Pluralism, Structure, and Autonomy: On the Political Philosophy of Hountondji

In this article, I analyze a concept central to the work of the Beninese philosopher Paulin Jidenu Hountondji: pluralism. Hountondji’s plu-ralism consists of both a theoretical pluralism, which emphasizes the importance of plurality and debate within philosophy and science, and a politico-economic pluralism, which arises in opposition to the dominative tendencies of cultural nationalism and the capitalist world-system. I contend that at the heart of both Hountondji’s theo-retical and politico-economic pluralism rests a concept of negative pluralism, a political principle derived from Hountondji’s immanent critique of his own historical conjuncture. I conclude that Hountondji’s negative pluralism offers a distinct and compelling ac-count of plurality as neither innately nor instrumentally ideal. In-stead, Hountondji’s negative pluralism allows us to identify, through a critique of existing political structures, forms of political compul-sion and economic exploitation which function as obstacles to uni-versal emancipation.