Philosophy- Scholarly Publications

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    Muyiwa Falaiye’s Philosophy of Cultural Adaptationism: An Introductory Appraisal
    (University of Lagos Press, 2012) Owosho, S.A.
    The failure of Africa to lead any meaningful social and political development has ignited the intellectual curiosity of many African socio political thinkers. This failure is more manifest in the areas of scientific and technological developments. So far, divergent reasons have been adduced as possible causes. While a section of thinkers known as the Externalists trace the problem to external factors particularly the European colonisation of Africa, another by the name Internalists, blame the failure of the African states on internal factors with particular emphasis on African leaders. Against the background of this argument, this paper proposes the adoption of Muyiwa Falaiye’s Philosophy of cultural Adaptationism as the socio political philosophy viable for fashioning out the much desired change. It argues that the surest and fastest way to bring about genuine development in Africa is through education and cultural adaptation.
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    Open Access
    An Examination of Immanuel Kant’s Notion of Transcendence
    (Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, Olabisi Onabanjo University, 2012) Owosho, S.A.
    This paper critically examines Immanuel Kant’s notion of transcendence. It explores his meta-epistemic synthesis of rationalist and empiricist theories of cognition. It essentially investigates the transcendental powers of the human mind. It locates the power of the mind to regenerate and transform the world in transcendence. Kant’s theory of transcendence demonstrates the metaphysical powers of the mind to move and go beyond something into the desert region of nothingness. The paper however, reveals Kant’s reduction of metaphysics to anthropology as one of the errors of his theory. It further identifies Kant’s justification of racism as a fundamental pitfall of his theory of transcendence
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    Open Access
    Language as a Viable Mechanism for Evolving Authentic African Identity: A Philosophical Examination
    (Kenya Scholars and Studies Association, 2013) Owosho, S.A.
    The call for evolution of an authentic African identity can be described to mean the call for the development of a new modern African civilization with its own values and its own validity. This crusade suggests in the opinion of scholars of African philosophy either that Africans once had identity but lost it or later denied, or that the Africans never had one. Granted that Africans do have identity, contemporary realities suggest a glaring crisis of identity for Africans, most especially, for the Africans in the Diasporas. This paper traces the origin of the problem and the search for an authentic African identity from the advent of slavery and slave trade perpetrated by the European colonialists, and their attempts to wipe out the identity of Africans. Realising the potency of language, this paper explores language as an effective springboard for the development of the re-emergent African civilization. Language serves as the tool and the primary medium of expression as it plays an important role in the way people know and understand. It further advocates the development of native African languages a conditio sine qua non for re-establishing a genuine African identity. It makes a clarion call on the government of African nations to propagate the values and heritages of indigenous African languages. It concludes that the foundation for the survival of Africans as a people lies in the reconstruction of Africa’s cultural identity
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    Open Access
    Leadership Question in Nigeria: A Philosophical Appraisal
    (University of Cape Coast Press, 2016) Owosho, S.A.
    The deficiency in governance and the socio economic imbalance that have ravaged the Nigerian political landscape since independence suggest to a large extent a vivid manifestation of leadership failure. It is against this backdrop that this paper proposes to make a philosophical examination of the question of leadership in the Nigerian state .In the philosophical parlance, a leader for Plato is one who has attained the highest level of knowledge and statesmanship. Plato advocates that competence should be the qualification for authority. This paper makes the statement that Nigeria will witness a progressive monumental transformation if philosophical acumen is made the minimum requirement for the appointment or election of leaders
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    Open Access
    Art and the Question of Moral Values: A Moderatist Perspective
    (Department of Philosophy, Olabisi Onabanjo University, 2013) Owosho, S.A.
    A major theme of discussion within the recent philosophical aesthetics is concerned with the relation between the moral aspect in the works of art and their overall artistic value. Ethicists believe that much contemporary art seems morally out of control, yet philosophers seem to have trouble finding the right way to morally evaluate works of art. It is against this background that this paper proposes a philosophical inquiry into the relations between artistic values and moral values. This paper identifies two opposing philosophical positions with respect to the legitimacy of the moral evaluation of art: Moralism and Autonomism. While moralism is the view that the aesthetic value of art should be determined by its moral value, autonomism holds that it is inappropriate to apply moral categories to art; rather they should be evaluated by aesthetic standard value. The paper rejects autonomism and moralism as extreme and untenable philosophical theories of art. It further examines moderate autonomism and moderate moralism as plausible theories. It argues for the adoption of moderate moralism as the appropriate philosophical theory for the moral evaluation of art