Charles C. Verharen

Black to The future A Philosophy for a Global Village

The aim of this article is to look for common ground in the philosophies advanced by Africans in the diaspora. The Africana response to racism establishes a tradition of resistance to oppression, grounded in a philosophy of freedom. What is the meaning of being Black in the worlds future? What new philosophy emerges out of Africana experience? Challenging the orthodoxy of racist ideology, this article argues that Afrocentricity allows one to embrace the divergent cultural experiences of a global village.

Afrocentrism and Acentrism: A Marriage of Science and Philosophy

My aim is to examine the roles philosophy plays in generating alternative views of the universe in order to make a place for philosophy in primary and secondary school education. My assumption is that both philosophy and science are ways of representing experience. They differ only along a continuum whose bands are marked by degrees of generality, guesswork, controversy, and novelty. Philosophy is the more ambitious of the pair as it tries to capture a picture of the totality of reality. Science is much more cautious and settles for precise descriptions of narrow slices of experience. But in their heart of hearts, scientists have the same ambition as philosophers: to describe or explain the whole of human experience. The best historical example of this pretension is found in Newtons claim to have discovered universal laws of gravitation. Newtons discovery so overwhelmed him that he was convinced he had uncovered the structure of Gods sensorium. Einstein put a stop to Newtons ambition. With his destruction of Newtons presuppositions about the rectilinear path of light and the absolute character of its measurements, Einstein forced us to be much more sober about philosophical pretensions to universal knowledge. But Einstein had a strong conviction that he had not realized his own philosophical ambition: to discover a grand uni-

Introducing Survival Ethics into Engineering Education and Practice

Given the possibilities of synthetic biology, weapons of mass destruction and global climate change, humans may achieve the capacity globally to alter life. This crisis calls for an ethics that furnishes effective motives to take global action necessary for survival. We propose a research program for understanding why ethical principles change across time and culture. We also propose provisional motives and methods for reaching global consensus on engineering field ethics. Current interdisciplinary research in ethics, psychology, neuroscience and evolutionary theory grounds these proposals. Experimental ethics, the application of scientific principles to ethical studies, provides a model for developing policies to advance solutions. A growing literature proposes evolutionary explanations for moral development. Connecting these approaches necessitates an experimental or scientific ethics that deliberately examines theories of morality for reliability. To illustrate how such an approach works, we cover three areas. The first section analyzes cross-cultural ethical systems in light of evolutionary theory. While such research is in its early stages, its assumptions entail consequences for engineering education. The second section discusses Howard University and University of Puerto Rico/Mayagüez (UPRM) courses that bring ethicists together with scientists and engineers to unite ethical theory and practice. We include a syllabus for engineering and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) ethics courses and a checklist model for translating educational theory and practice into community action. The model is based on aviation, medicine and engineering practice. The third and concluding section illustrates Howard University and UPRM efforts to translate engineering educational theory into community action. Multidisciplinary teams of engineering students and instructors take their expertise from the classroom to global communities to examine further the ethicality of prospective technologies and the decision-making processes that lead to them.

The New World and the Dreams To Which It May Give Rise

thought, the self’s objective is to unify difference; in its thinking process, the self perfectly expresses the unity of the whole. As thought concretely expressed in matter, the spirit in the body, the self acts for the concrete unification of the world. The European mission is world unity and European abstract forms of consciousness are concretely executed in colonization of the world according to that forced concept of universal unity. Europe is literally the &dquo;end of History,&dquo; because it is the perfect realization of the destiny of the whole. &dquo;The History of the World travels from East to West, for Europe is absolutely the end of History&dquo; (1956, p. 103). Hegel’s statement embodies the essence of what has come to be called &dquo;Eurocentrism.&dquo; Diop’s counterattack on Hegel claims that Africans will transform the European &dquo;end of History&dquo; into an organic, unforced global unity undreamt by European empire builders. DIOP’S VISION OF ANCIENT AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY Diop’s response to Hegel’s challenge to Africa is primarily located in chapter 17 of his final and most forceful work, Civilization or Barbarism: An Authentic Anthropology ( 1991 ). Diop is well aware that the African response to Hegel’s challenge must be philosophical. Ancient African thought must meet two criteria: first, &dquo;It must be conscious of itself, of its own existence as a thought,&dquo; and second, &dquo;It must have accomplished, to a sufficient degree, the separation of myth from concept&dquo; (1991, p. 309). Noting the difficulty of making judgments on the basis of the second criterion, he claims that this problem attaches to classical Greek philosophy as much as classical African philosophy. Diop divides classical Egyptian thought into four systems-Hermopolitan, Heliopolitan, Memphite, and Theban. These systems, he claims, share a core of philosophical principles. First, the universe was not created out of nothing; an uncreated matter has always existed. Second, the uncreated matter embodied principles of order:

Survival Ethics in the Real World: The Research University and Sustainable Development

We discuss how academically-based interdisciplinary teams can address the extreme challenges of the world’s poorest by increasing access to the basic necessities of life. The essay’s first part illustrates the evolving commitment of research universities to develop ethical solutions for populations whose survival is at risk and whose quality of life is deeply impaired. The second part proposes a rationale for university responsibility to solve the problems of impoverished populations at a geographical remove. It also presents a framework for integrating science, engineering and ethics in the efforts of multidisciplinary teams dedicated to this task. The essay’s third part illustrates the efforts of Howard University researchers to join forces with African university colleagues in fleshing out a model for sustainable and ethical global development.

Philosophy Against Empire: An Ancient Egyptian Renaissance

What should be the politics of Afrocentricity? How should Afrocentrists fight globalizations empire, the continuation of slavery by other means? This article grounds political resistance to empire in an ancient Egyptian philosophy of holism. The articles theme is that four powerful movements are converging on a new philosophy. Paradoxically, this “new” philosophy is prefigured in the oldest recorded philosophy, that of ancient Egypt. The four converging philosophies are Afrocentricity, ecofeminism, deep ecology or radical environmentalism, and Marxism. These movements are contemporary expressions of resistance to centuries if not millennia of violent oppression. The articles aim is to create a synergy among these movements to build a coalition that can challenge empire. The article briefly examines the historical career of holism in the area of ontology before considering expressions of holism in the areas of ethics and politics.

Philosophy's Roles in Afrocentric Education.

Should philosophy be introduced as a formal subject to kindergarten through 12th grade students in Afrocentric schools? U.S. public educations aversion to philosophy is so pervasive that Afrocentric educators should consider whether they have assimilated this bias. This essay considers ancient Greek philosophys possible roles in its construction. While challenging Plato and Aristotles arguments against philosophizing before age 30, the essay explains philosophys absence in public schools through structural similarities between ancient Greece and the contemporary United States. The essays objectives are to stimulate Afrocentric educators to formulate an explicit Afrocentric philosophy, to compare ancient African philosophies in Egypt and Nubia to contemporary African philosophies, and to reflect on the philosophies of Africana history they are imparting to their students. The essays conclusion examines Africas creativity in the context of new explanations of African development.

Ethics and extinction: Micro versus macro appropriate technology

Ethical theory and technology practice raise two primary questions. First, what are the ethical principles driving sustainable appropriate technology? Second, what are the viable applications of those principles with respect to alternative appropriate technologies? The hypothesis of this study is that the earth is experiencing the current and sixth mass extinction. Our methodology is first to review ethical principles that address this problem and then to examine their consequences in the field of renewable energy technologies. A primary engine driving mass extinction is current modes of energy production. Unless energy is readily and cheaply available, humans will struggle to form a single economic community that can guarantee the universal rights embodied in the United Nations Declarations of Universal Human Rights. Unfortunately, Micro-Appropriate Technology (AT) applications cannot presently replace the current carbon-based global energy system. This paper analyzes the ethical potential of Macro Photo-Voltaic and Concentrating Solar Power AT systems. Our conclusion argues that the worlds collective nations must undertake a global solar “Manhattan Project” to arrest the sixth mass extinction and overcome the misery of billions in the Global South through ethical sustainable development.

Appropriate technology and ethical obligations of the university: W.E.B. Du Bois on the Africana university mission†

Working on the Encyclopedia Africana under the sponsorship of Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana, W.E.B. Du Bois reversed his conviction that only the ‘talented tenth’ could profit from a university education. He proposed that virtually all humans have a right to a university education. He further insisted that Africana (African and African in the Diaspora) universities are ethically obligated and uniquely positioned to spearhead a movement to train students to become professionals who solve problems community members are unable to solve for themselves. Africana universities can, with the aid of appropriate technology and service learning, take the steps necessary to achieve Du Bois’s vision. In this paper, we present a practical account of how universities may work with local communities to determine the questions to research and then deploy appropriate technologies through community-based but student-driven service learning projects. Our hypothesis is that students can become community leaders of tomorrow by partnering with community members to solve theoretical issues and practical problems of their communities. As university graduates inspired by Du Bois’s vision for Africana universities, their mission will be to establish alumni communities of learning that transfer problem-solving skills to community members who do not yet have access to university education.