Donald Davidson’s Theory of Action in Relation to Responsibility: Addressing Crisis of Social Development in Africa

Abstract

An obvious challenge facing Africa today is the developmental crisis. Even with the continents’ human and natural resources, Africa is still considered the most underdeveloped continent. What explanations can be given for this problem? What really is the central causative factor to Africa’s underdevelopment? Some scholars blame it on African predicaments like the slave trade, colonialism, neo-colonialism, etc, and for some others Africa underdeveloped Africa which can be proved through Donald Davidson’s standard action theory which proposes that the notion of intentional action is more fundamental than the notion of action and that there is a close connection between intentional action and acting for a reason (belief+desire). This paper argues that though the African predicaments play a strong, devastating role that facilitated developmental backwardness, but the blame should today squarely be put on Africans themselves or otherwise Africans are denied agency and autonomy. Expectations from the paper are the exposition of the weakness of the African political class towards political will to truly serve as the cause of the situation, and of how Davidson’s theory of action could resolve the ugly situation. By adopting critical thinking, analytical and expository methods, the paper reinstates that African politicians and governments should be held accountable for Africa’s underdevelopment.