Groundwork For A New Kind Of African Metaphysics

"In this important work of African metaphysics, Aribiah David Attoe does not simply recount views typically held by indigenous sub-Saharan peoples. He instead draws on some of their salient beliefs to construct a new ontology that he argues is more attractive. Forgoing any appeal to imperceptible agency ('the spiritual'), Attoe nonetheless invokes other resources from the African metaphysical tradition, such as singularity, relationality, and destiny, to offer fresh ways to understand being, God, causation, responsibility, and death. The result is a creative materialist-determinist ontology with an African pedigree that merits serious consideration." -Thaddeus Metz, Professor of Philosophy, University of Pretoria, South Africa "Aribiah David Attoe makes an interesting, thought provoking, and revealing contribution to discourses in African metaphysics. His theory of predeteministic historicity is surely going to challenge longstanding conceptions of African metaphysics, and it promises novel ways to imagine some of our basic beliefs in relation to God, ancestors, causality, relationality, death and determinism." -Motsamai Molefe, Senior Researcher, University of Fort Hare, South Africa "A revolutionary and audacious book that is likely to cause a paradigmatic shift in our notion of God, determinism, freedom, being and relationality." -Samuel T. Segun, Research Fellow, School for Data Science and Computational Thinking & The Department of Philosophy, Stellenbosch University, South Africa It is not far-fetched to say that much of what is termed "African metaphysics" remains a traditional affair, without the sort of critical analysis that sheds away the burden of myths and ethnocentric rigidity. African ideas about the nature of being, God, causality, death, etc., have largely remained the same and unchallenged, mainly due to the hesitancy of some African scholars to question these suppositions or build beyond them. In this book, Aribiah David Attoe presents a unified African metaphysics that first interrogates important notions held by many traditional African thinkers, and then builds upon them to propose a largely materialistic account of African metaphysics. The book re-imagines and reconstructs the idea of God, being, causality and death in African metaphysics, tackling some of the problems associated with these concepts in African thought. It also opens up new vistas of thought, while engaging and encouraging African metaphysicians to explore a previously ignored perspective. Aribiah David Attoe is currently a Lecturer at the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa; and a member of the Conversational Society of Philosophy, Calabar, Nigeria.

It is not far-fetched to say that much of what is termed “African metaphysics” remains a traditional affair, without the sort of critical analysis that sheds away the burden of myths and ethnocentric rigidity. African ideas about the nature of being, God, causality, death, etc., have largely remained the same and unchallenged, mainly due to the hesitancy of some African scholars to question these suppositions or build beyond them. In this book, Aribiah David Attoe presents a unified African metaphysics that first interrogates important notions held by many traditional African thinkers, and then builds upon them to propose a largely materialistic account of African metaphysics. The book re-imagines and reconstructs the idea of God, being, causality and death in African metaphysics, tackling some of the problems associated with these concepts in African thought. It also opens up new vistas of thought, while engaging and encouraging African metaphysicians to explore a previously ignored perspective.

In answering the question of life’s meaning, the African perspective is only just beginning to emerge. While this is true, a critical examination of African theories of meaningfulness, the possibility of life’s meaninglessness, as well as ideas about the proper mode/mood for living with the meaninglessness of life are largely underexplored within the African philosophical tradition. This book provides several plausible accounts of meaning in/of life from an African perspective, examines the relationship between death and life’s meaningfulness, and explores the possibility of life’s meaninglessness, proposing the “philosophy of indifference” as the proper mode/mood for living with the meaninglessness of life.

This Handbook provides in one volume rich, comprehensive and rigorous coverage of specific subject areas and thematic concerns in the ever-evolving academic discipline of African philosophy. This Handbook is unique in its focus on central and emerging areas within African philosophy such as Afro-communitarian philosophy, ethics, epistemology, social and political philosophy, existentialism, philosophy of religion, gender philosophy, philosophy of education, phenomenology, transhumanism, African philosophy futures, and philosophy of the non-human. The thirty-two chapters in this Handbook explore the rich textual and non-textual forms of philosophical knowledge in Africa and adequately represent the broad and diverse scope of African philosophy, showing the richness and depth of the philosophical tradition. This reference work is indispensable to students and researchers in African philosophy, comparative philosophy and world philosophies.

The Abrahamic faiths of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam are typically recognized as the world's major monotheistic religions. However, African Traditional Religion is, despite often including lesser spirits and gods, a monotheistic religion with numerous adherents in sub-Saharan Africa; it includes the idea of a single most powerful God responsible for the creation and sustenance of everything else. This Element focuses on drawing attention to this major world religion that has been much neglected by scholars around the globe, particularly those working in the West or Northern Hemisphere. It accomplishes this primarily by bringing it into conversation with topics in the Anglo-American philosophy of religion.

There are numerous different democratic systems in Africa, from the Igbo institutions that date back to the 15th century to Western-style democracy introduced by colonial powers. But what does democracy really mean for African nations? And what effect does it have on the lives of their people? This is the first comprehensive examination of the social and political consequences of democracy in Africa. Written from an African philosophical perspective, leading and emerging scholars explore the impact of democracy in a continent dealing not only with the perennial issues of leadership failure, poverty and corruption but also with contemporary global concerns such as immigration, digital media and COVID-19. With a focus first and foremost on the African people, this pioneering volume investigates how the challenges of democracy as a system affect their lived experience. Looking in particular at the sub-Sahara, it reveals the influence that the failures of democracy have on fundamental needs, including allocation of primary resources, autonomy, welfare, free speech and women's rights. African Democracy: Impediments, Promises, and Prospects gives an unflinching insight into the struggles caused by democratic governance in Africa, whilst also, crucially, pointing to its accomplishments and the future possibilities for African nations.

Crossing continents and running across centuries, Key Concepts in World Philosophies brings together the 45 core ideas associated with major Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Islamic, African, Ancient Greek, Indigenous and modern European philosophers. The universal theme of self-cultivation and transformation connects each concept. Each one seeks to change our understanding the world or the life we are living. From Chinese xin and karma in Buddhist traditions to okwu in African philosophy, equity in Islamic thought and the good life in Aztec philosophy, an international team of philosophers cover a diverse set of ideas and theories originating from thinkers such as Confucius, Buddha, Dogen, Nezahualcoyotl, Nietzsche and Zhuangzi. Organised around the major themes of knowledge, metaphysics and aesthetics, each short chapter provides an introductory overview supported by a glossary. This is a one-of-a-kind toolkit that allows you to read philosophical texts from all over the world and learn how their ideas can be applied to your own life.

Angolan Political Thought introduces anticolonial thinkers whose writings on colonialism and liberation have been instrumental in the formation of Angolan identity. It focuses on the political nature of these thinkers and how their work has impacted Angolan political reality. Luís Cordeiro-Rodrigues both introduces and critically analyzes the thought of Queen Njinga, Mário Pinto de Andrade, Agostinho Neto and Pepetela and systematically addresses five important topics in Angolan political thought. Firstly, it gives a general introduction to African political philosophy and explains the place of Angolan political thought in this. Secondly, it explains how different Angolan thinkers have conceptualized colonialism and its effects on the global Black community. Thirdly, the book surveys what key Angolan thinkers have identified as legitimate and effective tools of liberation and resistance from colonialism. For example, it addresses the place of poetry for liberation, as well as the justification for war against colonial powers. Fourth, this book will explain the different theories that Africa and, in particular, African identity, consists of. Finally, it will look at Angolan theories of distributive justice and compensation for historical injustices.