African Philosophy of Religion Scholarly Lecture Series - Recent Challenges to Vitalism in African Philosophy of Religion, by Kirk Lougheed (Unity Health Toronto/University of Toronto/University of Pretoria)

[Aribiah Attoe]

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An African Philosophy of Religion Scholarly Lecture Series

Powered by the Global Philosophy of Religion Project 2

 

 

Topic: Recent Challenges to Vitalism in African Philosophy of Religion

 

By

 

Kirk Lougheed (Unity Health Toronto/University of Toronto/University of Pretoria)

 

Wednesday, February 11^th, 2025

17.30 – 18.30 GMT

ZOOM Link: https://bham-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/86220828193

  

 

 

Abstract

Vital force is a substance that flows from God and is imbued in literally everything that exists, both animate and inanimate objects. Characteristics of positive vital force include strength, health, creativity, and fertility. A reduction of vitalism is marked by weakness, depression, illness, and infertility. Vitalism continues to be an important concept in the literature on African philosophy of religion and has received significant attention lately. This talk responds to two recent criticisms of vitalism located in the work of Attoe and Chimakonam (2025). First, they suggest that there is no “logical justification” for believing in the truth of vitalism. This is because the existence of competing naturalistic explanations for what vitalism purports to defend is a defeater for vitalism. I suggest that more is needed to be done to show that a naturalistic explanation is preferable to one that posits vitalism. Second, Attoe and Chimakonam also claim that one challenge to appealing to the naturalistic conception of vitalism known as liveliness is that it is unnecessary because it does not add anything to existing naturalistic explanations of characteristics like creativity or fertility. I counter that being able to synthesize a number of characteristics under one subsuming concept does indeed add to explanatory scope. To conclude, I highlight some ways that this discussion is reflective of more general debates about when one theory or explanation ought to be preferred to an alternative. Even more theorizing about vitalism is needed to continue to evaluate how it compares with both rival religious and naturalistic alternatives.  

 

Next Talk 

25^th February 2026 – Emmanuel Ofuasia: The explanatory powers of divine silence and divine hiddenness in African spirituality. TBC.

Aribiah David Attoe, PhD

ORCID No.: 0000-0001-9786-1824

Department of Philosophy

University of Witwatersrand, South Africa

Member, The Conversational School of Philosophy, Calabar, Nigeria

Co-author: New Conversations on the Problem of Identity, Consciousness and Mind (Springer, 2019)

Guest Editor: "Special Issue on African Conceptions of the Meaning of Life", South African Journal of Philosophy (2020)

Author: Groundwork for a New Kind of African Metaphysics: The Idea of Predeterministic Historicity (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022)
Co-recipient: John Templeton Fund, via the Global Philosophy of Religion Project Grant, University of Birmingham.

IEP Entry: https://iep.utm.edu/afr-mean/

Co-Guest Editor: Special Issue on "Shifting Perspectives on Contemporary African Philosophy of Religion", Religious Studies (2022).

Co-Guest Editor: Special Issue on "African Perspectives on God, the Problem of Evil and Meaning in Life", Filosofia Theoretica: Journal of African Philosophy, Culture and Religion (2022).

Editor: African Perspectives on the Question of Life's Meaning (Routledge, 2023)
Co-editor: Conversations on African Philosophy of Mind, Consciousness and Artificial Intelligence (Springer)

Author: The Question of Life's Meaning: An African Perspective (Palgrave)