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 liberty, moral agency, communal ethics, education, state and nation building, elderhood and ancestorhood. Through these themes, this book, edited by Edwin Etieyibo and Polycarp Ikuenobe, shows that Menkiti’s account of personhood in the context of community is both fundamental and foundational to epistemological, metaphysical, logical, ethical, legal, social and political issues in African thought systems.

This Special Issue of Filosofia Theoretica is dedicated to Ifeany Menkiti's and Kwame Gyekye's debate on Personhood in Afro-communitarianism (African philosophy). It collects new essays from the most popular philosophers who are engaging in the discourse in the contemporary time. Some of the renowned contributors include: Molefi Kete Asante, Polycarp Ikuenobe, Peter Amato, Bernard Matolino, and Ifeanyi Menkiti himself and a host of others. This collection takes the debate to a new level transcending the perimeters of the old debate. This volume is a must-have and a must-read.

In this Vol. 6 No. 1, we bring a mix of refreshing articles in different areas of African philosophy and thought. Filosofia Theoretica Journal of African Philosophy, Culture and Religions is dedicated to the promotion of conversational orientation and publication of astute academic research in African Philosophy and Thought. The articles submitted to Filosofia Theoretica must be presented in defensive and conversational style. The journal has a vision to put Africa and African intellectuals on the global map. However, this does not imply that non-Africans cannot submit articles for consideration insofar as the title falls within the focus of the journal.

This book takes stock of the strides made to date in African philosophy. Authors focus on four important aspects of African philosophy: the history, methodological debates, substantive issues in the field, and direction for the future. By collating this anthology, Edwin E. Etieyibo excavates both current and primordial knowledge in African philosophy, enhancing the development of this growing field.

In going beyond African socialism and consensual democracy’s use of communitarianism, Bernard Matolino demonstrates that there is a mode of understanding communitarianism that need not necessarily be traditionalist. It is from this ever-evolving communitarian notion that an African-rooted form of democracy may arise. Such a democratic theory is one that seeks to prioritize reality and factors that have shaped and continue to shape current experience of life on the African continent. The work advocates a new mode of communitarianism, without the idealism of traditional foundations of kin connections and one which takes the ontological equality of the community and the individual. Such a communitarian outlook will secure the basic requirements of democratization without abdicating its communitarian responsibility. The communitarian democratic theory advocated here takes seriously the particular situation of each individual and yet points out the need to appreciate the inevitability of the connections among the same individuals.

This is the first comprehensive volume on African ethics, centered on Ubuntu and its relevance today. Important contemporary issues are explored, such as African bioethics, business ethics, traditional African attitudes to the environment, and the possible development of a new form of democracy based on indigenous African political systems. In a world that has become interconnected, this anthology demonstrates that African ethics can make valuable contributions to global ethics. It is not only African academics, students, organizations, or those individuals committed to ethics that are envisaged as the beneficiaries of this book, but all humankind. A number of topics presented here were inspired by a Shona proverb that says, Ndarira imwe hairiri (One brass wire cannot produce a sound). The chorus of voices in African Ethics demonstrates this proverbial truism.