•  960
    Our aims are to articulate some core philosophical positions characteristic of Traditional African Religion and to argue that they merit consideration as monotheist rivals to standard interpretations of the Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition. In particular, we address the topics of how God’s nature is conceived, how God’s will is meant to bear on human decision making, where one continues to exist upon the death of one’s body, and how long one is able to exist without a body. For each of these to…Read more
  •  367
    Judaism’s Distinct Perspectives on the Meaning of Life
    Journal of Jewish Ethics 7 (1-2): 13-38. 2021.
    In contemporary Anglo-American philosophy, there has been substantial debate between religious and secular theorists about what would make life meaningful, with a large majority of the religious philosophers having drawn on Christianity. In this article, in contrast, I draw on Judaism, with the aims of articulating characteristically Jewish approaches to life's meaning, which is a kind of intellectual history, and of providing some support for them relative to familiar Christian and Islamic appr…Read more
  • Arabic translation by Ahmed Al-Ansari of 'Happiness and Meaningfulness' (a chapter first published in 2009).
  •  115
    Does the Lack of Cosmic Meaning Make Our Lives Bad?
    Journal of Value Inquiry 56 (1): 37-50. 2022.
    This article is part of a special issue devoted to David Benatar’s anti-natalism. There are places in his oeuvre where he contends that, while our lives might be able to exhibit some terrestrial or human meaning, that is not enough to make them worth creating, which would require a cosmic meaning that is unavailable to us. There are those who maintain, in reply to Benatar, that some of our lives do have a cosmic meaning, but I argue that Benatar is correct that none of our lives does. I instead …Read more
  •  1125
    Insofar as artificial intelligence is to be used to guide automated systems in their interactions with humans, the dominant view is probably that it would be appropriate to programme them to maximize (expected) utility. According to utilitarianism, which is a characteristically western conception of moral reason, machines should be programmed to do whatever they could in a given circumstance to produce in the long run the highest net balance of what is good for human beings minus what is bad for…Read more
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  •  404
    In this article I critically discuss some recent English language books in African philosophy. Specifically, I expound and evaluate key claims from books published by sub-Saharan thinkers since 2017 that address epistemology, metaphysics, and value theory and that do so in ways of interest to an audience of at least Anglo-American-Australasian analytic philosophers. My aim is not to establish a definitive conclusion about these claims, but rather to facilitate cross-cultural engagement by highli…Read more
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  •  3
    Partial reprint of an article first appearing in the Journal of Philosophy of Education (2009).
  •  429
    The Need for Others in Public Policy: An African Approach
    In Motsamai Molefe & Chris Allsobrook (eds.), Towards an African Political Philosophy of Needs, Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 21-37. 2021.
    When reflecting on human need as a moral-political category, it is natural to include some intersubjective conditions. Surely, children need to be socialized, adults need to be recognized, and the poor need to be given certain resources. I point out that there are two different respects in which such intersubjective factors could be considered needs. On the one hand, they might be needed roughly for their own sake, that is, for exemplifying relational values such as caring for others and sharing…Read more
  •  14
    I critically discuss respects in which conceptions of community have featured in African moral-political philosophy over the past 40 years or so. Some of the discussion is in the vein of intellectual history, recounting key theoretical moves for those unfamiliar with the field. However, my discussion is also opinionated, noting prima facie weaknesses with certain positions and presenting others as more promising, particularly relative to prominent Western competitors. There are a variety of form…Read more
  •  11
    Contributions Toward a Naturalist Theory of Life's Meaning
    Dialogue and Universalism 8 (11): 25-32. 1998.
    A brief attempt to sketch an account of what constitutes meaning in life that does not rely on God or a soul. The account focuses on connecting with final value, but posits counterexamples pertaining to certain states of awareness.
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  •  183
    與非洲相比在中國的價值
    In Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (ed.), 汉学与当代中国座谈会文集(2017), China Social Sciences Press. pp. 612-619. 2000.
    Chinese (character) translation of part of an article that appeared in Philosophy East and West (2017).
  •  25
    French translation of 'What Africa Can Contribute to the World', a commissioned chapter for UNESCO'S General History of Africa project.
  •  487
    How Philosophy Bears on Covid-19
    South African Journal of Science 116 (7/8): 1. 2020.
    A short reflection on respects in which philosophers are particularly, if not uniquely, well positioned to address certain ethical and epistemological controversies pertaining to the coronavirus.
  •  667
    The Virtues of African Ethics (Repr.)
    In Luís Rodrigues (ed.), African Ethics: A Guide to Key Ideas, Bloomsbury. pp. 185-196. 2022.
    Mildly modified reprint of a chapter originally appearing in The Handbook of Virtue Ethics (2012).
  •  20
    African Ethics
    In Tom Angier (ed.), Ethics: The Key Thinkers, 2nd Edition, Bloomsbury. pp. 261-281. 2022.
    Unlike the Chinese, Indian, and Western ethical traditions, the African one had not been text-based until as recently as the 1960s. Since a very large majority of indigenous sub-Saharan societies had oral cultures, there are no classic texts in the field of African ethics and hence also no Big Names; there's nothing comparable to, say, Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics or Confucius’ Analects. However, some names and texts have been more influential than others in shaping ethical reflection, particu…Read more
  •  423
    A Relational Theory of Mental Illness: Lacking Identity and Solidarity
    Synthesis Philosophica 71 (1): 65-81. 2021.
    In this article I aim to make progress towards the philosophical goal of ascertaining what, if anything, all mental illnesses have in common, attempting to unify a large sub-set of them that have a relational or interpersonal dimension. One major claim is that, if we want a promising theory of mental illness, we must go beyond the dominant western accounts of mental illness/health, which focus on traits intrinsic to a person such as pain/pleasure, lethargy/liveliness, fragmentation/integration, …Read more
  •  835
    African Theories of Meaning in Life: A Critical Assessment
    South African Journal of Philosophy 39 (2): 113-126. 2020.
    In this article, I expound and assess two theories of meaning in life informed by the indigenous sub-Saharan African philosophical tradition. According to one principle, a life is more meaningful, the more it promotes community with other human persons. According to the other principle, a life is more meaningful, the more it promotes vitality in oneself and others. I argue that, at least upon some refinement, both of these African conceptions of meaning merit global consideration from philosophe…Read more
  •  113
    Conversations about the Meaning of Life
    Obsidian Worlds Publishing. 2021.
    Interviews with David Benatar and Thaddeus Metz about some core aspects of their views about meaning in life, including debate between them. Accessible to a generally educated audience. Edited by Mark Oppenheimer and Jason Werbeloff.
  •  424
    Moderately updated version of this encyclopaedia entry.
  •  11
    What Science Means for Postmodernist Epistemology and the Philosophy of Education (Repr.)
    In Michael A. Peters, Marek Tesar, Liz Jackson & Tina Besley (eds.), What Comes after Postmodernism in Educational Theory?, Routledge. pp. 1398-1399. 1920.
    Reprint of an article first appearing in Educational Philosophy and Theory (2018).
  •  39
    An African Theory of Good Leadership (Repr.)
    International Journal of Ethical Leadership 7 41-56. 2020.
    Shortened version of an article first appearing in the African Journal of Business Ethics (2018).
  •  23
    Ends and Means of Transitional Justice (Repr.)
    In Krushil Watene & Eric Palmer (eds.), Reconciliation, Transitional and Indigenous Justice, Routledge. pp. 27-36. 2020.
    Reprint of an article first appearing in the Journal of Global Ethics (2018).
  •  47
    人生は創造する価値がありますか?
    Gendai-Shiso 47 (14): 94-113. 2019.
    Translation of 'Are Lives Worth Creating?' into Japanese by Sho Yamaguchi. A critical discussion of Benatar's anti-natalism that originally appeared in Philosophical Papers (2011).
  •  221
    Virtue in African Ethics as Living Harmoniously
    In Chenyang Li & Dascha Düring (eds.), The Virtue of Harmony, Oxford University Press. pp. 207-229. 2022.
    A large swathe of the indigenous African ethical tradition is frequently encapsulated in the maxim, “A person is a person through other persons.” This phrasing is an overly literal translation of some sayings that are prominent in the southern and central regions of Africa, but that resonate with most indigenous sub-Saharan cultures. This chapter articulates and motivates a philosophical interpretation of the maxim for an international readership interested in virtue. According to the initial fo…Read more
  •  430
    Must Land Reform Benefit the Victims of Colonialism?
    Philosophia Africana 19 (2): 122-137. 2020.
    Appealing to African values associated with ubuntu such as communion and reconciliation, elsewhere I have argued that they require compensating those who have been wronged in ways that are likely to improve their lives. In the context of land reform, I further contended that this principle probably entails not transferring unjustly acquired land en masse and immediately to dispossessed populations since doing so would foreseeably lead to such things as capital flight and food shortages, which wo…Read more