Special issue: Radical Reason

This special issue on Radical Reason brings together a selection of critical contributions from thinkers from around the world, who all offer provocations for thinking anew what it means to be human now and here.

Although the format of this special issue is a departure from our usual format, this special issue is an opportunity for the South African Journal of Science to support scholarship that offers new ways of thinking about the challenges humanity faces and to promote the critical roles of the humanities and social sciences as well as African thought and knowledge in responding to the questions facing all of humanity globally. The methods and approaches reflected in this special issue differ from most reflected in our Journal. Given our commitment to interdisciplinarity and our concern with addressing complex problems, including existential threats to our species and our planet, we believe that it may be helpful to our readership to be aware of how complex issues are being addressed from a wide range of perspectives.

These contributions either capture or extend presentations and conversations that were part of the HSRC Radical Reason ‘Conversations with Global Thinkers’ series that took place at the 2020 Science Forum South Africa.

We thank Rachel Adams (Principal Researcher, Research ICT Africa, Cape Town, South Africa) and Crain Soudien (Adjunct Professor, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town, South Africa) for convening and guest editing this special issue and the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) for sponsoring the publication of this special issue.

Leslie Swartz, Editor-in-Chief