Consciencism: Philosophy and Ideology for De-Colonization and Development with Particular Reference to the African Development

by Kwame Nkrumah

One of Africa's most renowned philosophers and political leaders, Kwame Nkrumah was not only at the center of what he called "the African revolution," but he also articulated its ideology. In this book he sets out his personal philosophy, which he terms "consciencism," and which has provided the intellectual framework for his political action.

Why "consciencism"? The answer is that in this concept Dr. Nkrumah draws together strands from the three main traditions that make up the African conscience: the Euro-Christian, the Islamic, and the Original African. He characterizes traditional African society as essentially egalitarian and argues that a new African philosophy must draw its nourishment chiefly from African roots. But he reviews Western philosophy in some detail to illustrate the thesis that philosophy, however academic, is always trying, explicitly or implicitly, to say something about society. In this relevance of philosophy to society, and to social and political action in particular, that chiefly interest him.

Dr. Nkrumah shows how his philosophical beliefs are related to special problems of "the African Revolution," and states his case for socialism as the most valid expression of the African conscience at the present time.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Africa, Politics, Theory, History, Race

126 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1964

About the author

Kwame Nkrumah PC was a Ghanaian politician and revolutionary. He was the first prime minister and president of Ghana, having led it to independence from Britain in 1957. An influential advocate of Pan-Africanism, Nkrumah was a founding member of the Organization of African Unity and winner of the Lenin Peace Prize in 1962.

Reviews

[Sleepless Dreamer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Time for me to spend three days thinking about whether a philosophy theory can contribute to decolonization and if so, how. Review to come!

[Shay-Akil McLean · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is amazing. It isn't long but it is extremely dense. The first chapter is the toughest one to get through then after that Nkrumah is on a roll. This book helped open my eyes & set me on my path to becoming politically conscious. Excellent read, a favorite of mine.

[JRT · Rating 5 out of 5]

This short book provides a glimpse into the mind of a brilliant, principled, and storied African revolutionary. Kwame Nkrumah gets credited for being one of the principal leaders of the Ghanaian nationalist / independence movement, and as this book shows, his actions on the ground were matched only by his commitment to intellectual rigor and ideological struggle. Consciencism, at its core, is a book about moral and political philosophy and socioeconomic ideology. Nkrumah, while detailing the history, evolution, and inadequacies of many of the most famous Western philosophical theories and philosophers, argues at the outset that philosophy arises out of and is a product of the material conditions and facts of life in a given society. In short, he contends that philosophy and ideology are powerful tools for social development, management, and evolution.

Nkrumah's philosophy--what he calls "Philosophical Consciencism"--seeks to resolve the contradictions created by the emergence and persistence of Euro-Arab colonial ideologies (rooted in Western Christianity and Arabic Islam) on the continent of Africa. The purpose of this new philosophy is to reconcile the existence of these foreign ideologies with more traditional African worldviews (i.e. communalism, humanism, and egalitarianism). This reconciliation can only happen through the process of decolonization, and would result in the exalting of African culture and philosophy. Nkrumah considers this to be a revolutionary process, as it consists of a "contest for a new order."

This book is essentially a comparative study of European and African societies. Nkrumah contends that European societies--going all the way back to the early Greek civilizations--were rooted in "idealistic" individualism. He analyzes some of the most well-known Western philosophical ideologies to support his point, detailing how they eventually came to support and maintain an unequal, exploitative society across Europe. African societies, however, were rooted in "materialist" egalitarianism, most commonly expressed by various forms of communalism, wherein the welfare of the masses of the people as a community (rather than individuals) was of the highest importance. He notes that when these two social relations clashed (through European contact and colonialism), the African worldview lost sway and was eventually supplanted by the European worldview. He explains this process in depth. Accordingly, Philosophical Consciencism seeks to restore the African worldview, thereby uprooting both the cultural, political, and socioeconomic domination brought on by European colonialism.

It should come as no surprise that throughout the book, Nkrumah makes a strong defense of socialism in Africa. He argues that modern socialism embodies the traditional African principles of egalitarianism and humanism, and thus can serve as a "defense of the principles of communalism in a modern setting." Nkrumah eviscerates capitalism as a economic mode of production and sociopolitical order, calling it "domestic colonialism" and a "gentleman's method of slavery." Further, he dispenses with the concept of "reform," underscoring its counterrevolutionary nature in the way it preserves the base of global socioeconomic oppression--the extraction and exploitation of labor. In short, Nkrumah argues that capitalism is fundamentally incompatible with African society, and the establishment of a unified, socialist African continent / sub-continent is a necessary condition for the redemption of African humanism and egalitarianism.

One of my favorite quotes in this book is "practice without thought is blind; thought without practice is empty." Nkrumah litters this short book with these sort of gems, thus supporting his philosophy of Consciencism with practical lessons on how to achieve African liberation. This book is a must read for anyone who wants to understand the mindset of African revolutionaries during the decolonial era, as well as for present-day radicals who oppose the forces of colonialism, neo-colonialism, and capitalism.

[Paul Kenyon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite dense. Helps if you have a keen understanding of philosophy to begin with. Nkrumah has a brilliant mind, but you have to wade through valleys of sand to find the occasional gem. Written in 1964, just a couple of years before Nkrumah was overthrown, I read the revised edition from 1970 which he wrote in exile in Conakry. His reflections on neo-colonialism are insightful and sharp, but his final chapter where he uses algebra and symbols ("S" represents socialism in general, "Sg" is socialism in the conditions of a territory) I find impenetrable - nevertheless it's pretty wild stuff and gives an insight into how a great mind was working in those intense days when armed struggle was the way forward in Africa and Nkrumah was its leading advocate.

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book consists in the weaving together of a virtuoso revisionist history of philosophy, beginning with the pre-Socratics - I think Nkrumah actually writes one of the most interesting and readable short accounts of Thales and Anaximander in the philosophical canon, much more fun than Bertrand Russell's! - and terminating in the eighteenth century, with a startlingly original - like, head-spinningly so - theory of 'consciencism,' which blends philosophical materialism with socialism and, somehow, set-theoretic algebra. Nkrumah's revisionist history, in chapters 1 and 2, offers straightforward explanations of the social factors that determined the metaphysical positions of great philosophers, but also engages very directly with the political implications of the details of each metaphysical positions; in other words, it is a dialectical history, rather than a naïve list of historical contextualisations. In this way he pivots pretty smoothly to the claim that a decolonial project would benefit from adopting a clear line on metaphysics, which is well-captured by the emphatic slogan of chapter 4: "Practice without thought is blind; thought without practice is empty" (78).

What's particularly original about Nkrumah's philosophical materialism is that he elevates the concept of 'categorial conversion' as a solution to the mind-body problem. This denotes the ways in which matter instantiates vastly different types of 'things,' in the broadest sense of the term, without the invocation of something non-material, such as a soul or a prime mover. The classic examples are "the emergence of self-consciousness from that which is not self-conscious; ... the emergence of mind from matter, of quality from quantity" (20). Nkrumah expands on this in chapter 4: "I am not, for example, saying that a colour is the same thing as a certain wave-length. Of course the wave-length is not the colour, though we do know, thanks to the physicists, that individual colours are tied to characteristic wave-lengths. What I am however saying is that the colour is precisely the visual surrogate of a wave-length" (87). However, accounting for the specific details of this process is "one of the tasks of science," which makes sense if we think of the major concerns of contemporary philosophy of mind (20).

The last chapter of this book is almost impossible to categorise (ironically enough given its content; it is a set for which I do not have a set prepared) and to an extent comes out of nowhere. It is basically an attempt at providing an algebra (or a set-theory, which is perhaps implied if not fully worked out by Nkrumah) for socialist development in colonial nations. For example, Nkrumah will issue a formula such as:

S <--> m + C + D + UGi

and then explain that "m is a constant, for the theses of philosophical materialism are constant. C, however, stands for philosophical consciencism in general and not for the actual content which it should have in a territory g if it is to pay attention to the material conditions of the territory, and the experience and consciousness of its people. D, too, stands for a dialectical moment in general, but the actual form and content of this moment depends on the situation which it seeks to change" and so on (114). I have no idea how to assess this methodological approach, other than pointing out that it is in many ways strikingly ahead of the curve in terms of various analytic approaches to Marxism that have propagated, if not flourished, in the last few decades. I can say for sure that it reflects Nkrumah's inspiring confidence in the scientific clarity of his position, given in the opening paragraph of chapter 4.

This last chapter is less head-spinning if one notes that throughout the text Nkrumah seems to implicitly align himself with the controversial metaphysical dialectic of Engels, whose arguments in Dialectics of Nature and Anti-Dühring are perhaps consistent with the claim that "matter is capable of dialectic change, for if natural properties are nothing but surrogates of quantitative dispositions of matter, then since natural properties change, matter must change in quantitative disposition. And matter, in being a plenum of forces in tension, already contains the incipient change in disposition" (89).

I have no idea how to assess this either. Really fantastic and readable book though!

[Aurélien Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Published in 1964, that is, seven years after Ghana gained its independence, and, two years before the military coup that will overthrow him, Kwame Nkrumah delivers here the book which is, really, the heart of his thought, the core foundation everything else was build upon. What is it all about?

First, he calls upon African people to re-appropriate their culture and their past. History is the guide to the future, and Africa cannot have a future as long as Africa's history will remain interpreted, written, and, even, transmitted back to African people by the White colonialists.

Then, and above all, he claims that the best way to built a new system is to build a whole new philosophy, which he calls 'consciencism'. Why such an approach, focusing on philosophy? Well, because, as he fully understood while he was still a student in the USA first, in London then, philosophy can fulfil two key roles indeed:
-be a theory to politico-social models (e.g. Platon and his 'Republic'...)
-shape a moral, an 'ethic'.

He goes further. As each philosophical current is rooted within very specific context, he notes that philosophy also nearly always implies an ideology. As such, it is therefore a key instrument for social cohesion, and can be used as a tool to the building of a society. The subtitle of this book, 'Philosophy and Ideology for De-Colonisation', cannot be more explicit: African societies shouldn't discard it as a Western (hence irrelevant) intellectual instrument, but, use it too to their own advantages to fully rebuild themselves after colonialism. To clarify his view, he actually offers a few examples to nail the point home: as materialism was a revolution which led to the birth of democracy in Athens, and as idealism contributed to shape the theocratic societies of Medieval Europe, likewise, he claims, consciencism -a mix of materialism (although not necessarily atheistic) and inspired by Marxism- must contribute to shape post-colonial Africa.

The idea is striking! To a whole ideology (colonialism) he opposed another one, no less radical, and, above all, inspired by Western thoughts themselves, that he re-appropriated within an Africa context and for a de-colonising purpose.

The book, it must be say, is very challenging to read. In fact, I wouldn't recommend it if you are not already familiar both with basic philosophical knowledge (the debate idealism vs materialism), and the core of Marxist theories. Needless to say, a prior knowledge of Kwame Nkrumah's biography, his ideological journey and what he wanted for Ghana at a time when the world was entrenched in a Cold War, would be of great help too! Nevertheless, past such warnings, here's a book which is a must read, not least because it is THE key outlining to Nkrumah's thoughts. And, if one truly wants to understand how decolonisation operated in Africa back then, then one cannot ignore the massive impact of such a man.

Tough, but rewarding.

[Nativeabuse · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really wish he had talked more about colonization and socialism and less about actual philosophy.

He discusses Kant and Hume in this more than he does africa. Not really what I wanted.

[Michael Kpade]

hold on... this bout to take a minute ✍🏿 🔥😮‍💨

[Jungian.Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brief summary before I forget what I read lol.

NK opens with a retrospective analysis of the evolution of philosophical thought. He traces the evolution of philosophical thoughts from western philosophers like Thales (‘everything is water’), Descartes (‘Incipient solipsism – cartesianism), Anaximander (‘neutral monism – cryto-pluralism’), Heraclitus (‘social laws are an attunement of tensions, the resultant of opposing tendencies’), Anaxagoras (‘unity of nature – participation of any one kind of object in every other kind of object’), Socrates (‘theoretical believer in egalitarianism’ – keyword being theoretical), Plato (‘inequality of man and the subsequent hierarchy of labour and ownership’), Aristotle (‘slavery is right provided the slave is naturally inferior to his master’ – what does naturally mean?), John Stuart Mill (‘passionate individualism – free economic activity in an already stratified society leads only to capitalism’), and others like John Locke, Leibniz, Huet, Foucher and Pascal. Through this, NK emphasizes how philosophy reflects the material conditions of a society and how these philosophies have shifted in response to changing economic and social realities, for example, how the rise of capitalism brought about individualistic philosophies or how the church had to adapt to the renaissance and humanism to stay powerful.

Note – the texts in the brackets are the main takeaways I took from the description of their philosophies. Yes, I have focused on those left out or stumped upon in their ‘progressive-for-the-time’ philosophies; as it is the important thing in the context of the need for a philosophy that accounts for the needs of those who have suffered at the hands of colonialism, capitalism, and even the democracy that a lot of these philosophers seem to ‘theoretically’ want.

NK goes on to discuss how social ideologies are a reflection of the values, beliefs and goals of society. He discusses how Islamic and Euro-Christian religion has influenced the landscape of the African social ideology through colonialism and neocolonialism and the need of these factors to be accounted for in the formation of a philosophy that suitably reflects the economic and social realities of Africa. “Our [African] society is not the old society, but the new society enlarged by Islamic and Euro-Christian influences. A new emergent ideology is therefore required, an ideology which can solidify in a philosophical statement, but at the same time an ideology which will not abandon the original humanist principles of Africa.”

With this NK introduces ‘philosophical consciencism’, a philosophical framework that better integrates the political and cultural interests of post-colonial Africa. A philosophy with the core principles of tradition synthesis (i.e. the cohesion of indigenous African humanist and communal living with Islamic and Euro-Christians influences that acknowledges the impact of the slave trade, colonialism and neocolonialism – persistent capitalist exploitation), dialectical materialism and socialist egalitarianism (as it pertains to emancipation of and restitution in Africa). The question now is how can this philosophy help with de-colonialization? as NK said "Thoughts without practice is empty". Philosophies, in my view, only hold as much power as the social acceptance of its content as ideology, morality or law. If philosophical consciencism is employed as the basis of laws in Africa, then there is a possibility that it could help with dismantling or managing neo-colonialization (just as Mill's work has shaped privacy and free speech laws).

A simple takeaway from this book is that like Said & Fanon, Nkrumah emphasizes that decolonialization is not just a struggle for political and economic liberation but an intellectual one. Too often, the colonizer speaks for the colonized to anyone who will listen often to shape the narratives around the oppressed. And also, the intellectuals of the colonized people too often try and fail to force into shape the philosophies of their colonizer into their liberation struggles. And like I stated in my note earlier; these philosophies really ever have the oppressed in mind. Often these philosophers accept that the oppression of a sect is both a social reality and social necessity essential for social stability. And trying to shape these philosophies will only keep people oppressed.

[Jairo · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most important African Marxists of the 20th century, who contributed to the struggle of the first independent African nation, and attempted to Unite the continent as a Union of African Socialist Republics, but sadly failed. Unlike many of his African socialist colleagues like Lumumba the west failed to assassinate him.

In this short book Nkrumah argues that ideology, political thought and philosophy arises out of the socio-economic organisation of society. He elaborates this with examples from the early materialism of Thales to the mechanical materialism of Descartes and ends with Dialectical materialism of Karl Marx.

He then argues that African liberation must not only have the 'negation' of colonialism as it's goal, but must also offer a positive, an alternative vision of society. The only way Africa can develop rapidly, seek the connection to Africa's egalitarian and humanist past before colonialism, while at the same time adoption those elements like the new methods of industrial production and economic organisation which can be adapted to serve the interests of the people, but also contain and prevent the anomalies and domineering interests of colonial Capitalism. This can only be done by socialist development, which is realistic and scientifically applied to the stage of African conditions, directed by a mass party.

This is a must read for every Pan-Africanist, Marxist, etc.

[Kev Nickells · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I'm pretty poor on anti-colonial works. This is a banger.

It starts off with a kind of narrative of the dialectical relationship of metaphysics in European history. It's a very clear exposition that, in itself, is probably good enough for a secondary historical text. He builds to an argument that (roughly) - African states are do not have the same relationship to the material world as those which sustain the ideology of capitalism; African states must rebuild progressively, ie, reconcile Euro-Christian / Islamic / old African cultures.

Unlike a lot of philosophers, he got a chance to enact change for his country (Ghana) until he was deposed.

It's the kind of light and positive socialism that seemed to proliferate mid 20th century. It's also a really neat, succinct approach to post colonial socialism (consciencism) in Africa.

I don't know the Ins and outs of his political tenure but he seems ok by me. Big up Dr Nkrumah.

Also it has these cute set theoretical terms for enacting socialism within colonial states which is just neato.

[Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was skeptical at first, but ultimately won over by consciencism. While I initially anticipated a distinction in method, consciencism retains and promotes the strategy of dialectical materialism for analyzing and addressing societal conditions. What it offers is a restatement of these principles with particular attention to African traditional values, humanism, and decolonization. It’s a presentation of Marxism for the African continent (despite its relatively solid claims to universality). What’s most valuable for me here is the final chapter, where Nkrumah lays out decolonization in terms of various calculus equations. It might not work for everyone, but it was a great way for me to visualize the broad strategy proposal defined by consciencism (and I’m terrible at math). Due to its brevity, this book is incredibly valuable relative to the time you’ll spend reading it. If you’re on an especially tight schedule, though, the first and last chapters are probably the most important (especially if you’re already familiar with Marxism).

[zara · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Practice without thought is blind; thought without practice is empty.” Something I loved about this book is that it emphasized the need for political theory to be grounded in and shaped by the lived experiences of the people. I think this gets lost in studying philosophy in academic settings and even in some leftist circles. After summarizing and critiquing the theories of Ancient Greek and European philosophers, he puts forward his own political philosophy (Consciencism), building from both African history and the experience of European colonization to build a new kind of society. He also discusses the institutions and instruments used to put this ideology into practice. I really enjoyed and appreciated this book.

[Alessandro Massa]

NOTA BENE: I am a close friend of a grandchild of Nkrumah, so my review is biased.

I came to the book because I was going to Ghana to visit my friend and, well, I thought I should do some research!

That's a joke, but it's also true. I did read it as an intro to the trip, and it was the weirdest choice, obviously. Lonely planet would have served me better lol.

Life has a way of making things go this way though: and I've read Consciencism three times now, and still have to google how to spell the name of the book, damnit.

During the first months of lockdown in 2020, with that friend, and another one, we spoke quite a bit about the book, trying to go through the chapters. I put our conversations down in writing, wanting to make a sort of essay about it, but did nothing with it - it wasn't good enough - so some of the ideas of this review come from those convos.

To the book.

I think the writing is gorgeous: considering the date of writing, and the object of the book, maaan Nkrumah had style. So it was fun to read, in any case.

It is the book of a logician, a logician who applied his strategic abilities to politics, indeed to post-colonial politics. So, crucially, it is the book of a philospher, an african philosopher, who grew up under colonialism, and who came to lead his country as a statesman, and became the ambassador for a particular branch of post-colonial thought - panafricanism - which also pervades the book. These are the most important aspects of the book, I think.

In terms of leadership, indeed revolutionary leadership, there is much wisdom there - "revolutions are brought about by men [sic], by men who think as men of action and act as men of thought". Not merely to lead people towards some goal, but to seek in the depth of the human person those qualities which people, all people, wish to see brought forward in the world. To lead, to argue, to fight, to prove that one's positions are right - and that they can only be *right* if they, truly, stem from some real human suffering.

Nkrumah was a universalist. He followed Mazzini, intellectually. Indeed, the fact that I - a european in 2021 - can follow the ideas, show their universal reach. But *he was* an african. He wrote to his people, provoking them to match white european thought. He deeply admired the Western canon. He knew that the western world has succeeded not simply to produce great intellectual thought, but to produce it reliably, durably, throughout history, and to protect it thanks to its institutions and its laws. He knew this - and fuck, it must have been hard to know: imagine that the evil colonial states, who could so carelessly inflict the wounds of the slave trade, of extorsion, of murder, that *they* would also be the ones who grew the fruits that could heal the world of these evils.

His clarity on this shines, because resentment would have been much easier, and to me it shows that accusations of tyranny are mistaken. There were mistakes, and injustices: maybe even grave ones. Probably Nkrumah did take too power on himself - but the intentions were not those of a power hungry tyrant, wishing to dominate like royalty. Remember my bias of course but come on, read the book and you'll see it. Read it thinking about the several assassination attempts, about the american intrusion of power, about the crazy Cold War, about.. you get it.

Nkrumah clearly cared firstly about philosophy, more than politics: like Churchill and the nobel for literature, I am convinced this book was the one Nkrumah cared most about, in the sense that this was him catching his ideas in writing as best he could, and every political act that he then took became a consequence of this writing, this thinking. I suspect he had something to prove: that a black african man could also produce a deep and meaningful work of philosophy. Maybe he wanted it a bit *too much* and was maybe rushed in some of the writing, as if the book came out too early, prematurely - but maybe, instead, it's that I will just never understand what it was like back then.

And maybe it's the almost Bakunian history retelling of the first chapters - transgressively radical, particularly for the date of writing - but I feel that the book is also a field manual: a pamphelt, a manifesto, to be kept in the tents and read at nightfall before battle, dirty with notes, dreams, protests, questions. Or maybe it's just me dreaming. Maybe I'm young, foolish, a dreamer, someone who should grow up, maybe I just feel that since the 1970s the western world has stagnated, that real growth is vanishing, that if you don't "do tech" you might as well "do drugs", because what else is gonna rock your world? Maybe I think we're running out of ideas, pulling societies apart because we lack the wealth to be charitable, we degrade values, ecologies, and fuck allow thiefs to run our banks, our parliaments. Maybe.

In any case, I think it's a book for every young person - dare I say it? especially, every young man - who looks for a model of a man who battled the demons of oppression, *thought* - not to prove some academic quibble - but because he found it fun, exciting and because he knew that thinking is a right to be fought for, not something that's a given, something he knew on his skin, his black skin, and which opens portals of meaning and depth, and for which it is right to fight.

Thanks for your time.

[Marina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Le premier chapitre est fastidieux, si on ne s'accroche pas, on peut aisément abandonner la lecture tant les expressions utilisée ressemblent à des formules mathématiques.
Si on a aucune passion pour la philosophie occidentale, ce livre n'est pas pour nous. Il s'attarde un peu trop sur les idées de Marx, Platon Descartes et j'en passe avant d'arriver à ce qui nous intéresse nous, à savoir Le Consciencisme. J'ai survolé le dernier chapitre et je vous laisse le plaisir de découvrir pourquoi.

[csillagkohó · Rating 1 out of 5]

ober, zou ik wat wol mogen bij al dat geblaat

[Julius · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ein bisschen zu hoch für mich.

[Natú · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a slim, but ambitious, book. Being a text on philosophy, the structure of this book is definitely going to be familiar to those who have read philosophy before, but by the same token, those who haven't read that much philosophy - or any at all - should be prepared for Nkrumah's step-by-step, ground-up construction of his argument, which is, in essence, a proposal for a foundational ideology for a decolonized, independent and united Africa.

I will avoid talking too much about the eponymous ideology itself, because I believe that's best left to Nkrumah. That said, for the sake of tracing the trajectory of his argument as a preview to those interested in reading it, the general structure of the book is as follows:

chapter 1: Nkrumah sketches the main historical Western philosophical currents and refutes them in order to assert the primacy of dialectical materialism for his argumentation going forward. This section is both a bit plodding to those of us dummies who haven't tread so often in the halls of philosophy, but is simultaneously very amusing and impressive, as Nkrumah deftly builds up the edifices of the philosophical schools he analyzes, only to casually throw a spanner into the works and watch them crumble one by one. His quotidian examples help the layperson grasp these schools of thought, while injecting a bit of levity into a typically sacrosanct discipline.

chapter 2: Having laid out dialectical materialism as the necessary basis for building an ideology of African socialism and communalism, Nkrumah uses the broad progression of Greek philosophy to demonstrate how philosophical thought is born from material conditions, as either an expression of the dominant social system or of a challenge to it.

chapter 3: Nkrumah scaffolds off the previous chapter to show how ideology delineates the contours of acceptable behavior, with morality and statutory manifestations of the dominant ideology working in tandem to effectively define networks of social and political relations.

chapter 4: Nkrumah lays out consciencism and explains how it can be operationalized to cohere the three main social systems in Africa: traditional African, Islamic, and Westernized/Christian. He also anticipates challenges to this philosophy and refutes them.

chapter 5: This last chapter is a slog and I honestly skimmed most of it. Having established the primacy of matter and the subsequent monism upon which socialist equity is to be objectively based in the previous chapter, Nkrumah proceeds to give us a page-long list of abbreviations, which he then uses as variables in literal mathematical formulas to construct several schemas of political struggle. This is because in a materialist and monistic ideology, all things, being essentially different manifestations of the same stuff in dialectical flux, can be represented mathematically in abstracted, but nevertheless valid, models.

Altogether, I'm glad I read this, but it's definitely pretty heady. To those of us who ground ourselves in political economy or the social sciences, this text will definitely be most interesting when philosophy is operationalized to understand and change society. I think it's a shame that it ends how it does, because quite honestly I can't imagine who would sit down and actually work through the dozens of formulas Nkrumah throws at us, but it is a novel concept at the very least (unless I'm just in the dark on some pre-existing tradition here). Nkrumah's conceptualization of consciencism is robust and well-considered, to say the least, and is presented in glowing prose and in an engaging way that never loses its playful intellectual spark.

[Harry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great but that last chapter is impenetrable to me.

[Amr Bedawi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kwame Nkrumah's attempts to outline a philosophy of African liberation rooted in a dialectical materialism and the particularity of the African situation is a noble one. His philosophy, which he calls consicencism, is oriented toward molding Socialism to the African condition. In doing so, he engages many philosophers, and critiques those ideas that are counter to the African cause, namely idealism. His materialism emphasizes not the sole importance of the material, but it's primary importance so as to allow for the tripartite nature of African society to remain compatible with his philosophy (that nature being comprised of the African tradition, Islam and Christianity).

I wish he would have engaged more African thinkers, as all but one of the thinkers he mentions are white. Additionally, it would have been helpful if he had expounded on what comprised the Islamic tradition in Africa and how it fits into his conception of consciencism. It also feels as though Nkrumah is searching for a philosophy that is uniquely African, as if Marxism-Leninism, because it originiates in the European condition, is not applicable to Africa. I disagree with this, and I think his eventual overthrow as a Ghanian leader is because of this unwillingness to utilize Marxism-Leninism which leads him to make crucial errors.

Despite these shortcomings, he does a great job helping explain dialectical materialism, the importance of socialism, and addressing the colonial situation.

[Andre(Read-A-Lot) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Consciencism is heavy on the philosophical, but light on the practical application. Kwame Nkrumah was attempting to explain how an independent Ghana needed a guiding philosophy to marry the three dominant features of the society, the traditional African way of life, the Islamic tradition in Africa and a "final segment which represents the infiltration of the Christian tradition and culture of Western Europe into Africa, using colonialism and neo-colonialism as its primary vehicles."

How do you meld these three groups and give them all a meaningful stake in society that results in a dynamic unity? This is a great question, and one I think if the book had strove to answer would have made for a more interesting read. Instead Nkrumah spends precious pages on the historical background of philosophy and how it inserts itself into society. I wanted more of what Nkrumah wanted to craft as the national philosophy of a newly independent Ghana, especially considering all the challenges.

"The traditional face of Africa includes an attitude towards man which can only be described, in its social manifestation, as being socialist. This arises from the fact that man is regarded in Africa as primarily a spiritual being endowed originally with a certain inward dignity, integrity and value. It stands refreshingly opposed to the Christian idea of the original sin and degradation of man." P. 68

That truism makes for a very difficult process of attempting to reconcile the 3 major segments of the society into a socialism that is beneficial to all. Definitely think readers could have benefitted by an expansion of that particular discussion.

[Whitlaw Tanyanyiwa Mugwiji · Rating 4 out of 5]

Consciencism is the philosophy and ideology developed by Kwame Nkrumah for decolonisation. Nkrumah contends that philosophy in its social aspects is an instrument of ideology and an ideology a key to the inward identity of a people, in other words a tool to unite and bring order to society.

On philosophy, he asserts that, "the environment affects the content of philosophy and the contend of philosophy seeks to affect the environment." Hence, according to Nkrumah, consciencism is moulded by the material conditions of the African people and their environment and it in turn seeks to change the African people and their environment. He argues that, African societies have been shaped largely by African tradition and partly by either Western or Islamic or both Western and Islamic influences.

The traditional face of Africa in its social manifestation is socialist but colonialism changed this. Thus, consciencism seeks the emancipation of Africa which in essence means the emancipation of man. According to Nkrumah, this requires two things: the first is the restitution of egalitarianism, and second, the mobilisation of all our resources towards the attainment of that restitution.

It is an interesting read but really hard to grasp, especially when he dives deep into philosophy. Its small, so I expected to finish it within three days but I had to read it slowly and it took over a week.

[Abraham Mendez Suaro · Rating 4 out of 5]

As other users have already mentioned, Consciencism is quite dense regarding philosophical theory. Besides, it is only at the end of the document that Consciencism ideology is actually approached. Throughout the book, there are a few powerful statements that I could catch. Perhaps, one of the most enlightening utterances comes when Kwame Nkrumah refers to scientists as the true heirs of ancient philosophy. Indeed he sometimes calls modern philosophers a bunch of concept taxonomists. Such a statement arises over a background of thoroughly reviewed cases, from Thales to Marx, in which philosophy is born, pushed by social needs. This is an idea that continually iterates throughout the text. Another powerful pronouncement comes at the very marrow of the document. As one of the pillars of Philosophical Consciencism, traditional African communalism is already part of modern African society idiosyncrasy. For this reason, an authentic revolution is not properly the means of attaining socialism at the African states. Finally, I loved the eloquence with which Nkrumah exposes the dangers of neo-colonialism, disguised sometimes as "positive actions", in opposition to overt rapacious colonialism. Personally, I enjoyed deeply this reading.

[Sunny · Rating 5 out of 5]

stunning stunning book about the link between philosophy and society and the consciousness it precipitates. really gets you wondering what direction our philosophy would have taken had our society evolved in a differnet way. the first and the last chapters are impossible to understand but the 3/4 inbeteeen are priceless. Kwame does really simple and interesting summaries of some of the worlds leading philosophers in the middle chapters also.

[Anna Prasser · Rating 3 out of 5]

criticizing european universalism is valid and necessary, but the ambition to formulate an ideology for an entire continent seems very hypocritical to me. I doubt that a unified “African conscience” is able to adequately respond to the divers socio-political and historical contexts across the continent

I was also a bit frustrated by the in depth analysis of western philosophy, while his treatment of African traditions is comparatively underdeveloped, they are reduced to a set of broadly defined “humanistic” values

I admire his conviction for socialism though

[Dany · Rating 5 out of 5]

“It is far easier for the proverbial camel to pass through the needle's eye, hump and all, than for an erstwhile colonial ad­ministration to give sound and honest counsel of a political nature to its liberated territory. To allow a foreign country, especially one which is loaded with economic interests in our continent, to tell us what political decisions to take, what political courses to follow, is indeed for us to hand back our independence to the oppressor on a silver platter.”

[j · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a challenging and dense read. Yet it was one of the most helpful texts in understand dialectical materialism, especially in the context of decolonization. It is a staple in breaking down the foundations of the philosophy which I don’t believe can be skipped over if one wants to have a solid understanding of decolonization, dialectical materialism, and of course consciencism.

[Adel · Rating 5 out of 5]

very difficult to understand at times if you dont have previous philosophical background but explained well the philosophy of a decolonised africa. reading this just shows the mistake made by post colonial algeria. will deffo revisit in the future in order to extract further information. deffo a must read

[C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was a lot more abstract than I’d expected, but maybe that’s my own fault. I was hoping for more concretized application in the context of Africa, but that didn’t come until the very end, around the last 20 pages. But it was well worth the build up. Nkrumah is a genius. Underlined so many sections…may update this with some selected quotes soon.

[Rediet · Rating 4 out of 5]

I support Nkrumah’s mission but I do think his theory of philosophical consciencism have some major flaws. For starters he treats all of African society as uniform and builds his theory on that premise. The premise insists traditional African societies are materialists. All African societies are deeply spiritual if not religious and hence definitely idealist.