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4Nature, HumanIn V. Y. Mudimbe & Kasereka Kavwahirehi (eds.), Encyclopedia of African Religions and Philosophy, Springer Verlag. pp. 499-500. 2021.
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2CognitionIn V. Y. Mudimbe & Kasereka Kavwahirehi (eds.), Encyclopedia of African Religions and Philosophy, Springer Verlag. pp. 130-131. 2021.
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318Hobbes, Darwinism, and conceptions of human natureMinerva - An Internet Journal of Philosophy 6 (1): 24-50. 2002.Despite providing the basic theoretical framework for Western biology and all related sciences, Darwinism continues to be a controversial perspective when it comes to understanding ourselves as distinctly "human." In this paper, I try to correct a common misinterpretation of Thomas Hobbes' conceptualization of human nature which I think sheds light on some of the significant misunderstandings and sources of objection to Darwinism. I begin by contrasting this common misreading of Hobbes' philosop…Read more
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The Future and an Illusion: Toward a Post‐anthropological Concept of ReligionBridges: An Inter-Disciplinary Journal of Theology, Philosophy, History and Science 7 (3-4): 187-203. 2000.
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Language, Reflection and the Dimensions of ConductHuman Nature Review 4 (August 2004): 142-151. 2004.
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29The Menkiti-Gyekye conversation: framing personsFilosofia Theoretica: Journal of African Philosophy, Culture and Religions 7 (2): 34-47. 2018.Ifeanyi Menkiti’s “Person and Community in African Traditional Thought” is criticized from the standpoint that the author assumes a dichotomous framework taken over in his decision to articulate the African view of the person in the idiom of modern philosophy. Kwame Gyekye’s critique of Menkiti in “Person and Community in Akan Thought” is also scrutinized to see if it manages to break free from this framework. I conclude by calling for a departure from quasi-scientific approaches to human nature…Read more
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African Philosophy and ModernityIn Emmanuel Chukwudi Eze (ed.), Postcolonial African Philosophy: A Critical Reader, Wiley-blackwell. pp. 71-100. 1997.
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On Vernacular Rationality: Gadamer and Eze in ConversationIn Adeshina Afolayan & Toyin Falola (eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of African Philosophy, Palgrave-macmillan. pp. 303-313. 2017.In this chapter, Amato explores the concept of “vernacular rationality” introduced by Emmanuel Chukwude Eze in his On Reason: Rationality in a World of Cultural Conflict and Racism. Amato interrogates the different ways this idea can be unfolded, expanded, and developed in the spirit if not the letter of Eze’s employment in relation to Hans-Georg Gadamer’s Philosophical Hermeneutics—in particular, its conception of the role tradition plays in the pursuit of understanding and the idea of hermeneu…Read more
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Crisis, Terror, & Tyranny: On the Anti‐Democratic Logic of EmpireIn Gail M. Presbey (ed.), Philosophical Perspectives on the War on Terrorism, Brill. pp. 113-128. 2007.
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Radical Protest and Dialectical EthicsIn Greg Moses & Gail M. Presbey (eds.), Peace Philosophy and Public Life: Commitments, Crises, and Concepts for Engaged Thinking, Editions Rodopi. 2014.
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60A Darwinian Left (review)Social Theory and Practice 29 (3): 515-522. 2003.Singer argues that thinking on the Left insufficiently appropriates the broader insights about life and human nature made possible by Darwin. I think Singer has it backwards: the problem is not that Darwin has insufficiently been allowed to influence thinking on the Left, but, rather, that the meaning of “Darwinism” has been distorted by the wider scientific and intellectual communities broadly as a support for Right-wing views including patriarchy and racism since its early days. That Darwin’s …Read more
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Marx's Dialectic: Structure and HistoryDissertation, Fordham University. 1998.In this work, I characterize Marx's idea of the dialectic in terms of the criticisms he offers of Hegel and of the political economists. I show how Marx's dialectical thinking is central to his economics and how Marx's idea of the dialectic nonetheless differs from Hegel's both as a structural framework for inquiry and as an historical content. I consider works like Marx's Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts and The German Ideology as important stages in the development of Marx's dialectic, w…Read more
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8Virtue, Order, Mind: Ancient, Modern and Post-Modern Perspective (edited book)State University of New York Press. 1994.Discusses the nature of philosophical rationality and modernity
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12Epistemology: Key Concepts in Philosophy. By Christopher Norris (review)Journal of Critical Realism 8 (3): 370-373. 2009.
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73Habermas’s “Other” Legitimation Crisis: Critical-Philosophical DimensionsRadical Philosophy Review 4 (1-2): 205-228. 2001.A kind of political complacency has become a common complaint of Habermasian philosophy. At odds with some earlier stances, according to which he had claimed to represent the best critical hopes of a Marxist tradition that he regarded as exhausted, Habermas has come to defend the legitimacy of liberal democratic institutions and forms ofpolitical expression. No longer the last Marxist, but a hesitant post-Marxist, Habermas is today arguably the foremost intellectual spokesperson for a presently …Read more
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20The Invisibility of Ethics and the Hermeneutics of ConductBudhi: A Journal of Ideas and Culture 4 (1): 67-77. 2000.
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28Christopher Norris, Platonism, Music and the Listener's ShareJournal of Critical Realism 9 (1): 122-125. 2010.
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43Marxist Critique and Philosophical Hermeneutics: Outlines of a Hermeneutical-Historical MaterialismRadical Philosophy Today 2006 235-242. 2006.Philosophically robust conceptions of ethical life and moral critique would advance the struggle against capital. Marx can be read as implying that human life is irreducibly meaningful, linguistic, and cultural, but he often is not. Whether or not Marx recognized them himself, these dimensions of life have not been sufficiently thematized or developed by Marxists. I argue that we can move toward doing so with assistance from Hans-Georg Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics. A hermeneutical approa…Read more
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12On Truth and Meaning: Language, Logic and the Grounds of Belief. By Christopher Norris (review)Journal of Critical Realism 8 (3): 374-377. 2009.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
Social and Political Philosophy |
Continental Philosophy |
Areas of Interest
Meta-Ethics |
Social and Political Philosophy |
Continental Philosophy |