Abstract
Over 60 years of political development, most postcolonial African nations appear to be condemned to live perpetually in conditions of unmitigated underdevelopment. In these nations, the realization of meaningful development has remained elusive and illusory. The quest for development, understood as a search for a positive change or an improvement in the status of things, has given rise to several development theories, plans, and strategies, all designed to facilitate an improved quality of life in postcolonial African nations. Prominent among these theories are Modernization theory; Dependency theory; Cultural theory; and Reconstructionist theory of development. This chapter critically examines the quest for meaningful development in postcolonial African nations in light of these dominant theories of development and argues that they failed to bring about desired development because the theories lack a strong and clearly developed philosophical foundation that pays attention to the ontological, epistemological, and ethical systems of African peoples. The chapter, therefore, argues for a philosophy of development for Africa, which prioritizes the building of communities over industrialization, capitalization, and competitiveness among African nation-states.
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Igbafen, M.L. (2023). African Philosophy of Development. In: Imafidon, E., Tshivhase, M., Freter, B. (eds) Handbook of African Philosophy. Handbooks in Philosophy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25149-8_39
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