NOUN VC Calls for Rethinking Knowledge Beyond Descartes
The Vice-Chancellor of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Prof. Uduma Oji Uduma, has called for a fundamental rethinking of the dominant Western conception of knowledge, arguing that African philosophy offers a longstanding relational approach that places community, culture and human interconnectedness at the centre of epistemology.
Uduma made the call on Thursday while delivering remarks via virtually at the Department of Philosophy’s Third Lecture Series held at the university’s headquarters in Abuja.
The lecture was themed, “Relational Thinking: On the Challenges of Relational Epistemologies.”
Speaking as both a philosopher and the head of an institution dedicated to the creation, preservation and dissemination of knowledge, the Vice-Chancellor described relational epistemologies as one of the most significant philosophical debates of the contemporary era.
He posed a series of fundamental questions: “What does it mean to know? Who is the knower? Under what conditions is knowledge possible? What is the relationship between the individual, the community, and truth?”
According to him, modern epistemology has largely been shaped by the ideas of French philosopher René Descartes, whose conception of knowledge emphasised the autonomous, rational individual as the primary source of certainty.
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“Whether through rationalism or empiricism, knowledge was often conceived as the achievement of an individual consciousness seeking certainty through detached reflection or sensory experience,” Uduma said.
He argued that such a framework isolates the knowing subject from history, culture, language and the community within which knowledge is formed and transmitted.
The Vice-Chancellor, a Professor of Logic and Barrister-at-Law, maintained that relationality is neither new nor foreign to African philosophical traditions.
“Across the continent, relationality has long constituted a foundational principle of metaphysics, ethics, politics and epistemology,” he said.
He added that African philosophy does not regard relational thinking as a recent intellectual trend but as one of its enduring philosophical inheritances that continues to shape its understanding of knowledge and truth.
Earlier, the Acting Head of the Department of Philosophy, Dr. Helen T. Olujede, presented the citation of the guest lecturer, Prof. Anke Graness of the University of Hildesheim, Germany.
Graness, whose research focuses on the history of philosophy, African philosophy, intellectual history, global justice and feminist theory, delivered the keynote lecture on relational epistemologies.
The two-hour virtual event featured an interactive question-and-answer session moderated by Dr. Uduagwu and Dr. Afoka, while Dr. Umar Bala presented a recap of the lecture’s key arguments.
The lecture forms part of NOUN’s ongoing efforts to promote intellectual discourse and advance philosophical scholarship on contemporary global and African issues.
By PRNigeria
