CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

1.0 BACKGROUND OF STUDY

 In recent time, the concept of development 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 human person because it has to do with the realization of personal potentials and selffulfillment.

 In Rodney’s explanation, as contained in his book; How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, the concept of development which many scholars are taking to be economic growth and appreciable level of modernization made us to realize that; 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 they 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 cave of ignorance, slavery, inequality, political insensitivity and man inhumanity to man in Guyana. 

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

1.1 Statement of the Problem 

 The problem 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: the bourgeoisie 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 bringing out the bases on which authentic development should be build upon, which will help to disabuse the minds of people for the 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. 

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