy, producing a hybrid discipline without a recognizable status in the world of theory
Infobox person, birth_place
[[Abidjan]], Colony of Côte d'Ivoire, [[French West Africa]]
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