Journal of Philosophy and Ethics Volume 1, Issue 1, 2019, PP 7-13 Journal of Philosophy and Ethics V1 ● I1 ● 2019 1 Haitian Epistemology: Haitian/Vilokan Idealism Paul C. Mocombe West Virginia State University/The Mocombeian Foundation, Inc. *Corresponding Author: Paul C. Mocombe, West Virginia State University/The Mocombeian Foundation, Inc. Philosophically speaking, epistemology seeks to understand what we know (knowing that) and how we know it (knowing how). It is the theory of knowledge that not only investigates what we know and its limitations. But seeks to constitute methodologies upon which we can distinguish justified belief from opinion. Whereas early, non-Western, philosophical traditions suggested that there were a huge variety of epistemological methods, which suggested that there were several ways to obtain knowledge, the West sought the justification of one. Thus, the Western epistemological tradition was and has been built on the ever-increasing rationalization and critique of various proposed epistemological methods ranging from the school of Foundationalism, established by the Greeks and early Enlightenment scholars (Descartes, Spinoza, Kant, etc.), to Coherentism, Logical Positivism, and American pragmatism. The latter, America’s contribution to epistemological methodology. Western science (its division into quantitative and qualitative methodology), ultimately, is presented as the culmination of not only their epistemological project, but the universal basis by which humanity comes to know what it knows, how it knows it, and the basis upon which we can distinguish justified beliefs from opinion. My present work on Haitian epistemology does not fully undermine or seek to decenter the justified belief constituted by the epistemological methodology of science, but seeks to name and highlight the Haitian people’s contributions, i.e., Haitian/Vilokan Idealism, Antidialectics, hermeneutical phenomenology, reciprocal justice, and phenomenological structuralism, to that process: Antidialectics representing the process by which Haitians, historically, constitute their existence to establish balance and harmony between the phenomenal and Vilokanic (noumenal) worlds; reciprocal justice, the practical normative reason that would emerge out of Vodou metaphysics and Haitian/Vilokan Idealism; and phenomenological structuralism, the theory and method upon which they distinguish justified belief from opinion. INTRODUCTION This work explores the nature and origins of Haitian epistemology, Haitian/Vilokan Idealism, ABSTRACT This work explores the origins, nature, and basis of Haitian epistemology, Haitian/Vilokan Idealism, the lens through which the Africans of Haiti consciously and unconsciously come to know, interpret, and make sense of the known and unknown world around them. The article posits that Haitian epistemology is a transcendental idealist and realist philosophy that developed out of the ever-increasing rationalization of the African worldview (Vodou) of the majority of the inhabitants of the island, and given the chance to institutionalize itself in the academy is on par or compatible with the scientific project of the West. Hence, Haitian epistemology is not a standpoint theory like Afrocentrism. Instead, it is a scientific paradigm, which evolved, liked, and compatible with, the scientific project of the West, as a result of the demystification, demythologization, and ever-increasing rationalization and institutionalization of the African (spiritual) worldview of Vodou/Vilokan which the Africans of Haiti were able to institutionalize through Vodou, proverbs, herbal medicine, dance, rituals, etc. In the end, the work names, defines, and develops the concept of a Haitian epistemology, Haitian Idealism (Vilokanism, Vilokan Idealism, Vodouism, Vodou Idealism), which ought to serve as the starting point of departure for any academic work dealing with Haiti, its Revolution, culture, and people. Keywords: Haitian Epistemology, Haitian/Vilokan Idealism, Haiti, Afrocentrism, Vodou, Haitian Studies, the Vodou Ethic and the spirit of communism