Caliban's Reason: Introducing Afro-Caribbean Philosophy (Africana Thought) (Paperback)

by Paget Henry (Author) "Until quite recently, to speak of the African heritage of Afro-Caribbean philosophy would have been to open myself up to major challenges..." (more)
Key Phrases: peripheral cultural systems, providential historicism, ontic closure, Caribbean Marxism, Sylvia Wynter, Frantz Fanon (more...)

Editorial Reviews

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

"...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

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

...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

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

Product Description
Paget introduces the general reader to Afro-Caribbean philosophy in this ground-breaking work. Since Afro-Caribbean thought is inherently hybrid in nature, he traces the roots of this discourse in traditional African thought and in the Christian and Enlightenment traditions of Western Europe.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Routledge (March 7, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415926467
• ISBN-13: 978-0415926461
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #736,602 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Afro-Caribbean Philosophy, Politics, and Thought, June 23, 2000

By	Neil Roberts (Kingston, Jamaica) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Afro-Caribbean Philosophy? Is there such as thing? Antiguan scholar-activist Paget Henry makes this question moot by more than introducing the reader to Afro-Caribbean philosophical thought. He shows magically how the thought of black peoples in the Caribbean has changed not only the region, but the world. He dedicates the work to some of the 'anchors' of Afro-Caribbean thought(Frantz Fanon, C.L.R. James, Sylvia Wynter, and Wilson Harris), and also to fellow Antiguan Tim Hector(author of the literary column "Fan the Flame"). Invoking the Shakespearean metaphor of Caliban(the Arawak, Slave, descendent of both) from Shakespeare's "The Tempest," Henry shows how peoples of the Caribbean have had reason and rationality that has survived the Middle Passage and racist notions of European Enlightenment era philosophies. He starts off by framing the African philosophical heritage of the Caribbean, then discusses the work of Fanon, James, and Harris. He then moves on to the work of Sylvia Wynter, a critique of Jurgen Habermas's notion of communicative reason and rationality(a thinker whose discussions lack the role of myth and to a lesser extent race in the discourse of political philosophy), a Caribbean perspective of Afro-American philosophy, the state of Caribbean Marxism, and delves into Pan-Africanist thought. The overarching categories Henry deliniates in the book are two traditions of Caribbean black thought and activism: (1) the poeticists and (2) the historicists. Henry concludes with attempting to link these two traditions and show how futher contributions from Caribbean peoples can further humanity in understanding the relavance of black thought. If you want to be exposed to the world of Afro-Caribbean philosophy, run and pick up this extraordinary and challenging book.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliance from the Sea, January 22, 2007

By	The Djeli (Ile Ife, Nigeria) - See all my reviews

Not just because the author is a fellow Antiguan, but because his work is brilliant he deserves nothing less that 5 stars for "Caliban's Reason".

First of all the text is incredibly well written, with sophisticated language and lucid literary skill. Second of all, it is extremely well balanced and objective in the telling of historical events. Third it is wonderfully scholarly and well organized.

Paget first introduces West Indian origins of philosophical thought in their African roots and then expands of the creolization of such thought under slavery and colonialism and the later African Renaissance that reaffirmed the African aspects of West Indian philosophy in the early 20th Century into the 21st.