On Reason

“Emmanuel Chukwudi Eze has done significant work thinking critically about race, politics, history, and the discipline of philosophy. In On Reason, he makes evident the breadth and depth of African philosophy and its deep and often problematic connections to the political. The political must, as it were, be thought, and that is difficult, demanding, necessarily creative and troubling work. It is work that Eze does not shirk from, especially as a thinker deeply rooted in the cultural traditions and philosophies of Africa.” - Grant Farred, author of What’s My Name? Black Vernacular Intellectuals

“Emmanuel Chukwudi Eze takes on one of the most difficult challenges of the day: the possibility that reason, and therefore philosophy, transcends culture and history and does not simply reflect the hegemony of one culture. I like his attempts to ‘ground’ reason in experience while still maintaining reason’s authority. This is a difficult trick given our habits of thought, but he makes a plausible and important case especially to be prized by cultural theorists who want to think ‘diversity’ without having to fend off endless arguments about ‘relativism.’” - William Rasch, author of Sovereignty and Its Discontents: On the Primacy of Conflict and the Structure of the Political

“[On Reason] is a brilliant book, which will be read widely because Eze eloquently argues for the use of reason in philosophical discourse in world of conflict and racism. It is a welcome follow-up to Eze’s work on race and pluralism.” - Elias K. Bongmba, Africa Today

“[Eze’s] commitment to preserving a wide range of forms of reason, and rendering them productive of rationality, accomplishes his lifelong task of showing the ethnocentrism inherent in myopic forms of reason in Europe and Africa, and at the same time accomplishes the equally important task of showing the way to productive dialogue across the borders of forms of reason.” - Bruce B. Janz, South African Journal of Philosophy

“This is not a work of sociology, but it is a work of philosophy that many will find resonates with a sociological imagination, especially one open to the impact of postcolonial thinking across the humanities and social sciences. It merits reading (and re-reading) and matching its philosophical reflections with sociological reflection on its themes. It is a thoroughly rewarding and valuable book and one which makes a significant contribution to the field.” - Gurminder K. Bhambra, Sociological Review