APPON Volume 15 Number 1 2025

BEYOND THE LIBERAL- COMMUNITARIANISM OF OSENI AFISI: A COMPLEMENTARIST RECONSTRUCTION OF INDIVIDUAL-COMMUNITY RIGHTS

Saheed Anuoluwapo Agunbiade
Abstract

One of the existential issues confronting the socio-political philosophers has to do with Othe problem of individual-community rights. On the relationship between the rights of the individual and community, the liberal individualists uphold individual rights but seek for governments' intervention on the protection of individual's rights. On the other hands, the communitarians hold that community rights precede individual's rights and their positions are based on the social values of the society that is external to man. Nonetheless, the liberalcommunitarian, particularly OseniAfisi, holds a complementarity idea on the problem of individual-community rights. While strengthening the position of Karl Popper to justify his liberal-communitarian idea, Afisi argues that Popper places individual rights ahead of the community rights but the social dimension of the individual makes him a liberal-communitarian. However, this paper critically examines the liberal-communitarianism of Afisi; it shows the biases that are embedded in his liberal-communitarian idea. Through conceptual analysis and complementarity methods, the paper shows that Afisi is yet to address two issues: community welfare and clashes of interest. On this ground, nevertheless, the paper suggests an alternative liberal-communitarianism,-a mediated communitarianism -that is based on interdependency, intersubjectivity, and critical dialogues

Keywords: afisi, communitarianism, complementarist, individual-community, liberal-, oseni, reconstruction, rights
Copyright © 2026 ACJOL.