Saturday 25 June 2011

Paget Henry's Caliban's Reason: Introducing Afro-Caribbean Philosophy


Caliban's Reason introduces the general reader to Afro-Caribbean philosophy. 

In this ground-breaking work, Paget Henry traces the roots of this discourse in traditional African thought and in the Christian and Enlightenment traditions of Western Europe. Since Afro-Caribbean thought is inherently hybrid in nature and marked by strong competition between its European and African orientations, Henry highlights its four main influences--traditional African philosophy, the Afro-Christian school, Poeticism and Historicism--as his organizing principle for discussion.

Offering a critical assessment of such writers as Wilson Harris, Derek Walcott, Edward Blyden, C.L.R. James and George Padmore, Caliban's Reason renders a much-needed portrait of Afro-Caribbean philosophy and fills a significant gap in the field.

..this volume is a cutting-edge contribution to the debate on African ethnophilosophy.
Choice

Paget Henry refines the intellectual life of the Caribbean like an alchemist [which results] in a high level of sophistication and reflexivity. The result is both a revealing work of intellectual history, and a new impetus in philosophy.
–Randall Collins, author of The Sociology of Philosophies: A Global Theory of Intellectual Change

...will provoke lively discussion and stimulate a healthy debate about the process and content of Caribbean creolization and philosophy.
–Roberto Marquez, William R. Kenan Professor of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Mount Holyoke College

...this volume is a cutting-edge contribution to the debate on African enthophilosophy..
–T.L. Lott, San Jose State University


Click here or here to download this book in pdf.