De la « Rationalité prédatrice » vers un nouvel humanisme en Afrique. L’éclairage d’Emmanuel Levinas.

Abstract

The issue at the center of our reflection is that of humanism. Because our society is going through a sacred crisis of values that can jeopardize the future of the whole of humanity. The value of the human person in the case is at the heart of the controversies that feed all the doctrines of the subject's philosophy. The pretext of our work here is to denounce a type of essentially harmful behaviour that endangers communal living and social harmony. "Predatory rationality", the author of the concept tells us, is what Georges Bastide calls "passionate law". It consists in the abstraction of all moral values, and is characterised by its biased and selfish aspect that contrasts with any idea of the common good and the interest of public affairs. In concrete terms, two concepts are at the center of our reflection: Humanism and Rationality. The question is: How does the human being situate itself in the fluidity of space and time, and what are the challenges that these changes impose on his essence and daily existence? If rationality in itself can be considered as an application of reason in an axiological system, at the service of a given ideology or vision of the world, the question that is ours here is that, what use does man make of his Reason as it is a deliberative faculty of his action? In a world increasingly won by selfish and individualistic ideals, how to act in the perspective of moral rearmament to move from the predatory mentality to a new humanism in Africa? Can the State still really play its role as a social regulator? The human being is a creature certainly endowed with reason and freedom, but above all with a capacity for love. That's why Emmanuel Levinas invites us to readjust our view of Others. His philosophy aims to re-discover the meaning of the human, by prioritizing the Other. Unlike an oversized ego gravitating around himself, Levinas gives priority to the indigent who puts himself through "my" road, and summons to "my" responsibility. Forbidden to murder the other, each man is invested with a unique mission that makes him the guardian and protector of his neighbour. It is precisely this capacity for love that our new humanism seeks to resurrect in every man as the condition of possibility of a life together. Africans had peaceful ancestral relationships. If our humanity is in crisis today, is it not because it has omitted certain values (solidarity and hospitality) that constitute its culture? By welcoming the other and loving him, the African discovered himself. Human love, therefore, is the ultimate and sublime vocation of the person. Authentic African humanism (more practical than theoretical) obliges us not to consider the Other as a thing, a means, but as an end in itself, a person to respect and love.