INVITATION: UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA PHILOSOPHY SEMINAR - SEPT 2024 EDITION
Jonathan Okeke
The Department of Philosophy at the University of Pretoria cordially invites you to the UP Philosophy Seminar Series – September 2024 Edition – Presented by Dr Aribiah D Attoe of the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
Date: Sept 27, 2024
Time: 18:00 PM SAST; 18:00 PM CET; 5PM WAT
Zoom Registration Link:
https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYvceCurTwtH9PwfdzWE-B0TTAmGQfrkpfX
Topic: Are Africans Living Anti-Meaningful Lives?
Abstract:
Ideas such as Ubuntu, complementarity, negritude and other such forms of humanism suggest that there are reasons for Africans to be optimistic and hopeful about life; and that by working in solidarity together towards some common good, by treating others well, or by affirming their humanness/dignity in some way, life could be meaningful and flourishing would be possible. Unfortunately, these hopes and ideas do not always materialise or reflect the lived reality of many Africans today. In this disconnect between hope and reality, I ask whether Africans in general are living anti-meaningful lives. In answering this question I reflect on several crucial clues that push me to respond to the question in the affirmative. First, I extract anti-meaning from the forced but inevitably tragic pursuit of unattainable meaning (as Ada Agada notes in his consolation philosophy); from a pessimistic metaphysics that reveals Africans as ontologically alive but socially dead; from an experience of self that is forcibly solipsistic and hateful; and from an existence that is characterised by violence (both gendered and non-gendered), powerlessness and a dependence on the benevolence of oppressive structures for survival. I take these clues to be plausible proofs for the claim that African lives are generally anti-meaningful.
The UP Philosophy Seminar series offers researchers the platform to present their original ideas and theories to ignite academic debates. To present your own research, please write to us attaching a short abstract of 200 words max that speaks to any aspect of your research that reflects thinking as a deep, critical, creative and, more importantly, imaginative endeavour.Contact: JO Chimakonam, jonatha...@up.ac.za
Department of Philosophy
University of Pretoria
My latest books:
1. African Ethics: A Guide to Key Ideas (2022) https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/african-ethics-9781350191785/
2. Essays on Contemporary Issues in African Philosophy (2022)
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-70436-0
3. African Metaphysics, Epistemology and a New Logic: A Decolonial Approach to Philosophy (2021)
Available at https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-72445-0
or on Amazon: https://www.amazon.ca/African-Metaphysics-Epistemology-New-Logic/dp/3030724441
or
Jonathan Okeke
The Department of Philosophy at the University of Pretoria cordially invites you to the UP Philosophy Seminar Series – September 2024 Edition – Presented by Dr Aribiah D Attoe of the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
Date: Sept 27, 2024
Time: 18:00 PM SAST; 18:00 PM CET; 5PM WAT
Zoom Registration Link:
https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYvceCurTwtH9PwfdzWE-B0TTAmGQfrkpfX
Topic: Are Africans Living Anti-Meaningful Lives?
Abstract:
Ideas such as Ubuntu, complementarity, negritude and other such forms of humanism suggest that there are reasons for Africans to be optimistic and hopeful about life; and that by working in solidarity together towards some common good, by treating others well, or by affirming their humanness/dignity in some way, life could be meaningful and flourishing would be possible. Unfortunately, these hopes and ideas do not always materialise or reflect the lived reality of many Africans today. In this disconnect between hope and reality, I ask whether Africans in general are living anti-meaningful lives. In answering this question I reflect on several crucial clues that push me to respond to the question in the affirmative. First, I extract anti-meaning from the forced but inevitably tragic pursuit of unattainable meaning (as Ada Agada notes in his consolation philosophy); from a pessimistic metaphysics that reveals Africans as ontologically alive but socially dead; from an experience of self that is forcibly solipsistic and hateful; and from an existence that is characterised by violence (both gendered and non-gendered), powerlessness and a dependence on the benevolence of oppressive structures for survival. I take these clues to be plausible proofs for the claim that African lives are generally anti-meaningful.
The UP Philosophy Seminar series offers researchers the platform to present their original ideas and theories to ignite academic debates. To present your own research, please write to us attaching a short abstract of 200 words max that speaks to any aspect of your research that reflects thinking as a deep, critical, creative and, more importantly, imaginative endeavour.Contact: JO Chimakonam, jonatha...@up.ac.za
Prof Jonathan O Chimakonam
Emmanuel Babatunde
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Professor and Chair
Department of Sociology & Anthropology
Senior Fulbright Scholar
Lincoln University
Pennsylvania, USA
(484) 365-7545