DIALECTICS OF DEVELOPMENT: RE-EVALUATING HEGELIAN DIALECTICS IN AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

Hegel posited that history is driven by the movement of the Absolute Spirit in a bid to actualize itself. This movement takes place in a dialectical fashion starting from thesis to antithesis and finally to synthesis. For him, therefore, history subsists in the dialectics of spirit whereby it manifests itself in various stages of world history. However, Hegel spoke derogatively about Africa by insinuating that the Absolute Spirit has not manifested itself in Africa. In this way, Hegel excluded Africa from world developmental process. The implication is that Africa has no history, no civilization and no development. At this point, one question comes to mind-could Hegel be right? This paper is aptly an intervention in this regard. With methods of analysis and hermeneutics, this paper contends that Africa is part and parcel of the global system of dialectics of development as posited by Hegel. This paper, therefore, concludes that the whole gamut of African predicaments such as colonialism, slavery and identity crisis as well as the attendant efforts and rising consciousness of Africans to define themselves are all moments of the process of the dialectical process of development.