Department of Philosophy

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An analysis of black consciousness/in/South Africa i according to'the theoretical'criteria of a revolutionary philosophy
(University of Western Cape, 1986) Vagens, Constandinos; Cilliers, J.
This study was initiated, in the first place, by the dearth of analyses available on black consciousness in South Africa. The studies that do exist are usually to be found i~ the form of a chapter or two in a work on general black protest politics. This leaves virtually no room for a detailed analysis of the philosophy, and consequently, a few quotes by Biko, followed by general comment constitutes the most frequent form of "analysis". No theoretical framework is given and neither are the logical sequences in Biko's work analysed. This dissertation sets out to make a contribution to the existing academic analyses of black consciousness. In attempting to do this, various obstacles have had to be overcome.The most important obstacle has been the assertion that the black consciousness philosophy ostensibly precludes itself from objective analysis by whites. Consequently, the author has endeavoured to evaluate the philosophy from a theoretical framework which has been compiled from elements which characterise black consciousness ideal approach of black consciousness to society.as. This implies that any subjective inclinations which the author may have, are largely blocked from detracting from the essence of the. The theoretical framework according to which black consciousness is analysed is a IImode'" of a revolutionary philosophy.
'n Ondersoek na die betekenis van die konsep "gemeenskap" en die implikasies daarvan vir "demokratiese opvoeding" in Suid-afrika
(University of Western Cape, 1991) Davis, Edward Maurice; Morrow, Wally
In hierdie mini-tesis probeer ek om die aard van die verband tussen, "gemeenskap", "demokrasie" en "opvoeding" in Suid- Afrika te bepaal. Die motivering vir die keuse van hierdie onderwerp spruit uit die algemene gebruik van die term "gemeenskap" deur beide die regering sowel as die polities uitgeslotenes, en feitlik altyd in 'n gunstige sin. Sodanige gebruik maak die konsep problematies en is daar dus die behoefte om dit meer deursigtig te maak ten einde groter helderheid omtrent die gebruik daarvan te verkry. Die belangrikheid van so 'n onderneming blyk veral wanneer die aard van die verband tussen gemeenskap, demokrasie en opvoeding bepaal word. In suid-Afrika met sy gefragmenteerde bevolking, hoofsaaklik as gevolg van die Apartheidsbeleid van die suid-Afrikaanse regering, het die pOlities-uitgeslotenes die regering die stryd aanges� ten einde fn aandeel te verkry in politieke besluitneming. fn Deel van hierdie stryd speel in fn betekenisvolle mate af op die opvoedingsterrein.
How Do Certain South African Women Construct Masculinity for Their Sons? An Analysis of Motherly Discourse Regarding Gendered Expectations
(University of the Western Cape, 2001) Dixon, Rosemary; Shefer, Tamara
The study consists of a discourse analysis of ten conversations with a group of mothers whose sons attend a private primary school in Observatory, Cape Town. The purpose was to ascertain what sorts of discourses these particular women would utilise when discussing the notion of masculinity for their boys. I carried out in-depth conversations with each of the study participants, with the intention of elucidating themes and patterns surrounding the participants' constructions of gender. While the interviewees' discourses cannot be said to be representative of South African women in general, they do provide an insight into 'ordinary women's' personal ideologies of gender and masculinity. Based upon theories of social constructionism and feminism, the research hopes to contribute to the ongoing process of transforming gendered power relations in South Africa.
Contrasting Constructions of Students' Literacy-Related Experiences at a Historically Black South African University
(University of Western Cape, 2002) Boughey, Christine Mary; Gough, David
In recent years, many long held assumptions about language and literacy have come to be questioned by so-called "critical" discourses. The result of this questioning at a theoretical level has resulted in a concomitant interrogation of the practices and methodologies intended to develop both phenomena. Situated against the background of this critical questioning, this thesis examines the appropriacy of interventions designed to develop students' academic literacy at the University of Zululand, a historically black South African University. It does this by asking two questions about students' literacy-related experiences. The first question, "How does the University of Zululand construct students' literacy-related experiences?", is answered using an analysis of Senate and Faculty documents, extant study and course guides and archived examination papers. In answering the question, the focus is on the identification and exploration of the ideologies which underpin dominant understandings of students' literacy-related experiences. The answer to the second question, "Is there a way to construct students' literacy-related experiences which is different to dominant understandings at the University of Zululand?", uses ethnographic research to support an analysis of students' written texts produced in a first year Systematic Philosophy class to "talk back" to the dominant understanding of students' literacy-related experiences identified as a response to the first research question. The analysis of students' writing is conducted using a systemic functional linguistic framework (Halliday, 1973, 1978, 1994). A systemic framework relates three different kinds of meanings evident in texts (experiential, interpersonal and textual meanings) to the contexts in which those texts are produced. The framework was used because of its potential to account for the form of students' texts by referring to a mismatch between the expectations of the dominant contexts of culture and situation (the university and the Systematic Philosophy class in which the research was conducted respectively) and the contexts which students themselves use as a reference point.
The misunderstandings of the Self-Understanding View
(The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013) Beck, Simon
Marya Schechtman has argued that contemporary attempts to save Locke�s account of personal identity suffer the same faults that are to be found in Locke, among which is an inability to capture the role our unconscious states play. To avoid these problems, she advocates giving up the mainstream Psychological View and adopting a narrative account like her �Self-Understanding� View that, she claims, has the further virtue of maintaining important insights from Locke. My paper argues that it is misleading to understand the Psychological View as sharing Locke�s commitments and that (partly as a result) Schechtman has not isolated a problem that needs fixing or any reason for going narrative. It further argues that the Self-Understanding View is a great deal more at odds with Locke�s view than Schechtman cares to acknowledge.
Am I my brother�s keeper? on personal identity and responsibility
(Philosophical Society of Southern Africa, 2013) Beck, Simon;
The psychological continuity theory of personal identity has recently been accused of not meeting what is claimed to be a fundamental requirement on theories of identity - to explain personal moral responsibility. Although they often have much to say about responsibility, the charge is that they cannot say enough. I set out the background to the charge with a short discussion of Locke and the requirement to explain responsibility, then illustrate the accusation facing the theory with details from Marya Schechtman. I aim some questions at the challengers' reading of Locke, leading to an argument that the psychological continuity theory can say all that it needs to say about responsibility, and so is not in any grave predicament, at least not with regard to this particular charge.
Understanding ourselves better
(The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013) Beck, Simon
INTRODUCTION: Marya Schechtman and Grant Gillett acknowledge that my case in �The misunderstandings of the Self-Understanding View� (2013) has some merits, but neither is moved to change their position and accept that the Psychological View has more going for it (and the Self-Understanding View less) than Schechtman originally contended. Schechtman thinks her case could be better expressed, and then the deficiencies of the Psychological View will be manifest. That view is committed to Locke�s insight about the importance of phenomenological connections to identity, but cannot do justice to this insight and as a result fails to explain things that it should.
The agent-relative/agent-neutral distinction: my two sense(s)
(Philosophical Society of Southern Africa, 2013) Lerm, Jessica
The agent-relative/agent-neutral distinction is very well established and widely employed in the metaethical literature. However, I argue that there are actually two different senses of the distinction at large: the hetero-/homogeneous sense and the dependence/independence sense. The traditional, unqualified distinction ought, therefore, to be amended, with each use of the distinction being stipulated as used in either the hetero-/homogeneous sense or the dependence/independence sense. Careful analysis of various metaethics supports that there are these two senses - analysis, in particular, of a neo-Kantian metaethic, according to which reasons are agent-relative in the dependence sense but agent-neutral in the homogeneous sense, and - perhaps surprisingly - of Utilitarianism, according to which reasons are agent-neutral in the independence sense but agent-relative in the heterogeneous sense.
Transplant thought-experiments: Two costly mistakes in discounting them
(Taylor & Francis, 2014) Beck, Simon
�Transplant� thought-experiments, in which the cerebrum is moved from one body to another have featured in a number of recent discussions in the personal identity literature. Once taken as offering confirmation of some form of psychological continuity theory of identity, arguments from Marya Schechtman and Kathleen Wilkes have contended that this is not the case. Any such apparent support is due to a lack of detail in their description or a reliance on predictions that we are in no position to make. I argue that the case against them rests on two serious misunderstandings of the operation of thought-experiments, and that even if they do not ultimately support a psychological continuity theory, they do major damage to that theory�s opponents.
Rawls, the severely cognitively disabled and the person life view
(University of the Western Cape, 2015) Seale, Wade; Beck, Simon
A political arrangement is an arrangement for persons. Political arrangements are assessed in terms of the extent to which they manage the affairs of persons, which includes protecting their interests and entitlements. Political arrangements which are unable to protect the interests of its citizens, or a group of citizens, are deemed unacceptable, and where appropriate, alternative arrangements which do protect the interests and entitlements of its citizens are sought. In this thesis I argue that the political arrangement of John Rawls is unable to protect the interests and entitlements of the severely cognitively disabled who are regarded as full citizens by advanced political arrangements in the world today. I argue that it is the contract nature and conception of the person in Rawls�s system which excludes the severely cognitively disabled. This exclusion goes against our widely-held intuitions about the rights and entitlements of the severely cognitively disabled. I look to the Person Life View of Marya Schechtman, a conception of the person that includes the severely cognitively disabled, to see if a conception of the person that includes the severely cognitively disabled is able to solve the gap in Rawls�s system. I argue that it is not able to do so. I then propose a new way of approaching questions of personhood and appeal to the Aristotelian conception of the soul as the basis, arguing that membership of a type of organism typically considered a person is enough to be a complete member of that type and therefore a person.
The extreme claim, psychological continuity and the person life view
(Philosophical Society of Southern Africa, 2015) Beck, Simon
Marya Schechtman has raised a series of worries for the Psychological Continuity Theory of personal identity (PCT) stemming from what Derek Parfit called the 'Extreme Claim'. This is roughly the claim that theories like it are unable to explain the importance we attach to personal identity. In her recent Staying Alive (2014), she presents further arguments related to this and sets out a new narrative theory, the Person Life View (PLV), which she sees as solving the problems as well as bringing other advantages over the PCT. I look over some of her earlier arguments and responses to them as a way in to the new issues and theory. I will argue that the problems for the PCT and advantages that the PLV brings are all merely apparent, and present no reason for giving up the former for the latter.
This thing called communitarianism: A critical review of Matolino's Personhood in African Philosophy
(Philosophical Society of Southern Africa, 2015) Oyowe, O.A.
The subject of personal identity has received substantial treatment in contemporary African philosophy. Importantly, the dominant approach to personal identity is communitarian. Bernard Matolino's new book Personhood in African Philosophy enters into this discussion by way of contesting some of the assumptions underlying communitarian approaches. His own critical assessment leads him to what I believe is an unprecedented objection in the literature; the conclusion that communitarian philosophers are involved in a category mistake when framing the question and articulating the notion of personhood. I intend to present a brief summary of the chapters of the book and reflect on some of the main philosophical issues that the book provokes, noting what I take to be refreshing insights that Matolino brings to the discussion while also engaging critically with the ones I find most contentious. In particular, I briefly assess Matolino's implicit suggestion that an Akan inspired quasi-physicalist account of mind avoids the mind-body interaction problem; I object to the category mistake charge on behalf of communitarians; and lastly, I raise questions about, and propose ways Matolino can refine, his proposal concerning a new way of thinking about personhood, which goes under the rubric of Limited Communitarianism.
Child sex tourism in South Africa: A children's rights perspective
(University of the Western Cape, 2016) Mapapu, Ntombizodidi Jenniffer; Mezmur, Benyam
In the words of Najat Maall M'jid, former United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography: 'As the world reflects on the universal development goals for the post- 2015 era, bearing in mind the strong connections between economic, social, and political development and child protection issues, childsensitive protection must be included in the Post-2015 Development Agenda..' Three World Congresses against the Sexual Exploitation of Children between 1996 and 2008 convened to specifically address the rapidly advancing Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (herein referred to as CSEC). In these conferences global commitments were undertaken by countries partaking, to provide measures to prevent prohibit and protect children from sexual exploitation.
Reconsidering a transplant: A response to Wagner
(Philosophical Society of Southern Africa, 2016) Beck, Simon
Nils-Frederic Wagner takes issue with my argument that influential critics of �transplant� thought experiments make two cardinal mistakes. He responds that the mistakes I identify are not mistakes at all. The mistakes are rather on my part, in that I have not taken into account the conceptual genesis of personhood, that my view of thought experiments is idiosyncratic and possibly self-defeating, and in that I have ignored important empirical evidence about the relationship between brains and minds. I argue that my case still stands and that transplant thought experiments can do damage to rivals of a psychological continuity theory of personal identity like Marya Schechtman�s Person Life View.
Technological fictions and personal identity: on Ricoeur, Schechtman and analytic thought experiments
(Taylor & Francis, 2016) Beck, Simon
It is notable when philosophers in one tradition take seriously the work in another and engage with it. This is certainly the case when Paul Ricoeur engages with the thought of Derek Parfit on personal identity. He sees it as worth engaging with, but as emblematic of errors in the analytic approach to the topic, especially when it comes to methodology. But he is, in a fairly clear way, taking the analytic debate on its own terms. Marya Schechtman�s work is also noteworthy in this regard. Although she writes in the analytic tradition, in many ways she has represented thinking like Ricoeur�s in the tradition � pressing concerns that echo his, and demanding that the debate needs to take notice. I will focus on complaints that both of them present, which I think are closely related, about the thought experiments that feature large in analytic discussions of personal identity, especially in the seminal work of Parfit. The complaints relate both to those devices and to the theory they have produced. I want to offer something of a defence of both.
�Newes from the Dead� An Unnatural Moment in the History of Natural Philosophy
(Taylor & Francis, 2019) Taylor, Jane
This chapter is about the problem of writing what has already been written. Several years ago I was approached by Renaissance Scholar Stephen Greenblatt to write a so-called �missing� Shakespeare play, a work titled Cardenio that has come down through the tradition as a play by the Bard, though no copy of the original play-text has ever come to light. The strongest clue to the play�s possible plot arises from the fact that the title is the name given to a character, Cardenio, a melancholy hero from Cervantes�s celebrated novel, Don Quixote. In that novel, Cardenio has lost his mind and lives disguised in the mountains because he believes that his beloved has been seduced by the local overlord. Greenblatt�s purpose was surely, at least in part, to consolidate the full extent of the Shakespeare oeuvre and identify any works that might make a claim to belong inside rather than outside the canon. He began to explore literary fragments, and ambiguous works, plays of doubtful attribution, or written as collaborations, and thus at the edge of the fixed authentic Shakespearean writings.
Exploring the philosophical mind: An empirical investigation of the process of philosophizing using the protocol analysis methodology
(University of Western Cape, 2019) Seakgwa, Kyle Vuyani Tiiso; Beck, Simon
Many empirically supported versions of stage and componential models of the cognitive processing underlying the completion of various tasks spanning a wide range of domains have been developed by cognitive scientists of various kinds. These include models of scientific (e.g. Dunbar 1999), mathematical (e.g. Schoenfeld 1985), artistic (e.g. Getzels and Csikszentmihalyi 1976), engineering (e.g. Purzer et al 2018), legal (e.g. Ronkainen 2011), medical (e.g. Vimla et al 2012) and even culinary cognition (e.g. Stierand and D�rfler 2015) (and this list is nowhere near exhaustive). Yet, despite the existence of fields such as experimental and metaphilosophy which take philosophy as their object, often by using methods from the cognitive sciences, a stage or componential model of philosophizing is conspicuously missing from even an exhaustive list of the kind just produced.
Evaluation of source rock potential and hydrocarbon composition of oil sand and associated clay deposits from the Eastern Dahomey Basin, Nigeria
(ScienceDirect, 2019) Saeed, Mohammed
Oil sands are classified as unconventional hydrocarbon plays and are being exploited to augment global energy needs. Nigeria has the largest conventional oil industry in Africa, but is also endowed with abundant oil sand deposits found within the Afowo Formation of the Eastern Dahomey Basin. In this study, outcrop samples of clay, oil sand, and bitumen seepage from a forestry reserve (J4) in Ogun State, South Western Nigeria were evaluated for organic matter maturity and hydrocarbon composition.
Die wond s� dit aan my: die morele w�reldbeskouing van die |xam as eko-morele fenomenologie
(University of the Western Cape, 2020) Staphorst, Luan; Samuel, A. E.
Despite the loss of speakers of |xam, one of the 28 Khoisan languages once spoken across Southern Africa, a part of the heritage of these speakers can be found in predominantly two archives: that of Wilhelm H. I. Bleek and Lucy Lloyd (1911) and Gideon R. von Wielligh (1919-1921). The archives form the heart of Bushman* Studies, and has long since received attention in, amongst others, anthropology, literature, and linguistics. This study presents an investigation into the ethical views of the |xam, an investigation which, with the single exception of the studies of Antjie Krog (2004-), has not been undertaken in a philosophical tradition. Through a comparative study of texts across archival boundaries, I engage critically with the ethical views of the |xam, specifically the phenomenological nature of these views. To this end, I use the hermeneutical approach in African philosophy, an approach which focuses on identifying and analysing concepts in texts. The approach to �reading� |xam texts remains, however, a burning issue, and the limit to which disciplinary boundaries are appropriate, is debatable (Wessels 2010). Consequently, and as a result of the relative density of the available texts, insights from anthropology, literature, linguistics and rock art are incorporated within the comparative study. I secondly bring the ethical views which are identified through the comparative analysis into conversation with the dominant ethical framework in African philosophy, namely Ubuntu. Where Ubuntu as been �read� through various lenses (Van Niekerk 2013), a phenomenological approach is absent. Further, where Ubuntu, African ethics broadly, is generally regarded as humanist, a salient ecological consciousness is present in the |xam views. A comparison between Ubuntu and the |xam views therefore deepens the discourse around African ethics in general, and further provides insights into the unique nature of the ethical views of the |xam in particular. Through this I attempt to add value both to Bushman Studies and African philosophy, whilst highlighting an important voice unique to Africa which could be added to the burning discussion around ecological decay in the time of the Anthropocene.
National Health Insurance (NHI) � towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC) for all in South Africa: a philosophical analysis
(University of the Western Cape, 2020) Nkosi, Mbhekeni Sabelo; Oyowe, O.
This study is a philosophical analysis of the National Health Insurance (NHI) policy and legislation, including the related NHI Fund, with a view to assessing its prospects in realising Universal Health Coverage (UHC). The NHI system is about ensuring universal access to quality healthcare for all. The rationale is to provide free healthcare for all at the point of care/service. This legislation has the potential to transform, on the one hand, the relationship between the public and private healthcare sectors and, on the other, the nature of public funding for healthcare. Part of the challenge with the NHI system is that it seeks to provide healthcare for all, but by seeking to integrate the private sector it runs the risk of commercializing healthcare. The study is philosophical in that it holds that ideas have consequences (and conversely actions have presuppositions with certain meanings). In part, it aims to show that an implementing mechanism of the NHI system as presently envisaged has socio-political and economic implications with fundamental contradictions within it; for it seeks to incorporate the private healthcare sector in offering free public healthcare services. This introduces a tension for private healthcare services operate with a neoliberal outlook and methodology which is at odds with a public approach that is based on a socialist outlook. The analysis may make explicit conceptual and ideological tensions that will have practical consequences for healthcare. Much of the commentary on the NHI system have focused on the practical consequences for healthcare; my intervention is to explore and critically assess the various philosophical assumptions that lie behind these practical concerns. Some of these practical consequences are related to the possibility that healthcare is likely to become commercialized and the public healthcare sector will remain in a crisis. This study argues for the provision of access to high quality healthcare facilities for all members of the South African population. Healthcare must be provided free at the point of care through UHC legislation or by the setting up of the NHI Fund as financing mechanism. The study provides reason for the decommercialization of healthcare services completely � that is for eliminating private healthcare from contracting with the NHI Fund. Essentially, it argues for the claim that healthcare should not be traded in the market system as a commodity and that the NHI system in its current incarnation seeks to do precisely that. I further argue that in theory and in practice the neoliberal and socialist assumptions underlying the NHI system in its present formulation do not fit together. On the contrary, rather than a two-tiered system incorporating the private and public healthcare sectors, the dissertation argues for a different way of conceptualizing the NHI system that privileges the latter.

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