Conversations on African Philosophy of Mind, Consciousness and Artificial Intelligence

This book offers a first glimpse into contemporary African Philosophical thought, which covers issues related to the mind-body relationships, the problem of consciousness, the ethics of artificial intelligence, the meaning of life and other topics. Taking inspiration from the conversational tradition in African philosophy, this book not only engages with and takes inspiration from traditional African thought, but also engages with philosophical views outside the philosophical tradition in a bid to present a holistic understanding of the problems that are central to the book. The volume is relevant for professional African philosophers, philosophers of mind, philosophers of AI, undergraduate and postgraduate philosophy students, and African Studies scholars.

Aribiah David Attoe

Dr Aribiah David Attoe is currently a Lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand, and was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Centre for Leadership Ethics in Africa. He has (co)authored several articles, encyclopedia entry, book chapters and books, one of which includes; Groundwork for a New Kind of African Metaphysics: The Idea of Predeterministic Historicity (Palgrave, 2022). He also guest-edited the first ever book-length literature/special issue on “African Conceptions of the Meaning of Life”, published by the South African Journal of Philosophy, and his forthcoming book, The Question of Life's Meaning: An African Perspective, will be the first-ever book on African conceptions of the Meaning of Life. He is also a member of the prestigious Conversational School of Philosophy. Dr Attoe has been on the cutting edge of research in African metaphysics, African Philosophy of Religion and African Conceptions of Meaning. His other interests include Ethics and Social and political philosophy. 

Samuel T. Segun

Samuel T. Segun research includes the ethics of artificial intelligence with a focus on computational ethics, African intellectual development, and philosophy of mind with specific focus on neurophilosophy and consciousness. Samuel’s doctoral research focused on developing a robust ethical theory for autonomous intelligent systems that is informed by African values and rivals Western approaches. He is a member and Research Fellow of the Conversational School of Philosophy (CSP), and a Research Associate of the AI for Social Good working group at the Centre for Artificial Intelligence Research (CAIR), University of Pretoria.

Amongst ST Segun’s publications are “From machine ethics to computational ethics” in AI & Society; “Criticially engaging the ethics of AI for a global audience” in Ethics and Information Technology, where he served as Lead Guest Editor for the special issue on Ethics of Artificial Intelligence. He is also the coauthor of the book New Conversations on the Problems of Identity, Consciousness and Mind (Springer, 2019).

Victor Nweke

Victor Nweke is currently a researcher/Ph.D. candidate at the Institute of Cultural Studies, University of Koblenz-Landau, Germany. His major research interest includes African philosophy, global normative theory, intercultural philosophy, and philosophy of logic. He is working on his Ph.D. as a member of a multidisciplinary normative project, ‘Diversity, Power and Justice: Transcultural Perspectives’, funded by the DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, the German Research Foundation). His peer-reviewed publications (articles and chapters in academic journals and edited books) attempt to interrogate and (re)conceptualize articulate perspectives on right conduct and optimal human flourishing using salient ideas in African philosophy as a crucial point of departure. Victor is also an affiliate researcher with the Conversational School of Philosophy (CSP), University of Calabar, Nigeria, as well as an Alumni of the HASTAC Scholars Program (Class of 2016-2018).

Umezurike J. Ezugwu

Umezurike J. Ezugwu is a research fellow, Conversational Society of Philosophy.  He did his first degree in the Department of Philosophy, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria.  He obtained his Masters and Doctorate degrees in the Department of Philosophy, University of Calabar, Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria.  During this period, he taught, as a part-time lecturer, two General Studies Courses, Philosophy and Logic, and History and Philosophy of Science.  Currently, he is a lecturer in Nigeria Maritime University.  Here, he lectures Philosophy and Logic, History and Philosophy of Science and Nigeria Peoples and Culture. He is an appointed member of Research and Development Committee and a Co-Editor of International Journal of Maritime and Interdisciplinary Research (IJMIR), Nigeria Maritime University, Okerenkoko, Delta State, Nigeria. He has contributed different chapters in books, attended national and international conferences, and has published in both local and international journals. His research interests include but are not limited to African Philosophy, Philosophy of Education, Ethics and History and Philosophy of Science.

Jonathan Chimakonam

Jonathan O Chimakonam has published extensively in the areas of African philosophy, African logic, African Philosophy of science and philosophy of mind. He is the author, co-author, editor and co-editor of several articles and books, including New Conversations on the Problems of Identity, Consciousness and Mind (Springer, 2019); Ezumezu Logic: A System of Logic for African Philosophy and Studies (Springer 2019); Logic and African Philosophy: Seminal Essays in African Systems of Thought (Vernon Press 2020);  African Ethics: A Guide to Key Ideas (Bloomsbury 2022); and African Metaphysics, Epistemology and a New Logic: A Decolonial Approach to Philosophy (Palgrave 2021). He is a second-generation member of the prestigious Calabar School. He is a major proponent of the system of conversational thinking, its method, philosophy and a system of logic called Ezumezu that grounds it. He is the African philosophy Area Editor of the Internet Encyclopaedia of Philosophy and the editor of Filosofia Theoretica: Journal of African Philosophy, Culture and Religions. Chimakonam has mentored and continues to mentor many young African academics.