Abstract

Prof. Ekwuru’s contribution to this volume is very much appreciated for its persuasion in rethinking rationality as a universal value as well as for the intellectual provocation it raises. The first posture makes Ekwuru’s article to be a creative and original piece; the second posture brings the author into startling controversies. Ekwuru is persuasive on his position that the Westerners imposed one aspect of their cultural values on the rest of mankind as “the essential imprint of universal humanity”. This unique cultural value of the Westerners is rationality. With rationality, they judge everything and significantly measure success in science and technology. In Ekwuru’s view, such Western attitude amounts to nothing but “a Western projection of ethnic humanity”. The imposition of rationality as the determinant of authenticity in all things renders the thesis of rationality to be a Western struggle for a super ethnic culture which continues imperceptibly to dominate other cultures. As Ekwuru puts it, the Western projection of rationality as the ‘rule’ is simply “the projection of a Westernized humanity”.