A Relational Theory of Justice argues that normative economic, political, and legal philosophy should be grounded on people's relational features, in particular their ability to commune with others and be communed with by them. Usually, philosophers of justice in the West have based their views on people's intrinsic features, ones that make no essential reference to others, such as their well-being, autonomy, or self-ownership. In addition, critics of basing institutional choice o...

Philosophy, Language, and Literature in an African Context investigates the link between philosophy and language in African literature. Wilfred Lajul and the contributors argue that African literature is more than the desire of literary writers to entertain or provoke thought, but rather a stylistic means through which they convey important information and philosophy. This book also probes into theories, contexts, and moral language in African literature, exploring their implicati...

What makes a person's life meaningful? Thaddeus Metz offers a new answer to an ancient question which has recently returned to the philosophical agenda. He proceeds by examining what, if anything, all the conditions that make a life meaningful have in common. The outcome of this process is a philosophical theory of meaning in life. He starts by evaluating existing theories in terms of the classic triad of the good, the true, and the beautiful. He considers whether meaning in life might be ...

Given the pain, discomfort, anxiety, heartbreak, and boredom that most humans experience in their lives, is it morally permissible to create them? Some philosophers lately have answered ‘No’, contending that it is wrong to create a new human life when one could avoid doing so, because it would be bad for the one created. This view is known as ‘anti-natalism’. Some contributors to this volume argue that anti-natalism is true because: agents have a prima facie duty to prevent suffer...

This book creates (on the one hand) and explores (on the other hand) philosophies of African development suitable for Black sub-Saharan African countries. As an academic discipline focused on thought informed by indigenous moral values among Black peoples in the sub-Saharan region, African political philosophy involves philosophizing normatively about government by traditional Black African people with the aim of advancing a better African society. African political philosophy does not mea...

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 ...

Can human life be meaningful? What does talk about life’s meaning even mean? What is God’s role, if any, in a meaningful life? These three questions frame this one-of-a-kind debate between two philosophers who have spent most of their professional lives thinking and writing about the topic of life’s meaning.In this wide-ranging scholarly conversation, Professors Thaddeus Metz and Joshua W. Seachris develop and defend their own unique answers to these questions, while respo...

A 2023 Choice Reviews Outstanding Academic TitleBeauty in African Thought: A Critique of the Western Idea of Development investigates how the concept of beauty in African philosophy and related qualitative social sciences may contribute to a richer intercultural exchange on the idea of development. While working within frameworks created in post-colonial and arguably neo-colonial times, African thinkers have react...

A Relational Moral Theory draws on neglected resources from the Global South and especially the African philosophical tradition to provide a new answer to a perennial philosophical question: what do all morally right actions have in common as distinct from wrong ones? Thaddeus Metz points out that the principles of utility and of respect for autonomy, the two rivals that have dominated Western moral theory for the last two centuries, share an individualist premise. Once that commo...

Contemporary Africa and the Foreseeable World Ordersheds light on theplace of "Africa Agency” in the competitive and changing global system. This book provides scholars, policymakers, and other stakeholders studying and working on African issues with innovative solutions, strategies, knowledge, insights, case studies, and analyses to support decision-making on how best African states should position themselves in the dynamic global system in order to influence key decisions. Featu...

Ifeanyi Menkiti’s articulation of an African conception of personhood—especially in “Person and Community in African Traditional Thought” —has become very influential in African philosophy. Menkiti on Community and Becoming a Person contributes to the debate in African philosophy on personhood by engaging with various aspects of Menkiti’s account of person and community. The contributors examine this account in relation to themes such as individualism, communalism, rights, individual liber...

This Element critically explores the potential relevance of God or a soul for life's meaning as discussed in recent Anglo-American philosophical literature. There have been four broad views: God or a soul is necessary for meaning in our lives; neither is necessary for it; one or both would greatly enhance the meaning in our lives; one or both would substantially detract from it. This Element familiarizes readers with all four positions, paying particular attention to the latter two, and al...