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JOSEPH CHUKWUEMEKA (CHEMEKA) ACHIKE AGBAKOBA

Joseph Chukwuemeka (Chemeka) Achike Agbakoba (born February 8th 1961) is a professor at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka; he has been described as “one of Africa’s foremost philosophers” and social theorists. He is known mostly for pioneering Afro-constructivism, an African approach to philosophy of development, development ethics and related issues in epistemology, metaphysics, social and political philosophy, which also favors an African perspective in intercultural philosophy and [|heterosis].

'''Background and Education '''

Joseph Agbakoba was born in Owerri, the capital city of Owerri Province in the former Eastern Region of Nigeria and currently the capital of Imo State, to Vincent Chukwuemeka Agbakoba (1921 to 1996) and Josephine Nwanyibuzo Agbakoba, nee Okwuosa, (1933 to 2008) both of whom came from Onitsha, the major commercial city on the eastern bank of the lower River Niger. Vincent Agbakoba was at that time the Engineer and Manager of the Electricity Corporation of Nigeria (ECN) for the Owerri office area, while Josephine who had been a teacher before training as dressmaker and designer in Birmingham, England, was running a private kindergarten and nursery school (just like some young people towards the end of colonial era, Vincent went to Birmingham to work and study Electrical Engineering in 1952, Josephine joined him in 1954 and they both came back to Nigeria after their studies and training in 1958). Joseph is the fourth child and first son in the family, more children were to come after him, bringing the number to nine in 1975.

Due to the nature of Vincent’s job, the family was constantly on the move at this time, between 1961 and 1965 they lived in Owerri, Oshogbo, Akure, Aba and Port Harcourt. In January 1965, Joseph started school at the Santa Maria Primary School, a private Catholic school run by Irish Nuns of the Holy Rosary Congregation. In 1968, during the civil war, the family fled Port Harcourt, just before Port Harcourt fell to the federal troops and found refuge in Owerri. When some months later Owerri was threatened, the family fled to Ibeme, a small village in the Mbano district. Initially, they lived as an internally displaced people in the classroom of a primary school, but not long after, one of the teachers in the school who was a native vacated his three-room teacher’s quarters, moving to his family home in order to let Vincent’s family have his school quarters. This was a very kind gesture; many refuges and internally displaced people experienced such kind gestures from sympathetic people during the civil war. The family remained here until the end of the civil war in January 1970, during this time Joseph and his siblings lived very much like every other child in the refuge area and learnt a lot about rural village life in Africa. At the end of the civil war, the family moved to Onitsha for a few months and then Enugu were Joseph completed his primary education at Santa Maria School Enugu. In January 1973, he proceeded to Christ the King College Onitsha for his secondary education and in 1978 he went to the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife Nigeria) from whence he got a BA in history and philosophy in 1983 and MA in philosophy in 1988; he got his PhD in 1998 from the University of Nigeria.

'''Philosophical Ideas '''

Agbakoba is basically a “reasonabilist”. Reasonabilism is the idea that reason alone (in both its transcendental form – the principle of consistency in itself – and instrumental form) is an insufficient guide and prompter of human progress because it does not operate in a vacuum but must be activated and sustained by the will (conatus) and compatible, invigorating affectivities. He refers to the sum of the most favorable conatuses and affectivities to reason as ontological beneficence. They include but are not limited to other regarding attitudes and behavior (altruism) such as charity, tolerance, respect for freedom, responsibility, etc; every exercise of reason goes with a corresponding and enabling set of beneficence and every state of beneficence has its structure in the principle of consistency. [|Reasonability] is the recognition of this connectivity; this alloyed combination and relationality in which reason is one side of a coin and beneficence the other side, in a continuum which tapers in the opposite direction of ever less consistency-beneficence (apathy-inconsistency) or insensibility and insensibilism. The concept of reasonability enables Agbakoba rethink Africa, her pre-colonial, colonial and postcolonial history, her place in the world and development. His post-dependence approach emphasizes freedom, responsibility, capacity building, equality, justice (including especially positive justice and productive justice) and the irreducibility, often primacy, of the nature of personality and agency in societal development processes in relation to structures and circumstances. Agbakoba’s post-dependence approach contrasts with the post-colonial approach which he thinks underplays the value of national sovereignty and the structural spaces for development it offers as well as the power and potentials of agency (both personal agency and collective agency) while emphasizing structures and circumstances, thus often veering unduly into victimology and the undermining of agential responsibility.

'''Work in Nigeria and Abroad '''

In 1988 he was a freelance writer, later a staff writer and features editor of a newspaper. In 1992, he joined the staff of the University of Nigeria as an Assistant Lecturer and became a full professor in 2005. He was Chair of philosophy at the University of Nigeria from 2007 to 2010; Dean, School of General Studies 2012 to 2013; Deputy Vice Chancellor at Madonna University Nigeria 2013 to 2017. He has held a number of international research fellowships and scholarships and has been visiting scholar and professor at Cape Coast and Frankfurt. Joseph Agbakoba was president of Nigerian Philosophical Association from 2008 to 2016 (currently, Nigerian philosophers are organized in two bodies, Association of Philosophy Professionals of Nigeria and Philosophers Association of Nigeria); a member of the Steering Committee of the International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP); Regional Coordinator for Africa of the Council for Research in Values and Philosophy (CRVP), Washington DC and Vice President for Africa COMIUCAP (Conférence Mondiale des Institutions Universitaires Catholiques de Philosophie); President of the International Society for African Philosophy and Studies

Agbakoba has published widely locally and internationally; his recent publication is the book, Development and Modernity in Africa: An Intercultural Philosophical Perspective, which was published in 2019 in Cologne, Germany.

Selected Publications

Books

Agbakoba, J.C.A. (2019) Development and Modernity in Africa: An Intercultural Philosophical Perspective (Köln: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag)

Agbakoba, J. C. A. and Aja, A. C. (2016) (editors) Universalism, Relativism, and Intercultural Philosophy, Washington DC: Council for Research in Values and Philosophy.

Agbakoba, J.C.A. (2003), Philosophical Issues in Development, Enugu. Fourth Dimension Publishers.

Agbakoba, J.C.A. (2001), Theories of Mind: A Case for Interactionism. Nsukka, University of Nigeria Press.

Journal Articles, Book Chapters and Conference Papers

Agbakoba J.C.A. (2020) “Indian Influence on Nigeria's Development: Challenges, Lessons and Possibilities” in Uta Ruppert and Ross Anthony (eds), Rethinking African-Asian Encounters, (Palgrave MacMillan).

Agbakoba, J. C. A. (2014), ‘The Impact of the Belief in the Paranormal and the Occult on Economic and Political Development in West Africa’ in Frankfurter Afrikanistische Blätter (Frankfurt African Studies Bulletin), Number 21-2009, pp 7-24.

Agbakoba, J. C. A. (2014), ‘Intercultural Philosophy and the Question of African Identity: An ‘Afro-constructivist’ Perspective’ in William Sweet (Ed) What is Intercultural Philosophy, Washington DC: The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy, pp 95-106.

Agbakoba, J.C. A., (2012) “Choice, Responsibility and Traditional African Values in the Development of Africa” (translated into German) in Thomas Schreijäck (ed) Afrika im Aufbruch!?, Stuttgart: Grünewald, pp 37-75.

Agbakoba, J.C.A. (2012) “Belief and Action Systems: An Examination of the Efficacy and Effects of Paranormal Phenomena” in Josephat Obi Oguejiofor and Tobias Wendl (eds) Exploring the Occult and Paranormal in West Africa, Wien/Berlin: Lit Verlag, pp 20-32.

Agbakoba, J.C.A. (2011) “Developing Appropriate Administrative Instruments for the African Cultural Environment, a paper presented at the Institute of Cultural Diplomacy, Berlin in 2011.

Agbakoba, J. C. A. (2010) ``Knowledge, Values and Interculturalism´´ in Philosophy in the Dialogue of Cultures, Proceedings of the World Philosophy Day, Moscow – St Petersburg, November, 16-19, 2009 (Moscow: Progress-Tradition, pp 1073 – 1082.

Agbakoba, J.C.A. (2009) “Philosophy, Traditional African Ethical Outlook and the Problems of Economic Development” in Revisita Portuguesa de Filosofia, Volume 65. 549-575. link

Agbakoba J.C.A. and Ibuot E.J. (2009): “Towards a New Paradigm of Christian Education in Nigeria” in Edward J. Alam (Ed) Christianity, Culture and the Contemporary World: Challenges and New Paradigms, Beirut, Lebanon: Notre Dame University Press, pp 141-147.

Agbakoba, J.C.A. (2008/2009) ‘Building Cultural Bridges in the Era of Globalization’ in Philosophy, Culture, and Traditions, Volume 5, 47-56.

Agbakoba, J. C. A. (2008) “An Examination of the Impact of the Traditional African Knowledge Systems and Culture on Contemporary Educational Achievement in Africa” in Eike Schamp and Stefan Schmid (Eds) Academic Co- operation With Africa, Munster: Lit Verlag, pp 19-36.

Agbakoba, J.C.A. and Nwauche, E. S. (2006): “African Conceptions of Justice, Responsibility and Punishment” in The Cambrian Law Review, Volume 37. 73-83.

Agbakoba, J.C.A. (2006): “Globalization, Religious Ideologies and Conflict: A Critical Examination and Exploration of Alternatives” in Contemporary Philosophy, Volume XXVII. 17-26.

Agbakoba, J.C.A. (2005) “Ideology, Empirical Sciences and Modern Philosophical Systems” in Journal for the Study of Religions and Ideologies, JSRI Number10. 116–125.

Agbakoba, J.C.A. (2005): “An Evaluation of Theophilus Okere’s Conception of the Place of Traditional African Values in Contemporary African Societies” in J.O. Oguejiofor and G.I. Onah (Eds) African Philosophy and the Hermeneutics of Culture, Munster: Lit Verlag, pp 230-245.

Agbakoba, J.C.A. (2004) “An Evaluation of Knowledge in Traditional African Thought and Its Impact on Contemporary Times” in Journal of Indian Council of Philosophical Research. Volume XXI, Number 4. 129-146.

Agbakoba J.C.A. (2004) “Traditional African Political Thought and the Crisis of Governance in Contemporary African Societies” in Journal for the Study of Religions and Ideologies JSRI No. 7. 137–152.

Agbakoba, J C. A. (2004) ‘The Supreme Being in Traditional Africa Thought: A Logico-Ontological Approach’, Annual of Medieval Studies at CEU Volume 10, 129-145.

Agbakoba, J.C.A. (2003) “The Development Gap Requirements, Afrocentrism and Intellectual Leadership;” in J.O. Oguejiofor (ed) Philosophy, Democracy and Responsible Governance in Africa, Munster, Germany: LIT Verlag, pp 140-152.

Agbakoba J.C.A. (2003) “Logical Quantification of Values, Religio-Ethical Systems and Globalization: A Preliminary Evaluation of the European Scene” in Maria Marczewska-Rytko (ed) Religion in Changing Europe: Between Fundamentalism and Pluralism (Lublin: Maria Curie-Sklodowska University Press, pp. 43-67.