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These days, Africa is seen as an underdeveloped or developing continent. (...) What is meant by this is that Africa as a whole lags behind other areas in terms of measurable economic output and general "quality of life" indices for its inhabitants. An evident paradox in the attempts made to solve the problem of underdevelopment in Africa is that the vast majority of the research into the cause of Africa's present condition emanates from research centres and universities located in the West. And what is evident about the majority of such theories is that they tend to focus narrowly on strictly economic issues geared towards "alleviating poverty" and creating piecemeal conditions for "sustainable development". The collection of essays in this issue approach the problem of development from a broader, more holistic perspective which analyses that explore Africa's present status theoretically, from the standpoint of all the social sciences, not just economics. (Afr Dev/DÜI)

Aileen Kelly, Empiriocriticism: a Bolshevik philosophy?
In the first decade of this century a group of Bolshevik theorists attempted to construct a new philosophical basis for marxism with the aid of the empiriocriticism of Avenarius and Mach. Their attempt is usually treated by historians as merely a brief episode in Bolshevik party history. This article examines its significance within the wider framework of the collective psychology of the Russian radical intelligentsia, in which voluntarism was uneasily reconciled with a predilection for deterministic philosophies of history. The empiriocriticist movement can be seen as a final attempt on the part of the members of the intelligentsia to achieve a synthesis of these elements in their outlook. Their writings and the ensuing polemics are examined with particular regard to the light which they shed on the social psychology of the Russian radical intelligentsia and on the part played by its subjective aspirations in the formulation of its historical goals.

This paper outlines the theory of knowledge John Maynard Keynes had developed in his writings. It sheds a light on a different understanding of his central notions like intuition, individual judgment, convention and logic, which is compatible with his view of uncertainty. The reconsideration of his philosophy rejects current attempts to anchor his theory of knowledge against infinite regresses of reason. The movement from categories of truth to categories of knowledge underlines the relativity of the Cambridge Philosophy, of idealisms as well as of empiricism, he already had presented in his philosophical papers. Keynes transformed orthodox categories, which enabled him to analyse economic decision- making in the light of ignorance and uncertainty.

Aileen Kelly, "What is real is rational" : The political philosophy of B. N. Chicherin.
B. N. Chicherin is generally regarded as one of the foremost theoreticians of Russian liberalism; but there is a wide area of disagreement among historians as to the precise nature of his liberalism and the reasons for his extreme political isolation. The present study attempts to refute the most common view of Chicherin — namely, as a moderate liberal who sought a middle path in a country polarised into extremes of right and left. Through an analysis of Chicherin's doctrine of "liberal conservatism" it is argued that Chicherin cannot be regarded as a liberal at all: the conception of liberty which he developed in the immediate post-reform period on the basis of a doctrinaire right-wing Hegelianism was incompatible with all forms of liberalism, including Hegel's, and ultimately provided an ideological justification for absolute rule.