EXTERNALISM AS THE BASIS OF JUSTIFICATION IN AFRICAN EPISTEMOLOGY
Abstract
Contemporary African epistemologists share a common commitment to promotea conception of knowledge that reflects the African cultural background and collective experience. However, they differ over the basic nature of justification in African epistemology. The challenge which centres on the Internalist-Externalist debateis that of deciding whether the factors by virtue of which beliefs acquire the status of being epistemically justified in African epistemology are internal or external to the African. With no possible resolution in sight, the intense intellectual scuffles generatedby the debatetend to heighten the division between sympathizers of eachperspective among contemporary African epistemologists. In view of resolving this seeming impasse, this paper advances reasonsto enhance the appreciation of the centrality of externalismin African epistemology. It rejects internalism as incompatible with justification in African epistemology, given the context-dependent and social nature of knowledge in African epistemology, where the role of the community is central in epistemic practices.The analytic, expository and critical methods of research are adopted in the paper.
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