The Power of Critical Thinking(2)

Read Comments Comments (13)

• Dr. SAS, Attorney at Law 11 years ago

  1. Loosely defined, culture is the beliefs, customs, arts, etc., of a particular society, group, place, or time; a way of thinking, behaving, or working that exists in a place; or social forms and material traits of a racial ...
  read full comment

  1. Loosely defined, culture is the beliefs, customs, arts, etc., of a particular society, group, place, or time; a way of thinking, behaving, or working that exists in a place; or social forms and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group.
  2 From the foregoing, the juggernaut called culture encompasses every aspect of life, and its definitional nomenclature impacts the family, groups, businesses, countries and the world. In effect, a unique culture could be abstracted from all living entities whether human, flora or fauna. This makes the term culture too nebulous, fugitive and unwieldy to be properly defined or discussed within this limited space.
  3. But at least we can work with elements such as language, religious beliefs and customs (namely rites of passage: puberty rites, marriage, death rites) as the tools for the analyses as to whether there is any animal called African, or even Ghanaian culture.
  4. It is the proposition of this writer that there is no animal known as Ghanaian culture or African culture. Africans, and for that matter Ghanaians are territorial in guarding their languages which they use to define their ethnic origin. Most societies have gone to war on account of the differentials in their languages and will therefore not cede grounds for others to use their language as either the Ghanaian or African language.
  5. As for religious beliefs, Christianity has already gained grounds against African religions, and the call for a return to these latter forms of worship is akin to a call to a return to cave life. Rather, most Africans prefer to live the dual life of western religious adherence together with the preservation of whatever smidgen of culture they choose to keep. Even if you use religion as a platform to identify African culture, there will not be any agreement since the denominations are legion, and the experiences are different. Thus there is no common agreement as to what constitutes an Afrocentric religious philosophy.
  6. The point of all the forgoing is that there is nothing like African culture or Ghanaian culture. However, there is a legion of cultures belonging to the families and societies of Africa. Some of these are good and some are simply stupid. We can however, if we are so inclined, synthesize these cultures into a syncretic national or African one, only if we can agree as to which ones to choose. There is not yet agreement as to whether all Africans are true humans with equal status, let alone which homogenous culture to affirm as continental or national, and thus the call for the return to Afrocentric culture is a call for a return to no culture in particular.
  7. You are calling for a prayer to African gods, saying that western appropriation of African originated epistemology led to its obnubilation. What about a call to no prayer as a higher intellectual consciousness? And what if the obnubilation you allege is actually distillation, elevating the epistemology into its higher form and affirming the natural evolution of knowledge in which the societies of the world are shareholders in its overall creation?
  8. You have made extensive analyses of Afrocentric culture without telling us exactly what it is or what it entails. I have tried to show that there is nothing like a national culture, let alone an African one. The way forward for us is to regard world knowledge as universal property to be appropriated for our benefit without being concerned about its origins. World knowledge belongs in usufruct to all the world’s citizens because it is a creation of all humankind, not that of Asia, the western or European world.

  reply
• Yaw Bota 11 years ago

  The Afrocentrics are extremist who have good intentions for the black race but have chosen the wrong way to propagate their ideas. Don't be wise in your own eyes, so say the bible in proverbs 3:7. What the Afrocentrics are fa ...
  read full comment

  The Afrocentrics are extremist who have good intentions for the black race but have chosen the wrong way to propagate their ideas. Don't be wise in your own eyes, so say the bible in proverbs 3:7. What the Afrocentrics are failing to see is that, with all the knowledge abound in them, the affected masses, whom they are trying to disabuse their minds are simply not ready to buy their, somehow, separatist idealistic reforms simply because of its inherent radicalism and bastadizing of everything West, irrespective of the good things the West has done to bring to the fore,the scientific innovations and technological advancements that has been tested and proven, to help all but not the West alone. More so what is preventing the Afrocentrics to assemble their best brains to go to Ghana and lobby for contract to drill our oil in the deep see?

  reply
• Adams 11 years ago

  What do you know about critical thinking your self & how are you using your CT to help solve problems facing Ghana?.Stop copying & pasting other peoples work.

  What do you know about critical thinking your self & how are you using your CT to help solve problems facing Ghana?.Stop copying & pasting other peoples work.

  reply
• Adams 11 years ago

  What do you know about critical thinking your self & how are you using your CT to help solve problems facing Ghana?.Stop copying & pasting other peoples work.

  What do you know about critical thinking your self & how are you using your CT to help solve problems facing Ghana?.Stop copying & pasting other peoples work.

  reply
• Adams 11 years ago

  What do you know about critical thinking your self & how are you using your CT to help solve problems facing Ghana?.Stop copying & pasting other peoples work.c

  What do you know about critical thinking your self & how are you using your CT to help solve problems facing Ghana?.Stop copying & pasting other peoples work.c

  reply
• Adams 11 years ago

  What do you know about critical thinking your self & how are you using your CT to help solve problems facing Ghana?.Stop copying & pasting other peoples work.c

  What do you know about critical thinking your self & how are you using your CT to help solve problems facing Ghana?.Stop copying & pasting other peoples work.c

  reply
• Adams 11 years ago

  What do you know about critical thinking your self & how are you using your CT to help solve problems facing Ghana?.Stop copying & pasting other peoples work.

  What do you know about critical thinking your self & how are you using your CT to help solve problems facing Ghana?.Stop copying & pasting other peoples work.

  reply
• Adams 11 years ago

  What do you know about critical thinking your self & how are you using your CT to help solve problems facing Ghana?.Stop copying & pasting other peoples work.

  What do you know about critical thinking your self & how are you using your CT to help solve problems facing Ghana?.Stop copying & pasting other peoples work.

  reply
• Appletus 11 years ago

  My friends, this is an academic piece. You need to read it well, soak it in to be able to comment wisely.

  My friends, this is an academic piece. You need to read it well, soak it in to be able to comment wisely.

  reply
• Adams 11 years ago

  What do you know about critical thinking your self & how are you using your CT to help solve problems facing Ghana?.Stop copying & pasting other peoples work.

  What do you know about critical thinking your self & how are you using your CT to help solve problems facing Ghana?.Stop copying & pasting other peoples work.

  reply
• Joe Kojo 11 years ago

  Adams, your questions to the author are all ill put and tinged with plain jelousy! If you know he copied somebody's works, go copy your own.

  Adams, your questions to the author are all ill put and tinged with plain jelousy! If you know he copied somebody's works, go copy your own.

  reply
• Erik 11 years ago

  “If you want to think in a new way, you have to challenge your own thinking, your own ideas, your own beliefs about the way things “are.” And you must be HONEST to KNOW the FACTS.

  “If you want to think in a new way, you have to challenge your own thinking, your own ideas, your own beliefs about the way things “are.” And you must be HONEST to KNOW the FACTS.

  reply
• 1111 11 years ago

  i don't understand your piece?

  i don't understand your piece?

  reply