Disentangling Consciencism

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Kwame Nkrumah is globally recognized as a foremost pan-Africanist strategist and statesman. He is less widely acknowledged as a philosopher in spite of his considerable philosophical training, critical contribution to African political theory, and incisive critique of the ethics of international relations. Consciencism has the distinctive status of being the only published book that Nkrumah consciously meant to be a work of his philosophy, yet it has failed to attract the focused attention of philosophers. The chapters in Disentangling Consciencism: Essays on Kwame Nkrumah's Philosophy critically explore the ethical and political thoughts expressed in that seminal philosophical work, and in so doing they broaden our understanding of his philosophical ideas and their relevance for effective African contribution to contemporary thought in a world in which Africa increasingly totters on the margins of intellectual influence in international affairs and human experience. In much current global moral and political thinking, there is a tendency of conflating liberal with universal morality and a related marginalization of non-Western moral and philosophical perspectives. At the same time, the contexts of application of global normative thinking are overwhelmingly non-Western contexts. Writing from across three continents, the contributors to this volume establish greater intellectual contact between Western and African academics, and their chapters foster a sustained exchange of views and perspectives on the place of Nkrumah's philosophy in African philosophy and its relevance as a guide to philosophical and public policy practice in Africa. A valuable appendix provides the text of speeches delivered at the 1964 launch of Conciencism. With its contributions to metaphysical, political, and ethical themes in Conciencism, and insights into Nkrumah s concept of a new African renaissance, this volume will be of particular interest to students and scholars of philosophy especially of non-Western moral and political thought and to anyone working in the history and philosophy of African political thought.