Theoria

The conception of shame has often been implied in various ethical frameworks in African philosophy, but there has been little or no systematic engagement with the concept in ways that address its true nature and implications for African societies. society. There has been some research into when to feel guilt and resentment, but not much on when it is appropriate to feel shame, or the social implications of shame. This article engages Samantha Vice's conception of shame in the South African context and draws insights from prominent African philosophers, especially Ifeanyi Menkiti and Kwame Gyekye, to tease out an African ethics of shame. The work in this article is novel in that it does not only explore the various accounts of African philosophical positions on communal relationality, it also makes explicit the implicit and sometimes neglected or muted links between shame and morality in African societies.

Recent discussion of how to decolonise philosophy overlooks a fundamental question: can philosophy be decolonised? This paper argues that if philosophy is a self-reflexive activity of critical examination, then it cannot be, since it would be either part of decolonisation or eliminated by the process. Conceptual decolonisation is thus best seen as philosophy's attempt to realise its own emancipatory potential.

This is a discussion between Guido Parietti, author of On the Concept of Power: Possibility, Necessity, Politics (Oxford University Press, 2022), and four respondents, Laurence Piper, Christine Hobden, Lawrence Hamilton and Camila Vergara, focussed on the notion of power as possibility. This discussion was first held in an online seminar in late 2024, which was broadcast on Theoria's YouTube channel, and is captured here for readers.

D. Mark. 2024. The Nature of Law: Authority, Obligation, and the Common Good. South Bend, IN: Notre Dame University Press. 404 pp., ISBN: 9780268208226 (pbk)

T. Sithole. 2024. Black X: Liberatory Thought in Azania. Johannesburg: Wits University Press. 171pp. ISBN: 9781776148684 (pbk)

J. Wolff and A. de Shalit. 2024. City of Equals. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 225pp. ISBN: 9780198894735 (hbk)

V. Rodrigues. Ambedkar's Political Philosophy: A Grammar of Public Life from the Social Margins. 2024. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 373 pp. ISBN: 9780198925392 (hbk)