African Philosophy and Deep Ecology

Kenneth Uyi Abudu lectures at the Department of Philosophy, Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Nigeria. He currently is a PhD. Student at the Department of Philosophy, University of Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. His research interest is includes African Philosophy, with keen interest in Epistemology, Disability, Language, and the Environment. He is the author of several essays including “Exploring Ignorance and Injustice in African Epistemology” (2023), “Africa and the Epistemic Normativity of Disability” (2024), and “An Afro-relational Account of the Non-human and Transhuman Entities” (2024).Kevin Gary Behrens is a Professor and the Director of the Steve Biko Centre for Bioethics, University of the Witwatersand, South Africa. His research interests lie in the area of Applied Ethics, in particular in Bioethics and Environmental Ethics. A major emphasis in his work is on applying African moral philosophical notions to ethical questions. He has published widely in international and national journals. He holds a rating of “Established Researcher” (C1), from the National Research Foundation.Elvis Imafidon is a Reader in African Philosophy and Director of the Centre for Global and Comparative Philosophy at SOAS University of London. He is also a Research Associate at the African Centre for Epistemology and the Philosophy of Science (ACEPS). His research interests include African philosophy, philosophy of corporeality and disability, and philosophy of healthcare. He is the editor and author of several books and essays including African Philosophy and the Otherness of Albinism: White Skin, Black Race (2019), Handbook of African Philosophy of Difference (2020), and Handbook of African Philosophy (2023).

• Introduction Kenneth Uyi Abudu, Kevin Behrens and Elvis Imafidon 1. From intrinsic value to ontological reality – the philosophy of ‘life energy’ or ‘vital force’ in Bantu Philosophy Angela Roothaan 2. The Environment in Yoruba Collaborative Ontology Abidemi Israel Ogunyomi 3. Radicalizing Ubu-ntu: Some Critical Thoughts on Mogobe Ramose’s Philosophy of Ubu-ntu and a Proposal for its Desuperiorization Björn Freter 4. Interrogating Deep Ecology within the framework of Ubuntu Philosophy Dennis Masaka 5. An African Theory of Moral Status: A Relational Alternative to Individualism and Holism Thaddeus Metz 6. African Ecological Ethics and Moral Status of Non-human Nature Kai Horsthemke 7. An African Relational Environmentalism and Moral Considerability Kevin Gary Behrens 8. Deep Ecology, Ontic Relationality and Positionality: Exploring the Ontology of Anthropogenic Waste Elvis Imafidon 9. Peripherality, Non-philosophy and Ecology in African Philosophy Bruce Janz 10. Selective Subordination for harmony and holistic balance from an African perspective Emmanuel Ofuasia 11. Biodiversity Conservation in Nigeria: Contrasting an Anthropocentric and a Deep Ecology Perspective Olajide Akinleye-Martins, Naziru Zakari Muhammad, Helen Kopnina, and Mike Russell 12. Eco-Phenomenology and Deep Ecology: Towards an African Lived-Ecology of the Human – Non-human Relationship Kenneth Uyi Abudu 13. Deep Ecology, Irreducibility, and African Relational Thinking Mitchell Black and Juan Oeschger 14. Integrating Deep Ecology, Degrowth, and Ubuntu: Foundations for an Ecosophy Aïda C. Terblanché-Greeff (Botha) 15. Colonisation, Modernity and Trauma: Beyond the Human in African Places Augustine E. Iyare Conclusion Kenneth Uyi Abudu, Kevin Behrens and Elvis Imafidon