Philosophical Evaluation Of Walter Rodney’s Concept Of Development

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

1.0 BACKGROUND OF STUDY

In recent time, the concept of dev elopment is attracting scholarly views , though , difficult to understand , depending on the perspective one is arguing from. Its meaning can  not  be  fully appreciated without reference to hu man  person  because  it has to do with the real ization of personal pote ntials and self - fulfillment. In  Rodney’s  explanation , as  contained  in his book;How Europe  Underdeveloped  Africa  ,  the concept of devel opment which  many  scholars are taking to be economic growth and appreciable level  of  mo dernization  made us to realize tha t; we all are agents of development and it is the accumulation of our efforts towards our different societies that determines the level of our development.

Rodney tried to drag his readers out from Plato’s cave of ignorance to the world of light, but the y may not welcome the idea  because  as  Plato  said ,  “if  they  could  lay hands on the man who was trying to set them free and lead them up, they would kill him ”.1 Rodney was killed in his bid to lead humanity out of the cav e  of  ignorance,  slavery ,  inequality,  political insen sitivity and man inhumanity to man in Guyana.

Philosophy , as this work contends, serves as  a  rational and critical enterprise wh ich offers tools and methods for us to evaluate Rodney’s concept of dev elopment.

1.1 Statement of the Problem

The prob lem  this work  is trying to look into is, Rodney’s inability to see  development from a philosophical perspective. Depending on the environment and  discipline  that shaped him,  he  treated  the concept  of development from historical materialism with passionate hatred for capitalism and colonialism : forgetting the fact that it is capitalism that  set modern society into two camps: thebourgeoisie and the proletariat camp. Without  this,  there  would  not  have  been class struggle which brings about changes and development in the society

1.2 Purpose of the Study

Since development falls under the Anthropological aspect of philosophy, it will be considerable to evaluate the concept of development as conceived by Rodney, from philosophical perspective: by br inging out the bases on which authentic development should be build upon, which will help to disabuse the mind  s of  people for  th e misconceptions of other disciplines that take development to be increase in economy, infrastructure facilities, body growth, and so on, forgetting the spiritual and moral values which should be the bedrock of anything that should stand as development in human society.

1.3 Scope of the Work

The  scope  of this work is centered on philosophical evaluation of Rodney’s  work on deve lopment. This research is restricted to journals on philosophy of development and Rodney’ s work on development .

1.4 Method of the study.

The  method  we  are applying here are : analytical and critical methods. With analysis , we will be able to know etymolog ical meaning of some strange concepts that will becloud our minds in full understanding of development. By using critical method, we will also be able to understand what should stand as development. For development to be fully appreciated in the human soci ety, it ha s to be anchored on the stipulated bases.