The Critque of the Communitarians Arguments from an African Perspective

Abstract

The communitarians claim that the individual is a natural member of the human society, but that he needs the society and all the opportunities it makes available for the realization of his potential for living a life that is meaningful. This claim is synonymous to African conception of individual and the community. Thus this work set out to carry out the critique of some notable communitarians such as: John Dewey, Fredrick Hegel and Michael Sandel, Macinyre Alasdair, Charles Taylor. We discovered in the work that the claim of these theorists on individual and community is identical to African ideal. And the critique exposes the inadequacies in their claim as well as the African ideal because development today is beyond the narrow context of communal life which puts African under the illusion that communities constitute a "paradise lost". As such there is the need for African to seek their rights; this will enable them to function properly in the global scheme of things.