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281The Meaning of LifeIn Ed Zalta (ed.), Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2012.A 3,500 word overview of 21st century Anglo-American philosophical books devoted to the question of what, if anything, would make life meaningful.
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270The Meaning of LifeIn Ed Zalta (ed.), Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2012.Many major historical figures in philosophy have provided an answer to the question of what, if anything, makes life meaningful, although they typically have not put it in these terms. Consider, for instance, Aristotle on the human function, Aquinas on the beatific vision, and Kant on the highest good. While these concepts have some bearing on happiness and morality, they are straightforwardly construed as accounts of which final ends a person ought to realize in order to have a significant exis…Read more
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45The Meaning of LifeIn Duncan Pritchard (ed.), What is This Thing Called Philosophy?, Routledge. pp. 319-358. 2015.A lengthy introduction to the issue of meaning in life, aimed at undergraduates and generally educated readers. It includes summary 'bullet' points, lists of recommended reading, questions for the class, and short excerpts from philosophers such as William James, Leo Tolstoy, John Cottingham, Susan Wolf and Robert Nozick.
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The Collected Works at the Symposium on Chinese Studies 2017 (edited book)China Social Sciences Press. 2018.
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Ubuntu as a Moral Theory and Human Rights in South Africa (repr.)In David Bilchitz, Thaddeus Metz & Oritsegbubemi Anthony Oyowe (eds.), Jurisprudence in an African Context, 2nd edn, Oxford University Press. pp. 361-363. 2024.An abridged version of an article published in 2011 focusing on its discussion of the ubuntu ethics of land reform.
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7Koheleth and the Meaning of Life (repr.)In معنای زندگی و فیلسوفا نبزرگ, Qoqnoos Publishing Group. 2024.Persian translation of _The Meaning of Life and the Great Philosophers_, with this piece on Koheleth a chapter therein.
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Relational Theories of Moral Status (tentative title)Journal of Medical Ethics. forthcoming.Critical notice of Nancy Jecker and Caesar Atuire's _What Is a Person?_, with some focus on their relational account of moral status as compared to my own.
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According to a normative-theoretic interpretation of the African moral-political tradition that I have advanced, an agent is at bottom obligated to respect individuals in virtue of their ability to be party to communal (or harmonious) relationships. In practice that means that a moral agent is typically obligated to relate communally with innocents, that is, to share a way of life with them and to care for their quality of life. I have argued that this relational principle of right action provid…Read more
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An African Theory of Moral Status: A Relational Alternative to Individualism and Holism (repr.)In Kenneth Abudu, Kevin Behrens & Elvis Imafidon (eds.), African Philosophy and Deep Ecology, Routledge. forthcoming.An abridged and slightly modified version of an article first published in Ethical Theory and Moral Practice (2012).
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46Review of Polycarp Ikuenobe, Philosophical Perspectives on Communalism and Morality in African Traditions (review)Journal of Contemporary African Studies 26 (2): 236-238. 2008.
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1Introduction: Engacing with the Philosophy of D.A. MasoloQuest - and African Journal of Philosophy 25 (1-2): 7-16. 2011.
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8A Dilemma Regarding Academic Freedom and Public Accountability in Higher Education (repr.)In Yamikani Ndasauka & Garton Kamchedzera (eds.), Academic Freedom in Africa, Routledge. 2024.Reprint of an article published in the Journal of Philosophy of Education (2010) about the tension between a right to academic freedom and a responsibility to promote public goods, discussed largely in the African context.
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Title TBA: Reply to CriticsEthical Theory and Moral Practice. forthcoming.Reply to six critical discussions of _A Relational Moral Theory_ as part of a special issue of _Ethical Theory and Moral Practice_. Theoretical issues include the individualism/relationalism distinction, including as it bears on Confucian theory in comparison to African thought. Applied topics include the implications of a communal principle of right action for issues pertaining to business, biotechnological enhancements, environmentalism, and corrective justice.
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10Defending a Relational Account of Moral StatusIn Mbih Jerome Tosam & Erasmus Masitera (eds.), African Agrarian Philosophy, Springer Verlag. pp. 105-124. 2023.For the more than a decade, I have advanced an account of what makes persons, animals, and other beings entitled to moral treatment for their own sake that is informed by characteristically African ideas about dignity, a great chain of being, and community. Roughly according to this account, a being has a greater moral status, the more it is capable of communing (as a subject) or of us communing with it (as an object). I have mainly argued that this characteristically African and relational appr…Read more
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"一种关系化的道德理论——从本土走向世界的非洲伦理学"The Commercial Press/商务印书馆. forthcoming.Chinese (simplified character) translation of _A Relational Moral Theory_ by Nan Zhang.
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1Jurisprudence in an African Context, 2nd edn (2nd ed.)Oxford University Press. 2024.The first and only jurisprudence textbook to put African ideas, authors, and texts into conversation with those from the Western tradition, now with revised and expanded discussions of especially natural law theory, legal realism, postmodernism, critical legal studies, critical race theory, feminism, and the philosophy of punishment, along with new lists of additional readings and of web resources. 430 pp.
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Making Philosophical DiscoveriesIn Jonathan Jansen (ed.), On the Question of Discovery: How New Knowledge Is Created in Academic Research, Cambridge University Press. forthcoming.An autobiographical reflection on some kinds of intellectual moves that tend to be revealing in philosophy. Written mainly for emerging researchers.
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1Unexplored Issues in the Ethics of Nudges (edited book)Journal of Applied Philosophy. forthcoming.A guest edited volume of the Journal of Applied Philosophy devoted to topics regarding the ethics of nudges, particularly those that have received little or no treatment up to now. Since the publication of Nudge in 2008, nudges have become widely used tools in policymakers' toolbox. Concurrently, ethicists have discussed which conditions, if any, ensure the fair and ethically legitimate implementation of such untraditional policy techniques. The debates have focused primarily on the alleged intr…Read more
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23African Theories of Meaning in Life: A Critical Assessment (Repr.)In Aribiah D. Attoe (ed.), African Perspectives on the Question of Life’s Meaning, Routledge. pp. 21-34. 2023.Reprint of an article that first appeared in a special issue of the South African Journal of Philosophy devoted to life's meaning in the African tradition.
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233Para Uma Teoria Moral AfricanaFilosofia Africana. 2023.Portuguese translation by Igor Bessa dos Reis and Jordana Naves Ripoll Craveiro of ‘Toward an African Moral Theory’.
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189Vitality, Community, and Human Dignity in Africa (rev. edn)In Filomena Maggino (ed.), Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research, 2nd edn, Springer. 2021.Mildly revised reprint of material extracted from an article appearing in Human Rights Review (2012).
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1576 Das Sinnvolle und das LebenswerteIn Matthias Hoesch, Sebastian Muders & Markus Rüther (eds.), Glück - Werte - Sinn: Metaethische, ethische und theologische Zugänge zur Frage nach dem guten Leben, Walter De Gruyter. pp. 109-126. 2013.Zur Klärung ihrer Gemeinsamkeiten und Unterschiede
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Duties to Oneself in the Light of African Values: Two New Theoretical ApproachesThe Monist. forthcoming.I draw on ideas salient in contemporary literate African philosophy to construct two new theoretical ways of capturing the essence of duties to oneself. According to one theory, a person has a foundational duty to “relate” to herself in ways similar to how the African field has often thought that a person should relate with others, viz., harmoniously. According to the second, one has a foundational duty to produce liveliness in oneself. In addition to articulating these novel attempts to capture…Read more
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102Hayatin AnlamiÖncül. 2023.Translation of 'The Meaning of Life' (second revised edition for the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) into Turkish by Beyza Nur Dogan.
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23Much more than just an anthology, this survey of humanity's search for the meaning of life includes the latest contributions to the debate, a judicious selection of key canonical essays, and insightful commentary by internationally respected philosophers.
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Ancillary care obligations in the light of an African bioethicIn Yaw A. Frimpong-Mansoh & Caesar A. Atuire (eds.), Bioethics in Africa: theories and praxis, Vernon Press. 2019.
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47Replacing Development: An Afro-Communal Approach to Distributive JusticeIn Bolaji Bateye, Mahmoud Masaeli, Louise F. Müller & Angela Roothaan (eds.), Beauty in African thought: critical perspectives on the Western idea of development, Lexington Books. pp. 133-151. 2023.Shortened version of an article that first appeared in Philosophical Papers (2017).
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Philosophy as a Source of Meaning in LifeIn Lydia Amir (ed.), Handbook of Transformative Philosophy, Springer. forthcoming.There are two ways that philosophy could transform a life to make it substantially more meaningful: on the one hand, philosophical enquiry might reveal other activities that would make life meaningful, enabling a philosopher (or others) to live meaningfully as a result of the enquiry, while, on the other hand, it might be that doing philosophy is in itself one way to make the philosopher's life notably meaningful. I explore the latter path. I argue against views of meaning in life entailing that…Read more
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How Global Philosophers Could Learn from Intercultural Exchanges with AfricaIn Hamza R'boul (ed.), African Perspectives on Interculturality: Decolonialities, Epistemologies and Human Relations, Routledge. forthcoming.What can African sources teach philosophers and related thinkers around the world? In some real ways, both Western philosophers and non-Western advocates of decolonization have failed to appreciate that there is probably a lot to learn from Africa. In my contribution, I explain why neither camp has given African intellectual sources their due and sketch what that would plausibly involve.
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15Ubuntu as a Moral Theory and Human Rights in South Africa (Repr.)Revista Culturas Jurídicas (Legal Cultures Journal) 3 (5): 24-53. 2016.Reprint of an article first published in the _African Human Rights Law Journal_ (2011).
APA Central Division
Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa
Areas of Specialization
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The Meaning of Life |
Normative Ethics |
Social and Political Philosophy |
African Philosophy |
Philosophy of Law |
Applied Ethics |
Value Theory |