African/Africana Philosophy

This article examines Oyowe’s highly distinctive socio-ontological account of ancestral existence. According to Oyowe, ancestors are intentional objects. Ancestors thus constitute a social kind and are ontologically distinct from natural kinds. The article critiques and rejects Oyowe’s distinction between social and natural kinds. The article then goes on to outline a possible alternative approach that draws on quasi-materialist and pan-psychic metaphysics to argue that ancestors exist as a natural kind—more specifically, ancestral existence consists in the this-worldly survival of the mentalistic (...) aspects of a human person’s biological death. Throughout, the article is concerned with the rationality of belief in ancestral existence rather than with their de facto existence as such. (shrink)

In this article, Oritsegbubemi Oyowe responds to seven critics of Menkiti’s Moral Man on a range of issues and questions and, along the way, clarifies further some of the ideas and proposals in the book. Some of these issues and questions concern what it means to interrogate other cultures, what social recognition really entails, whether persons are social kinds, and, by extension, whether Oyowe’s appeal to a special social ontology is superfluous, whether Oyowe’s account of the existence and persistence of (...) ancestral persons is plausible, and finally, whether and to what extent the terms of these engagements exemplify exogenous discourse. (shrink)

This article reacts to Oyowe’s understanding of the personal existence of ancestral persons as real mind-dependent entities. The article’s author’s contention is that Oyowe has not managed to rule out the alternative that the author is sympathetic to, namely, that ancestral persons are real mind-independent entities that continue to exist even when, through forgetfulness, they cease to exist in the memory of humans. This article calls Oyowe’s mind-dependent alternative the “safe” one, as it appears easier to defend than the “unsafe,” (...) mind-independent alternative, which the article’s author has yet to develop convincing reasons for. (shrink)

In Menkiti’s Moral Man, Oyowe argues that Menkiti’s persons are “soft persons.” They are different in kind from human beings in that they find their existence in a social ontology, whereas humans find theirs in a natural ontology, but this does not make them any less real. This understanding, Oyowe contends, is consistent with Menkiti’s texts and allows for a satisfying explanation of a possibly problematic relationship between human being and person. He acknowledges that their placement in social ontology makes (...) them (at least partly) conventional entities and so opens Menkiti’s account to some of the threats that face conventionalism, but he goes on to argue that these can be overcome. This article argues against Oyowe that Menkiti’s persons are resistant to the interpretation as soft entities. Though Menkiti continually stresses the importance of the community to personhood, much of what he has to say suggests he ascribes neither to the distinction between social and natural ontology that is central to Oyowe’s interpretation nor to the conventionalism that comes with it. This article argues that the soft-person reading does not solve problems of conventionalism as neatly as Oyowe hopes but that Menkiti’s view is not vulnerable to those problems. (shrink)

This article examines two issues raised and addressed by Oyowe in his book, Menkiti’s Moral Man. The first involves two of Oyowe’s criticisms of Menkiti: One criticism is that his conception of personhood is unfairly gendered; the other is that Menkiti’s view involves the priority of the community over individuals. The second issue involves Oyowe’s criticisms of Ikuenobe’s analysis of some aspects of Menkiti’s view in the context of the above criticisms. Oyowe indicates that, although he is “a repentant critic” (...) of Menkiti, he does “not deny the merits of these criticisms.” On page 15, He indicates that he is “convinced that there are resources in Menkiti’s general account for tackling them [criticisms].” This article highlights how his criticisms of Ikuenobe indicate his failure to appreciate fully the relevant robust resources in Menkiti for addressing these criticisms that Ikuenobe’s analysis highlights. (shrink)

The subject of personhood has received substantial discussion in contemporary African philosophy where communitarianism happens to be the dominant approach. In his new book Menkiti’s Moral Man, Oritsegbubemi Anthony Oyowe enters this discussion as a repentant critic of Ifeanyi Menkiti’s version of communitarianism, the plausibility of which he attempts to defend with compelling arguments and interpretations. In this book, especially in chapter 4, Oyowe addresses the subject of women’s social recognition and inclusion in the African community. In view of this, (...) this article extends the discussion of the subject of social recognition and inclusion to the LGBTQ+ people. Therefore, this article critically engages the place of LGBTQ+ people in the contemporary African community and argues for their inclusive recognition. The article contends that the nonrecognition and exclusion of LGBTQ+ people within the African community constitute a social and epistemic injustice. The article also argues that, since, like other recognized community members, LGBTQ+ people duly discharge familial and communal obligations, display good conduct in the community, and share in the responsibility to respect nonpersons, humans, and nonhumans alike, they deserve social recognition. (shrink)

This article critiques Oritsegbubemi Anthony Oyowe’s “Ontology, Realism and the Persistence of Ancestral Persons” response to Katrina Flikschuh’s “The Arc of Personhood” argument on the theoretical grounding of ancestors in Ifeanyi Menkiti’s work. Flikschuh argues that ancestors are uncertain and redundant such that one can only account for them practically. Contrastingly, Oyowe defends Menkiti’s concept of ancestors as social kinds in his innovative attempt to theoretically ground them. The article argues that the dialogue between these thinkers reflects an exogenous reading (...) of African experiential reality, effectively lending itself to epistemic erasure. In the end, the existence of ancestors is ambiguous at best in both their accounts. The article first questions Flikschuh’s view and suggests that it is paradigmatic of white solipsism. Thereafter, the article contends that while Oyowe’s social ontology injunction challenges Western realism, he fails to account for mind-independent ancestral persons. In the end, he only partially captures African experiential reality, thereby reflecting Western ways of being. (shrink)

Tomando como ponto de partida as investigações e percursos do Grupo de Pesquisa FiloMove: Filosofias, Artes e Estéticas do movimento (PRPI) da Universidade Federal do Cariri (UFCA), instituição jovem do interior do Ceará, Brasil, e em consonância com os objetivos do Instituto Interdisciplinar de Sociedade, Cultura e Artes (IISCA) nasce o Dossiê bilíngue ESTAMOS AQUI! Debates afrolatinoamericanos em perspectiva Brasil Argentina (Vol. 1). A expectativa visa contribuir com esses debates desde o Cariri, na aberta convicção acerca dos valores emancipatórios e (...) descolonizadores que aportam estas pesquisas em prol de uma educação crítica e plural. (shrink)

Beyond Decolonial African Philosophy dives into decoloniality discourse, challenging some of its shortcomings and offering alternative perspectives on the nature of Africanity and Afrotopia (Africa's better future) from leading African philosophers. Beginning with an overview of philosophy in contemporary Africa, the first half of the book goes on to critically interrogate and rethink decoloniality's deconstructivist approach. The second half of the book considers a range of alternative new conceptualizations of Afrotopia and Africanity that transcend decolonial theory, drawing on constructivist and (...) creative approaches. The book considers key questions such as: Is Africanity immutable (essentialism), or mutable (nominalism)? Should we emphasise idealist, identitarian concerns, or pragmatic, developmentarian concerns? Should we prioritise African agency, or structures and circumstances? Should Africa embrace hybrid interculturality and creative self-manifestive identity or essentialist purity? Drawing on rich insights from African philosophers across the continent, this book challenges students and researchers to think beyond the concept of decolonization to alternative forms of African identities and African futures. (shrink)

The perspectives provided in this volume offer wise and refreshing alternatives to problems of self and society, culture, aesthetics, metaphysics, and religion.

abstract: Richard T. Greener was the first Black graduate of Harvard College in 1870, and he served briefly as a professor of philosophy at the University of South Carolina from 1873 to 1877. Historians and biographers have uncovered many of the facts of his unusual life, but to date his philosophy has remained unappreciated. This essay reconstructs his philosophy from published and archival sources, evaluating it in relationship to the work of his better-known mentor, Frederick Douglass. I argue that Greener’s (...) account of Reconstruction politics, especially his arguments on land redistribution, race, and Black intellectual history, possess notable advantages over Douglass’s views. Of particular importance is that he defended a more robust republican state than did his hero, while rejecting the originalism and constitutionalism that characterize Douglass’s liberalism. (shrink)

This paper interrogates the concept of sexuality within the purview of an African context by evaluating the position revolving around a conception of an African sexuality as opposed to a multivariated conceptualisation of sexualities within Africa. The paper raises critical questions as regards the concepts of an African sexuality ranging from; what constitutes the grounds for a conceptualisation of African sexuality? To what extent do the viability or non-viability of such ground answer the deep challenges as it relates to alternative (...) sexualities? How does the question of sexuality play a role in determining the ideological framework upon which intra-socio-cultural interrogations are properly built? To this end, the baseline argument of this paper, seeks to create a point of synergy between the concept of African sexuality and the dynamics of sexualities in Africa, by presenting a moderate call for the decolonization of African minds, most especially as it pertains to issues of sexuality, through an analysis of the diverse patterns within which sexuality has been conceived within the African setting. Furthermore, in reclaiming the sanctity of an African perspective, this paper argues for cultural conservatism as both a historic African phenomenon, and a more pragmatic approach towards attaining a mentally decolonized post-colonial Africa. (shrink)

The significance of hair is deeply rooted in African ontology. It depicts leadership status and when shaved off completely, may sometimes signify mourning or lack of dignity. In Benin-city of Edo state in Nigeria, Chiefs who are mostly men are identified by their unique hair-styles. It shows their position of leadership in the society and when a king dies, all the men in the kingdom are expected to shave off their hair as a sign of respect for the departed king. (...) In the culture of the Yoruba people of Nigeria, hair is highly celebrated by the women as it is seen as a crown of glory upon their heads. With advancement in globalisation and cross-cultural relationships, the culture of hair and its ontological significances are gradually being eroded as expressed in Chimamanda Adichie‟s „Americanah‟. For this reason, the hair, being a very important symbol of cultural identity has become a key role in understanding the issues with identity crises in Africa. The paper analyses the ontological significances of hair in Africa, evaluates the issues involved in the misrepresentation of African hair as presented in some African literature as well as interrogates the issues of identity crises occasioned by African hair. (shrink)