PLS1501
Assignment 1 Semester 1 2026
Unique number:
Due Date: March 2026
This document includes:
Helpful answers and guidelines
Detailed explanations and/ or calculations
References
Connect with the tutor on
+27 81 278 3372
, QUESTION 1
Philosophy, in the broad sense, is the disciplined search for wisdom about reality,
knowledge, ethics, politics and what it means to be human. It asks basic questions,
tests reasons, and tries to make our beliefs clearer and more justifiable. It is not
owned by one region or one people. It arises wherever human beings reflect critically
on life, society, power, suffering and meaning, including in Africa, long before
modern universities in South Africa existed.
Western philosophy is a specific historical tradition within philosophy. It grew mainly
from European intellectual history and was shaped by Europe’s social and political
projects, including conquest, colonial expansion and the making of racial categories
(Day, 2008). Study Unit 1 shows that many “great” Western thinkers helped to build,
justify, or normalise ideas that later supported racism, even when they also produced
valuable concepts and methods (Gordon, 2007; Mills, 1997). Western philosophy in
South Africa was also institutionalised through settler education systems that copied
European curricula and norms, often ignoring the local context and the lived
experience of the conquered majority (Mazrui, 1978).
Failing to distinguish between philosophy and Western philosophy creates serious
problems in study and teaching. First, it produces a false universalism, where
Western ideas are presented as “neutral” or “the human standard”, while African
thought is treated as optional, secondary, or placed in separate spaces such as
African Studies (Mills, 1998). Second, it hides the political role that philosophy can
play in supporting injustice. Study Unit 1 shows philosophy departments and
academics sometimes justified racial separation, apartheid, or censorship, even
when claiming to be “above politics” (More, 2004; Barnes, 2015). Third, the lack of
distinction fuels epistemic injustice: African philosophy is excluded or ignored, and
learners from historically oppressed groups are pushed to see their own knowledge
systems as inferior or irrelevant (Ramose, 2002).
In my view, making the distinction is not about rejecting Western philosophy. It is
about locating it historically, naming its limits, and opening the curriculum to African
philosophy as a grounding for genuine intellectual freedom and social justice in
South Africa (Ramose, 2002).
© Study Shack 2026. All rights Reserved +27 81 278 3372
Assignment 1 Semester 1 2026
Unique number:
Due Date: March 2026
This document includes:
Helpful answers and guidelines
Detailed explanations and/ or calculations
References
Connect with the tutor on
+27 81 278 3372
, QUESTION 1
Philosophy, in the broad sense, is the disciplined search for wisdom about reality,
knowledge, ethics, politics and what it means to be human. It asks basic questions,
tests reasons, and tries to make our beliefs clearer and more justifiable. It is not
owned by one region or one people. It arises wherever human beings reflect critically
on life, society, power, suffering and meaning, including in Africa, long before
modern universities in South Africa existed.
Western philosophy is a specific historical tradition within philosophy. It grew mainly
from European intellectual history and was shaped by Europe’s social and political
projects, including conquest, colonial expansion and the making of racial categories
(Day, 2008). Study Unit 1 shows that many “great” Western thinkers helped to build,
justify, or normalise ideas that later supported racism, even when they also produced
valuable concepts and methods (Gordon, 2007; Mills, 1997). Western philosophy in
South Africa was also institutionalised through settler education systems that copied
European curricula and norms, often ignoring the local context and the lived
experience of the conquered majority (Mazrui, 1978).
Failing to distinguish between philosophy and Western philosophy creates serious
problems in study and teaching. First, it produces a false universalism, where
Western ideas are presented as “neutral” or “the human standard”, while African
thought is treated as optional, secondary, or placed in separate spaces such as
African Studies (Mills, 1998). Second, it hides the political role that philosophy can
play in supporting injustice. Study Unit 1 shows philosophy departments and
academics sometimes justified racial separation, apartheid, or censorship, even
when claiming to be “above politics” (More, 2004; Barnes, 2015). Third, the lack of
distinction fuels epistemic injustice: African philosophy is excluded or ignored, and
learners from historically oppressed groups are pushed to see their own knowledge
systems as inferior or irrelevant (Ramose, 2002).
In my view, making the distinction is not about rejecting Western philosophy. It is
about locating it historically, naming its limits, and opening the curriculum to African
philosophy as a grounding for genuine intellectual freedom and social justice in
South Africa (Ramose, 2002).
© Study Shack 2026. All rights Reserved +27 81 278 3372
