Ovett Nwosimiri

Race has played a significant role in African history. As part of historical events such as colonialism, slavery, and racism, race has been used as a reason for Western superiorism, and the oppression and exclusion of Africans in intellectual and social spaces. Africans have been seen as culturally immature, rationally incompetent, and intellectually passive. Through the examination of the concepts of Ubuntu and race, this chapter critically examines the applicability of Ubuntu to the discourse of race. Given the various values implicit in Ubuntu, I intend in this chapter to contribute to the discourse of Ubuntu by showing how Ubuntu can be applied to the discourse on race.

Globally, the population of the African continent is increasing at the highest rate, and intracontinental migration is also increasing. Africans are moving more frequently inside their own continent for social, political, medical, and economic reasons and sometimes safety. Given the significance of intracontinental mobility, the African Union has suggestedan open border or borderless Africa with seamless intracontinental migration. Therefore, in this paper, I seek to advance the arguments that question the viability of open border migration in Africa. My task follows two main lines of reasoning. (1) Using Bernard Matolino and Wenceslaus Kwindingwi’s views on Ubuntu, I seek to show how the issue of xenophobia that many Africans encounter on the continent would prevent the goal of openborder mobility from being successful. In light of the various xenophobic atrocities in South Africa, I question the relevance of Ubuntu, which stands for shared, reciprocal humanness and a strong sense of community that is also welcoming to migrants. In response, I question Ubuntu’s significance amid these xenophobic attacks and its utility once the open border policy is put into place. (2) I seek to question the merits and benefits of open borders for immigration to some African nations that are experiencing (ethnic) conflicts and wars. I will show that even if open borders for migration are made possible, many migrants’ lives will be lost and many nations will be in disarray (if not destroyed) if the continent fails to adequately address and provide practical solutions to xenophobic attacks, (ethnic) conflicts, and wars.

Globally, the population of the African continent is increasing at a significant rate, and intracontinental migration is also increasing. Africans are moving more frequently within their own continent for social, political, medical, economic, and sometimes safety reasons. Given the significance of intracontinental mobility, the African Union has suggested an open border or borderless Africa with seamless intracontinental migration. Therefore, in this paper, I seek to advance the arguments that question the viability of open-border migration in Africa. My task follows two main lines of reasoning: (1) Using Bernard Matolino and Wenceslaus Kwindingwi's views on Ubuntu, I seek to show how the issue of xenophobia that many Africans encounter on the continent would prevent the goal of open-border mobility being successful. Considering the various xenophobic atrocities in South Africa, I question the relevance of Ubuntu, which stands for shared, reciprocal humanness and a strong sense of community that is also welcoming to migrants. In response, I question Ubuntu's significance amid these xenophobic attacks and its utility once an open-border policy is put into place. (2) I seek to question the merits and benefits of open borders for immigration to African nations that are experiencing (ethnic) conflicts and wars. I will show that even if open borders for migration is made possible, many migrants' lives will be lost and many nations will be in disarray (if not destroyed) if the continent fails to adequately address and provide practical solutions to xenophobic attacks, (ethnic) conflicts, and wars.

Oritsegbubemi Anthony Oyowe’s book Menkiti’s Moral Man, published in 2022, explores Ifeanyi Menkiti’s ideas on the community’s role in defining personhood, encapsulating the idea that “a person is a person because of other persons.” Oyowe, previously a critic, now “a repentant critic” of Menkiti, engages Menkiti’s maximal view of personhood within Menkiti’s broader philosophical commitments. While acknowledging the plausibility of some criticisms, Oyowe defends Menkiti’s views against recurrent critiques. In light of his defense, this special issue is dedicated to furthering the intellectual engagement of his arguments. This issue features contributions from various philosophers who critically analyze and expand upon the themes presented by Oyowe, thereby enriching the discourse on personhood and African philosophy within the academic community and beyond it.The special issue has a total of eight articles. The article by Thaddeus Metz critiques Oyowe’s interpretation of Ifeanyi Menkiti’s views on personhood. Metz acknowledges that Oyowe’s interpretation is more plausible than others but argues that it still has shortcomings. Oyowe’s interpretation of Menkiti’s view of the person underscores two features, namely, social recognition and a social life of moral action. Metz’s reaction to these two features is that they give undue emphasis to the social dimension of personhood. His contention is that it is possible for an individual to achieve personhood by means of accomplishments that are not recognized by the community and by fulfilling requirements, such as those pertaining to one’s duties to oneself, that don’t involve social engagement. In short, Metz’s assessment of Oyowe’s interpretation of Menkiti’s view of personhood is that it is “too social.”In the article “A Critique of Oyowe’s Mind-Dependent Ancestral Persistence Thesis,” Dennis Masaka focuses on chapter 6 of Oyowe’s book, where Oyowe discusses the ontology and persistence of ancestral persons. According to Oyowe’s interpretation of Menkiti’s view of personhood, ancestral persons depend on human memory for their existence such that they cease to exist as soon as no human being remembers them. So, according to Oyowe’s Menkiti, ancestral persons are mind-dependent though real. Masaka concedes that Oyowe’s mind-dependence ancestral existence thesis is easier to defend than its competing alternative of the mind-independence ancestral existence thesis. So, he refers to the former as the “safe” alternative and to the latter as the “unsafe” alternative. Nevertheless, Masaka contends that Oyowe’s arguments for the “safe” alternative have not managed to rule out the possibility of the “unsafe” alternative. So, Masaka, who is sympathetic to the second (“unsafe”) alternative, intends his article to serve as a call to all other sympathizers to start the process of creatively articulating arguments for its defense. Do ancestral persons continue to exist mind-independently, that is, after their termination in human memory? Masaka urges fellow sympathizers to begin articulating plausible arguments for an affirmative answer to this question.In the article “The Politics of Exclusion and Inclusive Recognition,” Ovett Nwosimiri discusses the concepts of personhood and community within contemporary African philosophy, focusing on the inclusion and recognition of LGBTQ+ people. He critiques the version of African communitarianism that prioritizes the community over the individual, arguing that it contributes to ongoing social and epistemic injustice toward LGBTQ+ individuals. Nwosimiri, who examines Oyowe’s arguments for the social recognition and inclusion of women in African communities, calls for the extension of the same arguments to LGBTQ+ people.He contends that the nonrecognition and exclusion of LGBTQ+ individuals are forms of social and epistemic injustice, given that, like other recognized community members, they fulfill communal obligations and demonstrate good conduct.Nwosimiri argues that failure to recognize and to include LGBTQ+ people constitutes a social injustice because it violates their individual human rights, autonomy, dignity, and well-being, contrary to the principles upheld by the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights to which most African countries are signatories. It also constitutes an epistemic injustice because LGBTQ+ people are denied the opportunity to contribute to communal knowledge, thus impoverishing the community’s understanding of human diversity. Ontologically, Nwosimiri embraces the equal ontological standing of the community and the individual thesis, as this grounds a version of communitarianism that respects interdependence between individuals and the community while also addressing the oppressive practices that lead to the marginalization and exclusion of LGBTQ+ individuals.The article “Africa Is Not for Softies: On Oyowe, Menkiti, and Conventionalism” by Simon Beck is a critical engagement of Oyowe’s interpretation of Ifeanyi Menkiti’s concept of personhood in African philosophy that focuses on the distinction between human beings and persons. According to Oyowe’s interpretation of Menkiti’s view of personhood, the set of its defining features includes the conventional ones that pertain to the process of an individual’s incorporation into the community. In contrast, Beck argues that Menkiti’s essential features of personhood are limited to those such as moral function or moral maturity, which are internal to the individual. His view is that instead of being constitutive of personhood, the role of the process of incorporation and its pertinent conventional features is limited to that of transformation of the individual into a person. Beck argues that this transformation involves fundamental changes that endow the individual with the moral maturity that is essential for personhood.Beck also addresses the potential problems of relativism and arbitrariness in Oyowe’s conventionalism, suggesting that while conventions vary, the core properties that constitute personhood are causally connected to human beings, making persons robust rather than conventional or arbitrary components of the real world.In the article “Communal Social Architecture, Individual Capacities, and Menkiti’s Personhood,” Polycarp A. Ikuenobe addresses two sets of issues raised by Oyowe regarding Menkiti’s conception of personhood. The first set involves criticism that Menkiti’s view is unfairly gendered, privileging men and undermining individuality in favor of the community. The second set of issues concerns Oyowe’s critique of Ikuenobe’s interpretation of Menkiti. Despite acknowledging the merits of these criticisms, Oyowe believes that Menkiti’s framework has the resources to address them.Regarding the issues of gender biases in Menkiti’s conception of personhood, the balance between community and individual autonomy, and the moral status of individuals like infants and those with cognitive impairments, Ikuenobe comes to Menkiti’s defense. He does so by highlighting the importance of social roles and social architecture in achieving personhood. He also argues that Oyowe overlooks the very resources for addressing these issues that he himself acknowledges to exist within Menkiti’s framework. Regarding social architectures, Ikuenobe discusses how they affect the achievement of personhood, as well as their potential for perpetuating oppression and exclusion. He also underscores the distinction between normative and meta-normative analysis, and he insists that his work focused on applying normative standards rather than on questioning their fairness. He further underscores the complexities of the concept of personhood in African cultures and the interplay between communal norms and individual identity.The article “Ancestral Existence and the Mind’s Afterlife” by Katrin A. Flikschuh discusses the concept of ancestral existence. Flikschuh critiques Oyowe’s approach for its inclusion of both mind-independent and mind-dependent realities within one framework, arguing that this leads to competing criteria for determining what is real. She argues that this duality places mind-dependent entities on a lower rung compared to mind-independent entities. Additionally, she questions Oyowe’s socio-ontological approach for being overly descriptive and for failing to adequately reflect the prevailing nature of belief in ancestors, which typically includes their empirical effects in the natural world as evidence of nonmaterial agency.Flikschuh also presents an alternative to Menkiti’s extended materialism, suggesting the possibility of the mind-independent existence of nonmaterial entities like ancestors within the material world. She justifies her alternative by drawing on pan-psychic and quasi-materialist perspectives that appeal to phenomena that cannot be explained by material causation alone. Flikschuh’s alternative challenges dominant physicalist conceptions and supports the rationality of belief in ancestral existence through ontological progression, whereby a socially nurtured human being becomes a person through community induction, in much the same way as Aristotle’s potentiality is actualized under the right conditions.The article “On the Importance of an Endogenous Ontological Account of Ancestors” by Lindokuhle Gama critiques Oyowe’s defense of Ifeanyi Menkiti’s conception of ancestors. According to Gama, Oyowe argues that ancestors should be understood as social kinds rather than natural kinds, opposing Katrina Flikschuh’s claim that their ontological status is uncertain and practically justified at best. Gama contends that both Oyowe’s and Flikschuh’s arguments are caught up in Western metaphysical frameworks and that these blind them to the mind-independent events and common-sense understandings present in African conceptions of ancestors. Consequently, she emphasizes the need for an endogenous ontological account that respects African epistemic traditions and avoids the distortions caused by exogenous paradigms.The article “Menkiti’s Moral Man: Engaging with Critics” by Oritsegbubemi Anthony Oyowe is his response to the seven philosophers who contributed to this special issue by critically engaging the main arguments of his Menkiti’s Moral Man.In conclusion, this special issue stands out, as both African and global intellectual communities in related fields will find the articles intellectually stimulating. We expect the articles to inspire further fruitful discussions on the various topics and arguments presented. We wish you an engaging and enjoyable reading experience.

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.

The concept of well-being has been and continues to be topical and a contested subject among scholars. It has generated different meanings and conversations within disciplines such as Economics, Ethics, Philosophy, Sociology and Psychology. Furthermore, well-being has been more conceptualised within Western literature than African literature. In an attempt to define the concept, Ruggeri et al, say that ‘It is a sustainable condition that allows the individual or population to develop and thrive’’ (2009:2). The definition provided above suggests that the concept goes beyond the conditions of being happy, flourishing, and even the absence of ill-being to anything that helps the individual’s or population’s mental health or helps them to prosper. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has defined positive mental health as ‘a state of well-being in which the individual realises her or his own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and can make a contribution to his or her community’ (2001). Whereas the Western understanding encapsulates various themes such as happiness, flourishing and mental health with a focus on the individual, the traditional African understanding of well-being is often understood to be a harmonious interconnectedness of the self with the community, the natural environment and the spiritual beings. The question of which of these three ought to be given primacy has never been a vexation for the traditional African, who naturally understands that her or his well-being, sustainability and progress rely on all of these three simultaneously. Regardless of what well-being is taken to mean, whether happiness or fulfilment, the traditional African finds it in living a shared social life with members of her or his community, in a good human-nature relatedness, and in maintaining a cordial relationship with her or his spiritual beings. However, a critical look at our society today, portrays that a large number of Africans are failing to either achieve or maintain the traditional African notion of well-being. There seem to be two ways of looking at the current situation: The first is to place the blame on colonialism, modernity and the making of Africa and its communities, a capitalist society. Colonialism and modernity as political agendas severely altered the African way of life and promoted Western individualistic norms. The second way of looking at the current situation is to blame it on ourselves. Africans seem to have ignored the important values and principles handed down to us by our forefathers, which define who we are. In this chapter, we aim to show what well-being in contemporary Africa should look like. We contend that contemporary Africans have ignored the essential aspects found in the traditional African understanding of well-being. Thus, there is a need for contemporary Africans to reassess their values and perception of well-being if they are to properly address their current needs and reach their aspirations. We argue that these ignored factors of the African notion of well-being in the traditional social setting could be integrated into the dominating global discourse/Western notion. This could be done to develop a plausible notion of well-being that will suit contemporary African societies.

This chapter examines how AfricanAfricanethicsAfrican ethics can help in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGsSDGs) in AfricaAfrica. I argue that the recognitionrecognition and integrationintegration of African ethicsAfrican ethics together with the SDGs will help Africa move to a sustainable trajectory. Drawing upon insights from Thaddeus Metz’s discussion on African ethicsAfrican ethics, I reflect on how SDGs can be achievedachieved in Africa if it integrates African ethicsAfrican ethics—welfare-basedwelfare-based and communitycommunity-basedcommunity-basedAfrican ethicsAfrican ethics.

The word ‘development’ can mean different things to different people. It is one of the most elusive concepts to define, alongside the concept of modernization. Often and perhaps due to its elusive nature, people tend to rely on an economic definition of development where definite parameters and indices can be used to assess and determine levels of development ‘objectively’. Thus, a nation’s development is measured in terms of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Gross National Income (GNI), Per-Capita Income and Foreign Exchange Reserves. But does the attainment of these economic parameters really translate into development qua development? Historical and current development predicaments of many sub-Saharan African nation points to a negative response to the question. How, then, do we define or approach development that encompasses all the relevant development factors? Is there anything like an ideal definition of development at all or do we need to contextualize what development should mean for each society, culture, or nation? What does development ethics in an African context look or should like? This chapter explores these questions at an introductory level.

This book offers fresh academic insights, reflections, questions, issues, and approaches to development ethics, taking into account, African values and ethics. Development ethics is an area of applied ethics that examines the moral issues involved in global, social, and economic transformation. While it is a relatively new discipline, there have been numerous scholarly publications on it from Western perspectives. However, only a few studies that focused on development ethics from the African perspective. To address this gap, the book seeks to answer critical questions such as "What does development mean to Africans?", "How can we measure development?", "Who gets to decide?", and "What constitutes just development in Africa?" With contributions from African scholars from diverse backgrounds, the book covers various development themes such as Theories and approaches to development ethics in Africa, Environmental Ethics and African Development, Ethics, Politics and African Development, Migration and African development, Gender, Ethics and Socio-economic Development in Africa, Education, Ethics and African development. It is an essential resource for researchers, lecturers, and students interested in political philosophy and African culture studies.

Environmental pollution and climate change have been considered the main environmental challenges affecting the world’s ecosystem, including that of South Africa. They cause poverty, land degradation, and health hazards. One of the leading causes and contributing factors of environmental pollution and climate change is carbon emissions into the atmosphere. As a way to curb these emissions, Carbon tax policy has been introduced in various countries, including South Africa. In 2019, a Carbon tax was introduced to assist South Africa in delivering on the commitments made in the Paris Agreement in 2015. If the policy is effectively applied, it will raise revenues while reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Before and after introducing the Carbon tax policy in South Africa, there has been debate and discussion on its impact on the environment, economy, and society. Based on the debate and discussion, it has been observed that more attention is paid to the economic implications and benefits of the tax on South Africa than the ethical implications. Thus, this paper aims to contribute to the ongoing debate and discussion by ethically evaluating the Carbon tax policy in South Africa.

Ethnicity and racial identity formation are elements of our social world. In recent years, there has been numerous works on ethnicity and race. Both concepts are controversial in different disciplines. The controversies around these concepts have been heated up by scholars who have devoted their time to the discourse of ethnicity and race, and to understand the ascription of both concepts. Ethnicity and race have been causes of conflict, prejudice and discrimination among various ethnic and racial groups around the world. Thus, this paper is an attempt to discuss and critically reflect about race, ethnicity and a post-racial/ethnic future in line with Emmanuel Chukwudi Eze’s idea of the post-racial future.

An essential part of the concept of knowledge is the belief that the basic premises for knowledge must be justified. This means that for a knowledgeclaim to be true, there is a need for its justification. In African epistemology, the justification of beliefs and epistemic claims has mostly been considered from an externalist perspective such that justification appears to be one dimensional. Since epistemic claims can be justified using either the internalist or externalist perspective, this paper aims at showing that there are internalism and externalism in African epistemology and that Ifá divination system embodies both the internalist and externalist basis of justification in African epistemology. Keywords: Internalism, Externalism, African Epistemology, divination, Justification.

This paper presents a review of articles on cultural, ethical, and religious perspectives on environmental preservation. Globally, the negative effects of the current environmental crisis on people's lives and livelihoods cannot be disputed. The mismanagement of the environment has resulted in extreme climate changes currently faced by the world. The situation has prompted environmentalists, governments, and other stakeholders to seek plausible ways of mitigating and preserving the environment for current and future generations. Through a review of some existing literature, this paper affirms the important role that culture, ethics, and religion play in environmental preservation strategies.

The idea of change seems to be a vital part of human life and culture. With the concept of change, people, communities, and cultural practices have significantly evolved. Change has transformed some communities, traditions, cultural values and practices, communication methods, education, art, and literature. Thus, in this paper, I focus on the idea of change, African cultural practices, and the African sense of community. I aim to show how the concept of change has meddled with African cultural practices and the African sense of community. I intend to achieve this by using the Ifá divination system, the idea of storytelling, and homosexuality or the LGBTIQA+1 people as examples.

The idea of change seems to be a vital part of human life and culture. With the concept of change, people, communities, and cultural practices have significantly evolved. Change has transformed some communities, traditions, cultural values and practices, communication methods, education, art, and literature. Thus, in this paper, I focus on the idea of change, African cultural practices, and the African sense of community. I aim to show how the concept of change has meddled with African cultural practices and the African sense of community. I intend to achieve this by using the Ifá divination system, the idea of storytelling, and homosexuality or the LGBTIQA+1 people as examples.

If we ask ourselves the question, how does traditional healers, priests and priestesses know what they know? One of the ideas, amongst many, that become evident is the fact that even if they know enough to heal or help people, they are not necessarily available anytime and anywhere for anyone who seeks their help. Though the detailed procedures of some traditional healers are known to them alone, and difficult to share sometimes, it will be good for some of these procedures to be readily available to people. In recent times, modern technology has completely transformed societies and proved its vitality and viability in information sharing and acquisition processes. With the aid of modern technology, people and cultures have evolved greatly. Modern technology has allowed the delivery of information in places and times that were out of reach before. Based on this, the chapter argues that aspects of African cultural practices, like traditional healer’s consultation processes, can possibly use technology to provide and deliver more reliable information to people in need. Hence, there is a need to combine some cultural practices with modern technology to make information readily available to people so that they can use it when necessary.

The SARS-COVID-2 virus that causes the Coronavirus has been having a challenging and devastating impact on finances and jobs worldwide. More specifically, in South Africa, the COVID-19 pandemic is having a crippling effect on jobs. Companies and businesses are struggling to operate and retain workers as revenue streams are drying up. Owners of companies and businesses have been forced to make difficult decisions. An example is the retrenchment of workers by some organizations because of the financial fall-out due to the coronavirus pandemic. Also, before the pandemic, South Africa had unemployment challenges, economic downgrading, and high levels of inequality. These challenges bring to mind what the employment method and strategy will look like during the -COVID-19. In view of these challenges, one question that comes to mind is: given the COVID-19pandemic and the fact that the job losses affected people of all races, should the policies of affirmative action and preferential hiring still be considered in South Africa? Thus, this paper is a philosophical reflection on COVID-19, job losses, affirmative action, and preferential hiring in South Africa. In reflecting on the above, this paper aims to show that affirmative action and preferential hiring should not be considered in South Africa during the -COVID-19. I conclude that in the face of this tragedy, for the sustainability of the economy, everyone needs to work together to re-establish and reconstruct the country and build an inclusive economy. Keywords: Affirmative action, COVID-19 pandemic, Job losses, Preferential hiring, South Africa

Epistemic decolonization has taken centre stage in academia and everyday life. Epistemic decolonization is a call to dismantle the Western way of thinking and its self-arrogated hegemonic authority. It is also a call to re-centre the knowledge enterprise in Africa from a western-centric orientation to an African-centric one to accommodate African epistemic formations. In this paper, I intend to contribute to the discussions of epistemic decolonization by showing that engaging in African epistemology is a form of epistemic decolonization. My argument is that we are recalibrating the knowledge enterprise when we go outside of the western episteme to engage with knowledge in other traditions, such as African epistemology.

Ethnicity and racial identity formation are elements of our social world. In recent years, there has been numerous works on ethnicity and race. Both concepts are controversial in different disciplines. The controversies around these concepts have been heated up by scholars who have devoted their time to the discourse of ethnicity and race, and to understand the ascription of both concepts. Ethnicity and race have been causes of conflict, prejudice and discrimination among various ethnic and racial groups around the world. Thus, this paper is an attempt to discuss and critically reflect about race, ethnicity and a post-racial/ethnic future in line with Emmanuel Chukwudi Eze’s idea of the post-racial future.

The SARS-COVID-2 virus that causes the Coronavirus has been having a challenging and devastating impact on finances and jobs worldwide. More specifically, in South Africa, the COVID-19 pandemic is having a crippling effect on jobs. Companies and businesses are struggling to operate and retain workers as revenue streams are drying up. Owners of companies and businesses have been forced to make difficult decisions. An example is the retrenchment of workers by some organizations because of the financial fall-out due to the coronavirus pandemic. Also, before the pandemic, South Africa had unemployment challenges, economic downgrading, and high levels of inequality. These challenges bring to mind what the employment method and strategy will look like during the -COVID-19. In view of these challenges, one question that comes to mind is: given the COVID-19 pandemic and the fact that the job losses affected people of all races, should the policies of affirmative action and preferential hiring still be considered in South Africa? Thus, this paper is a philosophical reflection on COVID-19, job losses, affirmative action, and preferential hiring in South Africa. In reflecting on the above, this paper aims to show that affirmative action and preferential hiring should not be considered in South Africa during the -COVID-19. I conclude that in the face of this tragedy, for the sustainability of the economy, everyone needs to work together to re-establish and reconstruct the country and build an inclusive economy.