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Today we are offering the world this book with the modest title “Philosophical Manual: A South-South perspective”.
The modest title should not, however, conceal the true significance of this work, misleading the reader into thinking, perhaps, that it is just another philosophical manual, despite the fact that it is from the “South” and dedicated to somewhat “exotic” philosophy. If we begin this brief introduction warning against the risk of drawing this potentially hasty conclusion, it is because this manual – on account of both its systematic and methodological structure and its contents – is a work that challenges us with a call to become committed to working towards an innovative turning point, not only in the perception of the theoretical purpose and social role of philosophy, but also as regards the task of philosophy teaching in contemporary societies.
As readers themselves will see, the work in this manual addresses, on the one hand, UNESCO’s important mission to promote peace in the world, and on the other, the role that philosophy must play as both critical knowledge and wisdom in this task. This manual can therefore be presented as an “instrument of peace” whose conception and realization corresponds, basically, to the express intention of showing that the philosophical traditions of the “South” represent a living and essential heritage for a humanity seeking peace as a form of coexistence and an expression of self-reconciliation.
It is necessary, however, to emphasize that there will be no true peace in the world if we do not spread throughout the world the belief that the “desire for power” must be decidedly opposed by the “desire for truth” and the “desire to do what is right”. True peace is not simply the result of political negotiations or strategic agreements between peoples and States, but the work of human beings with the training and the passion for seeking truth and doing good. True peace therefore has an anthropological basis, which is the humanized human being who is committed to truth and good as the common property of all humankind. This is precisely the fundamental importance that philosophy should have in promoting peace in the world today, as it represents the form of knowledge that quintessentially teaches human beings that the desire for truth and the desire for good come together in the desire to coexist in peace with oneself, with nature and with others.
Thereby, this manual invites us to rethink the theoretical purpose and social function of philosophy in the light of the need to promote peace in the troubled world today. However, we must insist in the idea already evoked that this manual invites the reader to undertake such a task from a specific viewpoint, which is that of the “South”, meaning a viewpoint that wishes to make visible the ways of seeking truth and doing good that have been marginalized by hegemonic epistemologies and policies. Hence, the focus is not on the negative or destructive criticism of hegemonic philosophical thought but on the visibility of the diversity of the ways of thinking and well-doing of humanity that have been marginalized. The “South” is admittedly a problematic expression, most often referred to with quotation marks and epistemic caution rather than without. The concept cannot be reduced to the geographical sense of the term or its geopolitical meaning. It is understood without being given a rigid definition, much like the concept of “cultural area” whose contours are blurred, but whose effects are clear. This “South” is a perspective – that of marginalized societies – and implies a specific tradition, not a tradition in the sense of a set of customs and beliefs resistant to the flux of time, but a tradition in the sense of a living transmission that takes various forms: in Africa, where the notion of text is far from consensual, there is a strong oral tradition; in Asia and the Arab region there is a tradition of highly structured fundamental texts; and in Latin America, where there is a clear ‘before and after’ the Columbian colonization, there is a strong rupture and strong discontinuity.
In this sense, the book is like a map showing ups and downs and the paths to help guide the reader through the complex terrain, languages and spirits of philosophy in Africa, the Arab region, Asia and the Pacific and Latin America and the Caribbean. And as an additional aid for a better management of experiences in this philosophical journey, the book also offers a systematic structure that enables us to study the wealth of the “South” individually in the different areas, such as cosmology, epistemology, political forms of living together, gender equality, the environment and nature, and aesthetics.