-
Select issues and controversies in contemporary African philosophyIn Anthony O'Hear (ed.), Philosophical Traditions, Cambridge University Press. 2014.
-
14Reading WireduIndiana University Press. 2021.Reading Wiredu is the first comprehensive overview of the philosophical thought of Kwasi Wiredu. Born in Ghana in 1931, Wiredu, an important observer and critic of philosophy generally, remains an original and penetrating African thinker. Interrelating Wiredu's philosophical writings from across decades, Barry Hallen sets forth the basic tenets and the defining features of his philosophy. Wiredu's thought is divided into five distinct but interconnected areas: his response to the philosophy of Q…Read more
-
11Yoruba, Concept of Human PersonalityIn V. Y. Mudimbe & Kasereka Kavwahirehi (eds.), Encyclopedia of African Religions and Philosophy, Springer Verlag. pp. 708-709. 2021.
-
12What's it mean? 'Analytic' African philosophyQuest - and African Journal of Philosophy 10 (2): 67-78. 1996.
-
14The House of the "INU" Keys to the Structure of a Yoruba Theory of the SelfQuest - and African Journal of Philosophy 8 (1): 3-24. 1994.
-
13Reconsidering the case for consensual governance in AfricaSecond Order: An African Journal of Philosophy 3 (1): 1-22. 2019.Consensus has been highlighted by African philosophers as an element essential to African societies, past and present, that has not been assigned the importance it deserves. The philosophers involved have done this in part by drawing upon firsthand experience of their own indigenous cultures. Consensual governance presents a rather different view of the constitution of indigenous African societies and what should be their most appropriate form of political order today. A legitimate concern, ther…Read more
-
Robin Hortin on Critical Philosophy and Traditional ThoughtSecond Order: An African Journal of Philosophy 6 (1): 81-92. 1977.
-
The House of the ‘Inu’: Keys to the Structure of a Yoruba Theory of the ‘Self.’Quest: Philosophical Discussions 8 (1): 3--23. 1994.In an effort to explain the Yoruba concept of "emi" or self, an elder uses the metaphor of a house with many tenants--such as memory and imagination, and then says the 'key' to accessing them is self-consciousness. A consideration of impressive contextual dexterity.
-
Yoruba Moral Epistemology as the Basis for a Cross-Cultural EthicsIn Jacob K. Olupona & Terry Rey (eds.), Orisa Devotion as World Religion: Global Yoruba Religious Culture, University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 222--229. 2008.
-
1Cosmology: African CosmologiesIn Lindsay Jones (ed.), Encyclopedia of Religion, Macmillan Reference. 2004.Africa's indigenous cultures evidence cosmologies that are diverse and still evolving. A comparison is made of those found in the Yoruba (Nigeria), Maasai (Kenya), and Ki-Kongo (DRC) cultures to demonstrate this.
-
Modes of Thought, Ordinary Language, and Cognitive DiversityIn Claude Sumner & Samuel Wolde Yohannes (eds.), Perspectives in African Philosophy, Addis Ababa University Press. pp. 214--222. 2002.Ordinary language philosophy is made relevant to the African context by demonstrating it can be used to illuminate and illustrate African meanings that are relevant to academic philosophy.
-
African EthicsIn W. Schweiker (ed.), A Companion to Religious Ethics, Blackwell. pp. 406--412. 2005.Ordinary language analysis can be used to illustrate usage that is involved with morality in an African culture and thereby systematic thinking about ethical issues that are relevant to academic philosophy
-
9Contemporary Anglophone African Philosophy: A SurveyIn Kwasi Wiredu (ed.), A Companion to African Philosophy, Blackwell. pp. 99--148. 2004.A broad survey of contemporary African philosophy on the basis of methodologies and their applications.
-
Not a House DividedJournal on African Philosophy 2 1--15. 2003.An argument that the sometimes counterproductive division between the analytic and Continental approaches to academic philosophy not be carried over into African philosophy.
-
22Yoruba Moral EpistemologyIn Kwasi Wiredu (ed.), A Companion to African Philosophy, Blackwell. pp. 296--303. 2004.Ordinary language approach to Yoruba discourse used to argue that being a reliable source of accurate information has consequences for a person's character.
-
‘Witches’ as Superior Intellects: Challenging a Cross-Cultural SuperstitionIn Diane Ciekawy & Geirge C. Bond (eds.), Dialogues of Witchcraft: Anthropology, Philosophy, and the Possibilities of Discovery, Ohio University Press. pp. 80--100. 2001.The assumption that witchcraft is a universal phenomenon does not do justice to the category of persons known as the "aje" in Yoruba culture. The aje evidence behavior and skills that make them into a special class of human beings in their own right. Evidence of the danger of treating some Western concepts as universals.
-
African Meanings, Western WordsAfrican Studies Review 40 (1): 1--11. 1997.An overview of African Studies with respect to representing the meanings of African languages with Western languages.
-
What’s It Mean?: ‘Analytic’ African PhilosophyQuest: Philosophical Discussions 10 (2): 66--77. 1996.The ordinary language approach can help to explore the form and content of philosophy in the African context.
-
Variations on a Theme: Ritual, Performance, IntellectIn John Pemberton (ed.), Insight and Artistry: A Cross-Cultural Study of Art and Divination in Central and West Africa, Smithsonian Institution Press. pp. 168--174. 2000.The methodology underlying an African system of divination, in this case Yoruba Ifa, reveals standards that safeguard objectivity as well as creative input from legitimate diviners.
-
Does It Matter Whether Linguistic Philosophy Intersects Ethnophilosophy?Apa Newsletter on International Cooperation 96 (1): 136--140. 1996.Because it focuses on the general usage of terms, the ordinary language approach to African philosophy has sometimes been labeled a form of ethnophilosophy in that it simply records or describes meanings in the way ethnographers describe cultures. That misses the point that linguistic philosophy in general has to be concerned with terminology that is shared and is able to do it in ways that are philosophically valuable.
-
My Mercedes Has Four Legs!’ ‘Traditional’ as an Attribute of African Equestrian ‘CultureIn Gigi Pezzoli (ed.), Horsemen of Africa: History, Iconography, Symbolism, Centro Studi Archeologia Africana. pp. 49--64. 1995.Drawing upon the celebration of a major Muslim holiday in the city of Kano, Nigeria to demonstrate that the occasion is much more than simply participating in something traditional that has to happen.
-
Some Observations about Philosophy, Postmodernism, and Art in African StudiesAfrican Studies Review 38 (1): 69--80. 1995.Philosophy can encompass almost all of the other disciplines without being told it is misbehaving. The ability to interrelate disciplines that ordinarily function independently can make positive contributions to African studies in particular.
-
Afro-Brazilian Mosques in West AfricaMimar 29 16--23. 1988.The architecture of mosques in West Africa, specifically southwestern Nigeria, evidences the input of Africans who were involved with the design of the Baroque churches of Bahia, Brazil.
-
1A Philosopher’s Approach to Traditional CultureTheoria to Theory 9 (4): 259--272. 1975.The study of traditional cultures is supposedly the business of the social sciences. Philosophy too has methodologies and viewpoints that can make positive contributions to their study.
-
Secrecy (‘Awo’) and Objectivity in the Methodology and Literature of Ifa DivinationIn M. Nooter (ed.), Secrecy: African Art That Conceals and Reveals, The Museum For African Art and Munich. pp. 212--221. 1993.
-
27Indeterminacy, Ethnophilosophy, Linguistic Philosophy, African PhilosophyPhilosophy 70 (273): 377-94. 1995.This is a paper about philosophical methodology or, better, methodologies. Most of the material that has been published to date under the rubric of African philosophy has been methodological in character. One reason for this is the conflicts that sometimes arise when philosophers in Africa attempt to reconcile their relationships with both academic philosophy and so-called African '‘traditional’ systems of thought. A further complication is that the studies of traditional African thought systems…Read more
-
16Some comments on Africanising a philosophy curriculumSouth African Journal of Philosophy 35 (4): 401-403. 2016.
-
28Knowledge, belief, and witchcraft: analytic experiments in African philosophyStanford University Press. 1986.First published in 1986, Knowledge, Belief, and Witchcraft remains the only analysis of indigenous discourse about an African belief system undertaken from within the framework of Anglo-American analytical philosophy. Taking as its point of departure W. V. O. Quine's thesis about the indeterminacy of translation, the book investigates questions of Yoruba epistemology and of how knowledge is conceived in an oral culture
Sarasota, FL, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
Epistemology |
African/Africana Philosophy |
Areas of Interest
Epistemology |
Philosophy of Language |
Aesthetics |
PhilPapers Editorships
African/Africana Philosophy |
African Philosophy |