Jonathan O Chimakonam
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 183128 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | Jonathan O Chimakonam |
| NOMBRES | Jonathan |
| APELLIDO | O Chimakonam |
| FIRMA | CHIMAKONAM J O |
| AFILIACIONES | University of Calabar |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8913-1434 |
| VERIFICADO | Sí |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 33 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 39 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 32 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 1 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2015 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2025 |
| ÍNDICE H | 3 |
Belonging and Returning to the African Community
Returning to an Authentic African Community
Some decolonial scholars variously demand the dismantling of colonial hegemony to make way for a return to the pristine African community. This return is an intellectual one and should not be confused as physical. Such scholars argue that colonialism and subsequent coloniality destroyed Africa's epistemic formation and that decoloniality is a way to restore the original local episteme. In this essay, we contend that decolonial advocacy for a retu…
Is Epistemic Justice Possible in a Bivalent System? Another Challenge for Intercultural Encounters
In this essay, I argue that epistemic injustice is a form of marginal thinking that traces its root to the bivalent system of thought and that attempts to address it within the same system will fail. I contend that the failure to address the lopsidedness implicated in the bivalent system has consequences for intercultural reasoning, which demands the recognition of others as equal epistemic partners, without which a dominant epistemic bloc will a…
Can Conversational Thinking serve as a suitable pedagogical approach for philosophy education in African schools
This article investigates whether Conversational Thinking can suitably serve as a pedagogical approach for philosophy education in African schools (primary and secondary levels). We argue that there is a need to introduce and teach philosophy in schools in Africa. Additionally, we argue that it would be apropos to adopt a decolonial approach in developing such curricula, which, amongst others, could accommodate African approaches to philosophy. W…
Is ‘Africa’ a racial slur and should the continent be renamed
In this paper, we will investigate whether or not the name ‘Africa’ can be seen as a slur. Since the name was given by European exploiters, slavers and colonists, it raises the question of whether such a name should continue to be accepted or abandoned. It may seem that just as the slavers renamed their victims and the colonists renamed the territories they conquered, the name Africa/ns similarly was an imposition on the continent and its peoples…
Examining the logical argument of the problem of evil from an African perspective
We argue that the problem of evil, logically, stems from the unequal binary that characterizes the bivalent structure of Western discourses in the philosophy of religion. This structure pits God against the devil, but also the value of good against evil they are believed to represent. The difficulty is that those who subscribe to creationism, for example, hold that God as an omniscient, omnipotent, and morally perfect entity created everything. I…
The Development of the Concept of Belongingness in African Philosophy
The concept of belongingness is fast generating interest among scholars of African philosophy. Several scholars articulate and promote various concepts that relate to belongingness. Some of these concepts include communality, solidarity, relationality, integration, harmony, and complementarity. A common thread among these concepts is that they represent an agglutination of parts for mutual identity, enrichment, and survival. This article focuses …
Essays on Contemporary Issues in African Philosophy
The Imperatives of Critical Thinking in Intercultural Philosophy
In this research, an attempt is made to interrogate the practice of intercultural philosophy with a view to showing that the critical thinking mindset is imperative for a balanced, progressive, and respectful intercultural engagement. A world in which cultures relate to one another on the basis of equality, mutual respect, and recognition of one another’s identity and rights has remained elusive. The need for such a world and the dynamics of such…
African Philosophy of Religion from a Global Perspective
In this essay, we explore what the African Philosophy of Religion would look like from both a mono-disciplinary and comparative perspectives. To do this, a few concepts such as Gods, ancestorhood, relationality, and the problem of evil that appear in the essays in this special issue will be highlighted. Our aim here is not to provide a lengthy and rigorous analysis of the field of African Philosophy of Religion or even some of its main concepts, …
Indigenous African Religions (IARs) and the Relational Value of Tolerance
This essay argues that the inherent value of Indigenous African Religions (IARs), which ensures that the belief in different gods does not eclipse the fact of common humanity might be of importance to contemporary Africa plagued by ceaseless conflicts. The IAR ideology contrasts, for example, with that of Christianity which views the Christian God as the one true God and regards those who worship a different God(s) as pagans and gentiles. It also…
Can Afro-Communitarianism Be Useful in Combating the Challenge of Human Interaction Posed by the Covid-19 Pandemic
Can Afro-communitarianism serve as a viable ideology for addressing the human interaction challenge posed by the COVID-19 pandemic? The ongoing pandemic poses many challenges to the normal functioning of societies around the world. For example, it has caused problems ranging from social, economic, and political disruption to various forms of hardship, including pain, suffering, and millions of deaths. One problem that is not attracting sufficient…
Globalisation and the challenge of coloniality of power
This article argues that coloniality of power poses a challenge for globalisation as a component of modernity. The challenge necessitates a programme of decoloniality for globalisation. The inherent potential of globalisation to elevate one culture as dominant and to residualise the rest is sufficient to warrant its problematisation despite its positive features. A review of the literature shows that some decolonial thinkers present globalisation…
How Intercultural Philosophy Can Contribute to Social Integration
This paper will investigate whether or not intercultural philosophy conceived as a cooperative activity can be used to reflect and broaden the horizon of philosophy through reciprocal engagements by different socio-cultural blocs. We argue that the concept of social integration is met with so much uncertainty in a world where the influences of colonialism and coloniality bid to impose the cultural particular of the West on the rest of the world. …
Essays on Contemporary Issues in African Philosophy
The Sexual Orientation Question in Nigeria
Where Are We in the Global Poverty Measurement? The Human Minimum Model as a Veritable Option
A dominant conception of poverty among many researchers is that it is a form of deprivation. There is, however, more focus on the idea of poverty as physical deprivation than there is on psychological deprivation. I argue that poverty is as much a psychological deprivation as it is a physical deprivation and propose a new index that explicitly takes the psychological into account in poverty measurement. I show that most extant literature tends to…
The South African land question in light of Nelson Mandela's political thought
Land redistribution in post-apartheid South Africa is a problem that has caused division and violence in the country. Particularly, the dispossession of land suffered by many Africans in South Africa and the failure of land redistribution programmes has led to a variety of protests. In this article, we analyse whether, in light of Nelson Mandela’s thought, these protests are morally justified. The point is not to contend that Mandela’s thought is…
Addressing the problem of mass poverty in the Sub-Saharan Africa
I argue that one way in which a problem such as mass poverty in the sub-Saharan Africa can be addressed is through inclusive development, which is a pro poor, pro all, programme. However, it appears that the theoretical framework that can deliver the values of inclusive development has yet to be clearly sorted out. This is because, while bringing together all actors and factors, inclusive development should not subsume individual endowments to co…
Why Conversational Thinking Could be an Alternative Method for Intercultural Philosophy
In this paper, we argue that conversational thinking, a recent formulation in African philosophy, could be an alternative method for intercultural philosophising. We show that the etymology of conversational thinking comes from the Igbo word arumaruka meaning ‘constructive engagements amongst stakeholders who are in a relationship of creative struggle’. We contend that philosophers from different philosophic traditions are equal stakeholders in t…
Can individual autonomy and rights be defended in Afro-communitarianism
I argue that individual autonomy and rights can be defended but only in African or qualified version of communitarianism. I posit that there are two possible versions of communitarianism: the qualified or the African and the unqualified or the version discussed mostly by Western scholars. I show that Ifeanyi Menkiti, Kwame Gyekye, Michael Eze and Bernard Matolino have formulated communitarian theories of right in African philosophy. I explain tha…
Afro-Communitarianism and the Question of Rights
We argue that Menkiti and Gyekye – the forerunners in Afro-communitarianism, to different extents both trivialise the notion of human rights. While Menkiti prioritises community and denies human rights, Gyekye who upholds human rights subsumes these to the community. We contend that both are however mistaken in their trivial conceptions of human rights. To clarify the confusion, we propose that the notion of rights in Afro-communitarianism can ha…
Africans Are Not Black
Is there any human in the world whose skin is actually black or white or yellow or red? This is the question that captures the main problem Tsri engages with in his book. His worry then stems from
Why the 'Politics' against African Philosophy should be Discontinued
We argue that philosophy education across the globe is still bedevilled with the 'politics' of marginalization of less favoured traditions like African philosophy. Extant works show that the conventional curriculum of philosophy used in educational institutions across the globe is predominantly Western and, as such, very much colonial. We contend that this amounts to a sort of 'epistemic injustice' that is detrimental to knowledge production. We …
African philosophy and global epistemic injustice
In this paper, I consider how the discourse on global epistemic justice might be approached differently if some contributions from the African philosophical place are taken seriously. To be specific, I argue that the debate on global justice broadly has not been global. I cite as an example, the exclusion or marginalisation of African philosophy, what it has contributed and what it may yet contribute to the global epistemic edifice. I point out t…
Transforming the African philosophical place through conversations
It is now clear that the development in African philosophy in the last forty years or so has been in the area of metaphilosophy, the central focus of which has been on whether African philosophy is a pure philosophy. A sizeable chunk of this engagement was manifestly perverse, leaving little or no room for phenomenological discourses. In recent times, some African philosophers have begun agitating for a shift from metaphilosophy to theoretic and …
The end of ubuntu or its beginning in Matolino-Kwindingwi-Metz debate
Matolino and Kwindingwi in an essay “The end of ubuntu” published in this journal in 2013 argue that ubuntu has stalled both as a way of life and as an ethical theory which led them to draw the far-reaching conclusion that ubuntu has reached its end. In 2014 Metz published a rejoinder in this journal with the title “Just the beginning for ubuntu: reply to Matolino and Kwindingwi” in which he gestures that the justifications on which Matolino and …
African philosophy and global epistemic injustice
In this paper, I consider how the discourse on global epistemic justice might be approached differently if some contributions from the African philosophical place are taken seriously. To be specific, I argue that the debate on global justice broadly has not been global. I cite as an example, the exclusion or marginalisation of African philosophy, what it has contributed and what it may yet contribute to the global epistemic edifice. I point out t…
The Sexual Orientation Question in Nigeria
Why Conversational Thinking Could be an Alternative Method for Intercultural Philosophy
In this paper, we argue that conversational thinking, a recent formulation in African philosophy, could be an alternative method for intercultural philosophising. We show that the etymology of conversational thinking comes from the Igbo word arumaruka meaning ‘constructive engagements amongst stakeholders who are in a relationship of creative struggle’. We contend that philosophers from different philosophic traditions are equal stakeholders in t…
Why the 'Politics' against African Philosophy should be Discontinued
We argue that philosophy education across the globe is still bedevilled with the 'politics' of marginalization of less favoured traditions like African philosophy. Extant works show that the conventional curriculum of philosophy used in educational institutions across the globe is predominantly Western and, as such, very much colonial. We contend that this amounts to a sort of 'epistemic injustice' that is detrimental to knowledge production. We …
Can the philosophy curriculum be Africanised? An examination of the prospects and challenges of some models of Africanisation
By the year 2010 I had begun to seriously question the type of philosophy we learn and teach in universities in sub-Saharan Africa. I also questioned the technique of curriculum deployment. But besides the technique of curriculum deployment which can be blamed on the teachers, one ready suspicion for the poverty of the philosophy education in Africa is the dominance of a Western curriculum. On the basis of this, I identified some new models for A…
Africans Are Not Black
Is there any human in the world whose skin is actually black or white or yellow or red? This is the question that captures the main problem Tsri engages with in his book. His worry then stems from
Is Epistemic Justice Possible in a Bivalent System? Another Challenge for Intercultural Encounters
In this essay, I argue that epistemic injustice is a form of marginal thinking that traces its root to the bivalent system of thought and that attempts to address it within the same system will fail. I contend that the failure to address the lopsidedness implicated in the bivalent system has consequences for intercultural reasoning, which demands the recognition of others as equal epistemic partners, without which a dominant epistemic bloc will a…
How Intercultural Philosophy Can Contribute to Social Integration
This paper will investigate whether or not intercultural philosophy conceived as a cooperative activity can be used to reflect and broaden the horizon of philosophy through reciprocal engagements by different socio-cultural blocs. We argue that the concept of social integration is met with so much uncertainty in a world where the influences of colonialism and coloniality bid to impose the cultural particular of the West on the rest of the world. …
The South African land question in light of Nelson Mandela's political thought
Land redistribution in post-apartheid South Africa is a problem that has caused division and violence in the country. Particularly, the dispossession of land suffered by many Africans in South Africa and the failure of land redistribution programmes has led to a variety of protests. In this article, we analyse whether, in light of Nelson Mandela’s thought, these protests are morally justified. The point is not to contend that Mandela’s thought is…
Addressing Uduma’s Africanness of a Philosophy Question and Shifting the Paradigm from Metaphilosophy to Conversational Philosophy
This conversation is inspired by Uduma O. Uduma’s essay entitled “The Question of the ‘African’ in African Philosophy: In search of a Criterion for the Africanness of a Philosophy”. In this essay, Uduma coined what he calls “the Africanness of a Philosophy Question which consists in the ultimate criterion for African philosophy. He was not the first to dwell on the Africanness issue in African philosophy but he was the first, to my knowledge, to …
Ududo reasoning in African thought
The dominance of methods of mathematical reasoning such as the axiomatic method in modern logic has taken a toll on the independent development of logic as a separate discipline. However, the emergence of other non-standard systems of logic which could be described as postmodernist shows how a radical break might be necessary in salvaging logic from the grip of mathematics. Our goal in this essay would be to propose and articulate a post modern f…
Conversations in African Philosophy
Conversational philosophy is articulated by Jonathan O. Chimakonam as the new wave of philosophical practice both in “place” and in “space”. This journal adopts and promotes this approach to philosophizing for African philosophy. Readers are encouraged to submit their conversational piece (maximum of 2000 words) on any essay previously published in this journal or on any controversial topics, thoughts or authors for publication. It is recommended…
Transforming the African philosophical place through conversations
It is now clear that the development in African philosophy in the last forty years or so has been in the area of metaphilosophy, the central focus of which has been on whether African philosophy is a pure philosophy. A sizeable chunk of this engagement was manifestly perverse, leaving little or no room for phenomenological discourses. In recent times, some African philosophers have begun agitating for a shift from metaphilosophy to theoretic and …
Democratizing in Excess
Whether the revolutions in North Africa are Marxist or democratic, they sure have Marxist touch in that they grew out of people’s frustration with unemployment, elitist corruption, high cost of food, human right abuses, lack of freedom of speech and general poor living conditions. Although they are inspired by democratic desires and supported by democratic influences, which are curiously excessive, they nonetheless exhibit elements of Marxism. Th…
African Philosophy
Can the philosophy curriculum be Africanised? An examination of the prospects and challenges of some models of Africanisation
By the year 2010 I had begun to seriously question the type of philosophy we learn and teach in universities in sub-Saharan Africa. I also questioned the technique of curriculum deployment. But besides the technique of curriculum deployment which can be blamed on the teachers, one ready suspicion for the poverty of the philosophy education in Africa is the dominance of a Western curriculum. On the basis of this, I identified some new models for A…
The end of ubuntu or its beginning in Matolino-Kwindingwi-Metz debate
Matolino and Kwindingwi in an essay “The end of ubuntu” published in this journal in 2013 argue that ubuntu has stalled both as a way of life and as an ethical theory which led them to draw the far-reaching conclusion that ubuntu has reached its end. In 2014 Metz published a rejoinder in this journal with the title “Just the beginning for ubuntu: reply to Matolino and Kwindingwi” in which he gestures that the justifications on which Matolino and …
African philosophy and global epistemic injustice
In this paper, I consider how the discourse on global epistemic justice might be approached differently if some contributions from the African philosophical place are taken seriously. To be specific, I argue that the debate on global justice broadly has not been global. I cite as an example, the exclusion or marginalisation of African philosophy, what it has contributed and what it may yet contribute to the global epistemic edifice. I point out t…
Can individual autonomy and rights be defended in Afro-communitarianism
I argue that individual autonomy and rights can be defended but only in African or qualified version of communitarianism. I posit that there are two possible versions of communitarianism: the qualified or the African and the unqualified or the version discussed mostly by Western scholars. I show that Ifeanyi Menkiti, Kwame Gyekye, Michael Eze and Bernard Matolino have formulated communitarian theories of right in African philosophy. I explain tha…
Afro-Communitarianism and the Question of Rights
We argue that Menkiti and Gyekye – the forerunners in Afro-communitarianism, to different extents both trivialise the notion of human rights. While Menkiti prioritises community and denies human rights, Gyekye who upholds human rights subsumes these to the community. We contend that both are however mistaken in their trivial conceptions of human rights. To clarify the confusion, we propose that the notion of rights in Afro-communitarianism can ha…
Africans Are Not Black
Is there any human in the world whose skin is actually black or white or yellow or red? This is the question that captures the main problem Tsri engages with in his book. His worry then stems from
Why the 'Politics' against African Philosophy should be Discontinued
We argue that philosophy education across the globe is still bedevilled with the 'politics' of marginalization of less favoured traditions like African philosophy. Extant works show that the conventional curriculum of philosophy used in educational institutions across the globe is predominantly Western and, as such, very much colonial. We contend that this amounts to a sort of 'epistemic injustice' that is detrimental to knowledge production. We …
Addressing the problem of mass poverty in the Sub-Saharan Africa
I argue that one way in which a problem such as mass poverty in the sub-Saharan Africa can be addressed is through inclusive development, which is a pro poor, pro all, programme. However, it appears that the theoretical framework that can deliver the values of inclusive development has yet to be clearly sorted out. This is because, while bringing together all actors and factors, inclusive development should not subsume individual endowments to co…
Why Conversational Thinking Could be an Alternative Method for Intercultural Philosophy
In this paper, we argue that conversational thinking, a recent formulation in African philosophy, could be an alternative method for intercultural philosophising. We show that the etymology of conversational thinking comes from the Igbo word arumaruka meaning ‘constructive engagements amongst stakeholders who are in a relationship of creative struggle’. We contend that philosophers from different philosophic traditions are equal stakeholders in t…
The Sexual Orientation Question in Nigeria
Where Are We in the Global Poverty Measurement? The Human Minimum Model as a Veritable Option
A dominant conception of poverty among many researchers is that it is a form of deprivation. There is, however, more focus on the idea of poverty as physical deprivation than there is on psychological deprivation. I argue that poverty is as much a psychological deprivation as it is a physical deprivation and propose a new index that explicitly takes the psychological into account in poverty measurement. I show that most extant literature tends to…
The South African land question in light of Nelson Mandela's political thought
Land redistribution in post-apartheid South Africa is a problem that has caused division and violence in the country. Particularly, the dispossession of land suffered by many Africans in South Africa and the failure of land redistribution programmes has led to a variety of protests. In this article, we analyse whether, in light of Nelson Mandela’s thought, these protests are morally justified. The point is not to contend that Mandela’s thought is…
Essays on Contemporary Issues in African Philosophy
Essays on Contemporary Issues in African Philosophy
The Imperatives of Critical Thinking in Intercultural Philosophy
In this research, an attempt is made to interrogate the practice of intercultural philosophy with a view to showing that the critical thinking mindset is imperative for a balanced, progressive, and respectful intercultural engagement. A world in which cultures relate to one another on the basis of equality, mutual respect, and recognition of one another’s identity and rights has remained elusive. The need for such a world and the dynamics of such…
African Philosophy of Religion from a Global Perspective
In this essay, we explore what the African Philosophy of Religion would look like from both a mono-disciplinary and comparative perspectives. To do this, a few concepts such as Gods, ancestorhood, relationality, and the problem of evil that appear in the essays in this special issue will be highlighted. Our aim here is not to provide a lengthy and rigorous analysis of the field of African Philosophy of Religion or even some of its main concepts, …
Indigenous African Religions (IARs) and the Relational Value of Tolerance
This essay argues that the inherent value of Indigenous African Religions (IARs), which ensures that the belief in different gods does not eclipse the fact of common humanity might be of importance to contemporary Africa plagued by ceaseless conflicts. The IAR ideology contrasts, for example, with that of Christianity which views the Christian God as the one true God and regards those who worship a different God(s) as pagans and gentiles. It also…
Can Afro-Communitarianism Be Useful in Combating the Challenge of Human Interaction Posed by the Covid-19 Pandemic
Can Afro-communitarianism serve as a viable ideology for addressing the human interaction challenge posed by the COVID-19 pandemic? The ongoing pandemic poses many challenges to the normal functioning of societies around the world. For example, it has caused problems ranging from social, economic, and political disruption to various forms of hardship, including pain, suffering, and millions of deaths. One problem that is not attracting sufficient…
Globalisation and the challenge of coloniality of power
This article argues that coloniality of power poses a challenge for globalisation as a component of modernity. The challenge necessitates a programme of decoloniality for globalisation. The inherent potential of globalisation to elevate one culture as dominant and to residualise the rest is sufficient to warrant its problematisation despite its positive features. A review of the literature shows that some decolonial thinkers present globalisation…
Epistemology (25 obras) · Philosophy (25 obras) · Sociology (25 obras) · African cultural and philosophical studies (23 obras) · Political science (18 obras) · Law (15 obras) · Politics (10 obras) · Environmental ethics (9 obras) · Psychology (9 obras) · Computer Science (6 obras)