•  35
    The purpose of this essay is to show that the issue of "underdevelopment" not only raises one of the most basic and oldest problems of philosophy, namely the relationship between the spiritual and the material, but also helps positively to reformulate it. For, on closer examination, it will appear that the striking aspect of underdevelopment is that it constitutes a glaring symptom of a characteristic disturbance or maladjustment. By its strangeness and distortion, it displays a unique and unexp…Read more
  •  17
    L’élan bergsonien ou la matière comme ascèse de la vie
    Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale 99 (3): 385-400. 2018.
    D’aucuns pensent que la critique bergsonienne de l’idée du néant et des concepts négatifs ne va pas de pair avec la présentation de la matière comme l’opposé de la vie. Cet article est en désaccord avec cette interprétation et propose une solution basée sur la nécessité de distinguer entre la vision intuitive de l’unité de la nature et celle de l’analyse intellectuelle, dont la caractéristique est d’appréhender la même unité au moyen de concepts opposés. Le résultat est que l’intuition transcend…Read more
  •  1
    Retour aux sources : Asres Yenesew et l'Occident
    Diogène 236 (3): 78-94. 2012.
  •  207
    This book proposes a new reading of Bergsonism based on the admission that time, conceived as duration, stretches instead of passes. This swelling time is full and so excludes the negative. Yet, swelling requires some resistance, but such that it is more of a stimulant than a contrariety. The notion of élan vital fulfills this requirement: it states the immanence of life to matter, thereby deriving the swelling from an internal effort and allowing its conceptualization as self-overcoming. With s…Read more
  •  24
    Being and Nothingness versus Bergson’s Striving Being
    Process Studies 46 (1): 63-86. 2017.
    Bergson imputes the generation of false problems in philosophy to the idea of nothingness and negative concepts. Yet, all his books are fraught with oppositional thinking, such as the oppositions between space and time, quantity and quality, life and matter. Understandably, this apparent discrepancy has led a philosopher like Merleau-Ponty to speak of inconsistency, while Jankélévitch and others counter the charge of inconsistency by arguing that Bergsonism embraces operational opposition as opp…Read more
  •  36
    This book discovers freedom in the colonial idea of African primitiveness.
  •  16
    Science and ideology via development
    Journal of Value Inquiry 26 (4): 483-494. 1992.
  •  292
    From Perception to Subject: The Bergsonian Reversal
    Journal of French and Francophone Philosophy 22 (1): 102-123. 2014.
    Regardless of the metaphysics that inspires them, theories of perception invariably end up in the trap of subjectivism. Thus, idealism argues that the world can be nothing more than a representation of the mind. As to dualism and materialism, despite fundamental differences, they share the common assumption that perception is a subjective replica of external objects. Opposed to these theories is common sense with its tenacious belief that an external world exists and that things are perceived wh…Read more
  •  382
    The book provides a theoretical explanation of the major outcomes of Ethiopia’s social revolution, namely, the overthrow of Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974 and the implementation of a far-reaching Marxist-Leninist revolution by a military committee (the Derg) and its collapse in 1991. The book extensively discusses the question of knowing whether existing theories of revolution throw light on the eruption of a radical revolution in Ethiopia and, most of all, whether they can accommodate the major…Read more
  •  1
  •  16
    Retour aux sources : Asres Yenesew et l'Occident
    Diogène 235 (3/4): 78-94. 2012.
    This paper discusses the ideas of Asres Yenesew, who was a leading clerical scholar during Haile Selassie’s reign. Frustrated by the marginalization of Ethiopia despite the preservation of its independence, Asres identifies the introduction of Western education as the main culprit and derives the economic satellization of Ethiopia from the cultural ascendancy of the West. As a remedy, he proposes a return to the source by which alone Ethiopia can again recenter itself and make choices in accorda…Read more
  •  26
    Beyond Dualism and Monism: Bergson's Slanted Being
    Journal of French and Francophone Philosophy 24 (2): 106-130. 2016.
    There is an old but still unresolved debate pertaining to the question of Bergsonian monism or dualism. Scholars who think that Bergson is ultimately monist clash with those who claim that he has consistently maintained a dualist position. Others speak of contradiction and point out his failure to reconcile dualism with monism. What feeds on the debate is Bergson’s undeniable change of direction: while his first book is flagrantly dualist, his second book takes a sharp turn toward monism. Withou…Read more
  •  34
    Generational Imbalance and Disruptive Change
    International Journal of Applied Philosophy 16 (2): 223-248. 2002.
    According to most scholars, what defines modernity is the prevalence of change and mobility in all aspects of life, as opposed to traditionality in which immobility of beliefs and statuses is said to be the dominant trait. One major implication of this definition is the conclusion that the occurrence of modernity involves generational conflicts on the grounds that older people are less open to innovation and change. This paradigm of modernity has led to the exclusion of elders from political lif…Read more
  •  150
    Radicalism and Cultural Dislocation in Ethiopia, 1960-1974
    University of Rochester Press. 2008.
    A provocative investigation into the root causes of the Ethiopian political upheavals in the second half of the twentieth century.
  •  6
    Underdevelopment and the problem of causation
    Journal of Social Philosophy 22 (1): 125-136. 1991.
    Underdevelopment is the most controversial issue of our time. In a world which apparently exhibits so much power and yet does so little to drive it back, it represents the challenge par excellence. However, concerning this most pressing and controversial issue of underdevelopment, of all the disciplines which study man, philosophy is the one which until now said the least. At first sight, to mark off in the topic of underdevelopment an area of real philosophical concern does not seem feasible in…Read more
  •  19
    Directing Ethnicity Toward Modernity
    Social Theory and Practice 27 (2): 265-284. 2001.
  • Science Or Ethics Of Development?
    International Journal of Applied Philosophy 6 (2): 13-29. 1991.
  •  2
    Meaning and Development (edited book)
    Rodopi. 1994.
    This book is a learned yet passionate critique of alternative theories of development as addressed to traditional societies. It offers a forceful argument for sacrifice to be made in the name of moral faith. The metaphysical grounds and the scientific verification for such a faith are explored. An eloquent and original case for pursuing economic development in accordance with democracy and human dignity
  •  60
    Action and Forgetting: Bergson’s Theory of Memory
    Philosophy Today 60 (2). 2016.
    This paper is about the Bergsonian synchronization of the perpetual present or memory with the passing present or the body. It shows how forgetting narrows and focuses consciousness on the needs of action and how motor memory allows the imagining of the useful side of memory. The paper highlights the strength of Bergson’s analysis by respectively confronting classical theories of memory, the highly regarded perspective of the phenomenological school, Deleuze’s interpretation of Bergsonism, and S…Read more
  • Directing Ethnicity Toward Modernity
    Social Theory and Practice 27 (2): 265-284. 2001.
  •  1
    Recourse to intuition to tackle philosophical issues brought the charge of irrationalism on Bergson. The charge overlooks that Bergsonian intuition has nothing to do with a sudden and mysterious illumination. Rather, it is a methodic procedure resulting in an outcome that it is effectively produced, and not a spark that falls from the sky. This paper shows that the misconception has its source in the neglect of two interrelated factors: (1) philosophical intuition is a method specifically inven…Read more