Conversations on African Philosophy of Mind, Consciousness and Artificial Intelligence
Conversations on African Philosophy of Mind, Consciousness and Artificial Intelligence

Author: Aribiah David Attoe

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2023-08-14

Total Pages: 202

ISBN-13: 3031361636

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This book offers a first glimpse into contemporary African Philosophical thought, which covers issues related to the mind-body relationships, the problem of consciousness, the ethics of artificial intelligence, the meaning of life and other topics. Taking inspiration from the conversational tradition in African philosophy, this book not only engages with and takes inspiration from traditional African thought, but also engages with philosophical views outside the philosophical tradition in a bid to present a holistic understanding of the problems that are central to the book. The volume is relevant for professional African philosophers, philosophers of mind, philosophers of AI, undergraduate and postgraduate philosophy students, and African Studies scholars.

New Conversations on the Problems of Identity, Consciousness and Mind
New Conversations on the Problems of Identity, Consciousness and Mind

Author: Jonathan O. Chimakonam

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2019-02-23

Total Pages: 96

ISBN-13: 3030142620

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This book introduces concepts in philosophy of mind and neurophilosophy. Inside, three scholars offer approaches to the problems of identity, consciousness, and the mind. In the process, they open new vistas for thought and raise fresh controversies to some of the oldest problems in philosophy. The first chapter focuses on the identity problem. The author employs an explanatory model he christened sense-phenomenalism to defend the thesis that personal identity is something or a phenomenon that pertains to the observable/perceptible aspect of the human person. The next chapter explores the problem of consciousness. It deploys the new concept equiphenomenalism as a model to show that mental properties are not by-products but necessary products of consciousness. Herein, the notion of qualia is a fundamental and necessary product that must be experienced simultaneously with neural activities for consciousness to be possible. The last chapter addresses the mind/body problem. It adopts the new concept proto-phenomenalism as an alternative explanatory model. This model eliminates the idea of a mind. As such, it approaches the mind-body problem from a materialistic point of view with many implications such as, the meaning(lessness) of our existence, the possibility of thought engineering as well as religious implications.

Handbook of Research on Connecting Philosophy, Media, and Development in Developing Countries
Handbook of Research on Connecting Philosophy, Media, and Development in Developing Countries

Author: Okocha, Desmond Onyemechi

Publisher: IGI Global

Published: 2022-05-13

Total Pages: 465

ISBN-13: 1668441098

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Developing nations have been experimenting with different models and theories in their quest for development for decades but are missing some critical elements when mirrored or judged via a Westernized lens. In order for these countries to successfully establish their identity and address issues that have held them back in the past, further study on the use of media and philosophy in correlation with development must be conducted. The Handbook of Research on Connecting Philosophy, Media, and Development in Developing Countries examines how media can be utilized to bridge the gap between the past and the future for developing countries and drive sustainable development. The book also seeks to reimagine development within developing regions through the prism of their unique cultures, religions, media, and philosophies so they can take hold of their identity and portrayals within the international arena. Covering topics such as human development, new media, language, and culture, this major reference work is ideal for government officials, policymakers, scholars, researchers, academicians, practitioners, instructors, and students.

Ka Osi Sọ Onye: African Philosophy in the Postmodern Era
Ka Osi Sọ Onye: African Philosophy in the Postmodern Era

Author: Jonathan O. Chimakonam

Publisher: Vernon Press

Published: 2018-05-15

Total Pages: 394

ISBN-13: 162273422X

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This collection is about composing thought at the level of modernism and decomposing it at the postmodern level where many cocks might crow with African philosophy as a focal point. It has two parts: part one is titled ‘The Journey of Reason in African Philosophy’, and part two is titled ‘African Philosophy and Postmodern Thinking’. There are seven chapters in both parts. Five of the essays are reprinted here as important selections while nine are completely new essays commissioned for this book. As their titles suggest, in part one, African philosophy is unfolded in the manifestation of reason as embedded in modern thought while in part two, it draws the effect of reason as implicated in the postmodern orientation. While part one strikes at what V. Y. Mudimbe calls the “colonising structure” or the Greco-European logo-phallo-euro-centricism in thought, part two bashes the excesses of modernism and partly valorises postmodernism. In some chapters, modernism is presented as an intellectual version of communalism characterised by the cliché: ‘our people say’. Our thinking is that the voice of reason is not the voice of the people but the voice of an individual. The idea of this book is to open new vistas for the discipline of African philosophy. African philosophy is thus presented as a disagreement discourse. Without rivalry of thoughts, Africa will settle for far less. This gives postmodernism an important place, perhaps deservedly more important than history of philosophy allocates to it. It is that philosophical moment that says ‘philosophers must cease speaking like gods in their hegemonic cultural shrines and begin to converse across borders with one another’. In this conversation, the goal for African philosophers must not be to find final answers but to sustain the conversation which alone can extend human reason to its furthermost reaches.

Consolationism and Comparative African Philosophy
Consolationism and Comparative African Philosophy

Author: Ada Agada

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-11-18

Total Pages: 235

ISBN-13: 1000476553

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In a major challenge to African philosophy, this book demonstrates the importance of the universalisation question for every committed African philosopher. Rooted in Africa’s colonial legacy, the universalisation question challenges the African thinker to show how authentically African philosophical concepts and phenomena can be universally applicable in a globalising world. In this highly original book, the author inserts the philosophy of consolationism into African philosophical discourse, constructing a unique philosophical system that is at once African and universally relevant. The book engages major African and Western philosophers of diverse ideological leanings in a compelling dialogue that announces the future of world philosophy as one of interculturality, in which a common philosophical horizon is forged out of the cultural diversities of the world for the edification of humanity in a continually changing world. This book will be an important read for researchers in the fields of African Studies, intercultural philosophy, philosophy of mind, and existentialism.

The Method and Principles of Complementary Reflection in and Beyond African Philosophy
The Method and Principles of Complementary Reflection in and Beyond African Philosophy

Author: Innocent Asouzu

Publisher: LIT Verlag Münster

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 540

ISBN-13: 9783825885786

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Questions relating to types of philosophical trends within African philosophy can be very decisive for any idea of African philosophy. In this strikingly novel approach to African Philosophy, the author explores a complementary philosophical trend that goes back to those he calls anonymous traditional African philosophers. Based on their thoughts, he articulates a distinctive variant of the principles, method and imperative of complementarity (Ibu anyi danda) around which he builds his system. He anchors his reflection on such ambient concepts as the joy of being (jide k' iji), fragmentation, wholeness, and future reference.

African Philosophy
African Philosophy

Author: Lee M. Brown

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2004-01-15

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13: 9780198027379

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In the last two decades the idea of African Philosophy has undergone significant change and scrutiny. Some critics have maintained that the idea of a system of philosophical thought tied to African traditions is incoherent. In African Philosophy Lee Brown has collected new essays by top scholars in the field that in various ways respond to these criticisms and defend the notion of African Philosophy. The essays address both epistemological and metaphysical issues that are specific to the traditional conceptual languages of sub-Saharan Africa. The primary focus of the collection is on traditional African conceptions of topics like mind, person, personal identity, truth, knowledge, understanding, objectivity, destiny, free will, causation, and reality. The contributors, who include Leke Adeofe, Kwame Anthony Appiah, Lee Brown, Segun Gbadegesin, D.A. Masolo, Albert Mosley, Ifeanyi Menkiti, and Kwasi Wiredu, incorporate concerns from various African philosophical traditions, including Akan, Azande, Bokis, Igno, Luo, and Yoruba. African Philosophy ultimately tries to bring a more rigorous conception of African philosophy into fruitful contact with Western philosophical concerns, specifically in the philosophies of psychology, mind, science, and language, as well as in metaphysics and epistemology. It will appeal to both scholars and students.

Ezumezu
Ezumezu

Author: Jonathan O. Chimakonam

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2019-03-05

Total Pages: 215

ISBN-13: 3030110753

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The issue of a logic foundation for African thought connects well with the question of method. Do we need new methods for African philosophy and studies? Or, are the methods of Western thought adequate for African intellectual space? These questions are not some of the easiest to answer because they lead straight to the question of whether or not a logic tradition from African intellectual space is possible. Thus in charting the course of future direction in African philosophy and studies, one must be confronted with this question of logic. The author boldly takes up this challenge and becomes the first to do so in a book by introducing new concepts and formulating a new African culture-inspired system of logic called Ezumezu which he believes would ground new methods in African philosophy and studies. He develops this system to rescue African philosophy and, by extension, sundry fields in African Indigenous Knowledge Systems from the spell of Plato and the hegemony of Aristotle. African philosophers can now ground their discourses in Ezumezu logic which will distinguish their philosophy as a tradition in its own right. On the whole, the book engages with some of the lingering controversies in the idea of (an) African logic before unveiling Ezumezu as a philosophy of logic, methodology and formal system. The book also provides fresh arguments and insights on the themes of decolonisation and Africanisation for the intellectual transformation of scholarship in Africa. It will appeal to philosophers and logicians—undergraduates and post graduate researchers—as well as those in various areas of African studies.

Logic and African Philosophy
Logic and African Philosophy

Author: Jonathan O. Chimakonam

Publisher: Vernon Press

Published:

Total Pages: 346

ISBN-13: 164889013X

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“Logic and African Philosophy: Seminal Essays on African Systems of Thought” aims to put African intellectual history in perspective, with focus on the subjects of racism, logic, language, and psychology. The volume seeks to fill in the gaps left by the exclusion of African thinkers that are frequent in the curricula of African schools concerning history, sociology, philosophy, and cultural studies. The book is divided into four parts that are preceded by an introduction to link up the essays and emphasise their sociological implications. Part one is comprised of essays that opened the controversy of whether logic can be found in traditional African cultures as well as other matters like the nature of the mind and behaviour of African peoples. The essays in part two are centred on the following question: are the laws of thought present in African languages and cultures? Part three brings together essays that sparkle the debate on whether there can be such a thing as African logic, which stems from the discussions in part two. Part four is concerned on the theme of system-building in logic; contributions are written by members of the budding African philosophy movement called the “Conversational School of Philosophy” based at the University of Calabar, and the main objective of their papers is to formulate systems of African logic.