Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum's reception of Aristotle: Implications for classical scholarship in Africa

Classical reception studies have significantly influenced African literature, as evident in the works of some scholars such as Ola Rotimi, Wole Soyinka, and Femi Osifisan. While reception studies provide valuable insights into both ancient and contemporary societies, their potential to advance classical scholarship in Africa remains underutilised. This limited use arises from conflicting views; some African scholars opine that reception studies may distort the traditions of Graeco-Roman scholarship, while others see it as a perennial and essential approach to teaching Classics in Africa. These conflicting perspectives were highlighted during Panel 7 presentations on ―Decolonizing the Curriculum‖ at the 3rd International Classics Conference in Ghana (ICCG), held from 17 to 20 September 2024, at the University of Ghana. This paper contributes to the ongoing debate by proposing that African scholars in Classics should embrace reception studies as a valuable framework for understanding the relevance of past societies in contemporary contexts. To bolster its proposal, this paper explores how the reception of Aristotle‘s work has shaped the ideas of scholars like Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum, whose contributions to contemporary development discourse are notable. Through a clarification of the term ‗reception studies‘ and an examination of Sen and Nussbaum‘s capability theories of development, which ultimately derived from an Aristotelian perspective, this paper argues that both scholars inevitably drew on reception studies to interpret the classics and project it onto a modern landscape. The success of these scholars implies that the reception approach is a viable method for bringing ancient texts closer to modernity. Therefore, the paper suggests there is a compelling need to recognise reception studies as a foundational approach to studying Classics in Africa and elsewhere.