A Philosophical Reflection on the Relevance of Heidegger’s Notion of Innovation to Unemployment Crisis in Africa
Abstract
The main purpose of this study was to provide a philosophical reflection on the relevance of Heidegger’s notion of innovation to the unemployment crisis in Africa. The study used a combination of phenomenological and analytical methods for the study. It was found that Heidegger’s philosophy of innovation has its basis in his concept of lostness. Dasein finds itself thrown into the world without prior information. Dasein finds itself in facticity without any help. Under facticity and fallenness, Dasein lives the inauthentic life that is characterised by averageness, publicness, and distantiality. As the Design struggles to meet its possibilities, Dasein is required to be authentic. It is authenticity that is implied with innovation in this study. It was found that Heidegger’s philosophy of innovation is characterised by individuality, unscientific and unconventional, resoluteness and respect for individual uniqueness. Heidegger’s philosophy of innovation can be relevant to African efforts to end the unemployment crisis when there is a balance between communalistic life and individual life under freedom. Moreover, the unemployment crisis can be fought against when the Africans are aware of the individual identities that make them complement each other in the community. It was concluded that the philosophy of innovation is an appropriate solution to the employment crisis not only in Africa but in all communities in the world that are struggling to fight unemployment.
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