Study of an African’s Head, 1830 by Paul-Jean Flandron, Seattle Art Museum. I could not find a portrait of Dr. Eze that I could share, so I chose this powerful portrait instead, with which I illustrated another guest-hosted piece by Dag Herbjørnsrud, which describes the ideas of the 17th-century Ethiopian philosopher Zera Yacob. Eze also studied Yacob’s ideas.
Emmanuel Chukwudi Eze, born in Nigeria on January 18th, 1963, made a deep study of systems of thought in Africa, Europe, and the Americas. Born of Catholic parents, he was educated in Jesuit colleges and universities. He mined philosophy and intellectual history from across the globe, widely and deeply. He particularly focused on postcolonial thought in Africa and the Americas, and rejected attempts to relegate tools of thought to people of one culture or another. Instead, he emphasized the importance of difference and complexity in the practice of reason.
Learn more about Dr. Eze’s broad and rigorous approach to thought:
About Dr. Eze and his book On Reason: Rationality in a World of Cultural Conflict and Racism ~ Duke University Press
African Philosophy at the Turn of the Millennium ~ Emmanuel Chukwudi Eze in dialogue with Rick Lewis
Book review: Achieving our Humanity: The Ideal of the Postracial Future by Emmanuel Chukwudi Eze ~ by Cleavis Headley and Kibujjo M. Kalumba
The Color of Reason: The Idea of “Race” in Kant’s Anthropology ~ by Emmanuel Chukwudi Eze
A Defence of Emmanuel Chukwudi Eze’s Conception of Reason ~ by Mohammed Xolile Ntshangase
Emmanuel Chukwudi Eze ~ in Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia
Emmanuel Chukwudi Eze, 1963-2007: A Personal Reflection ~ by Bruce B. Janz
Philosophia Africana ~ archive of the journal Dr. Eze edited and often published in at the Philosophy Documentation Center
Reading Reason with Emmanuel Eze ~ by John Pittman
*A version of this piece was previously published at Ordinary Philosophy
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