Curriculum Vitae
EDUCATION
Ph.D.
(Philosophy)
McGill University,
Montreal, Quebec,
Canada --- May,
1986
(Dean's Honor List for Excellence in the Doctoral Program.)
Doctoral
Thesis: "Hume's Theory of Moral Responsibility
in the Treatise."
Director:
Professor David Fate Norton.
M.A.
(Philosophy)
Dalhousie University,
Halifax, Nova
Scotia, Canada
--- September, 1978.
Thesis:
"Strawson and Disembodied Existence."
Director:
Professor Richmond Campbell.
B.A. (Philosophy & English)
Fourah Bay College,
University of Sierra
Leone, Freetown,
Sierra Leone,
West Africa --
June, 1975
Thesis:
“Persons and Disembodied Existence.”
Supervisor:
Mr. A.G. Elgood
AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION
Early
Modern Philosophy, Ethics, Hume, African and African
American Philosophies.
AREAS OF COMPETENCE
Epistemology,
Logic and Critical Thinking, and Contemporary Analytic
Philosophy.
CAREER SUMMARY AND WORK EXPERIENCE:
2002-Present: Full Professor, Department of Philosophy, Middle Tennessee
State University,
Murfreesboro, TN 37132
1998-2001: Associate Professor of Philosophy, Middle Tennessee
State University,
Murfreesboro, Tennessee. (Tenured 2000.)
Courses: Logic and Critical Thinking; Introduction to
Philosophy; Readings
in Early Modern Philosophy; Ethics; and African American Philosophy.
1996-1998: Associate
Professor of Philosophy (Tenured) Spelman
College, Atlanta, Georgia.
Courses: Ethics; Analytic Philosophy; Modern Philosophy; Formal
Logic; and Epistemology.
1990-1996: Assistant
Professor of Philosophy, Spelman College, Atlanta,
Georgia.
Courses: Ethics; Practical Reasoning; Formal Logic; Introduction to Philosophy; History of
Western Philosophy
(Modern);
Epistemology; Independent Studies in Contemporary Analytic Philosophy; and
Independent Studies Seminar in Epistemology.
1985-1990: Lecturer, Marianopolis College,
Montréal, Quebec,
Canada.
Courses: Formal Logic; Modern Philosophy; Ethics; Contemporary
Analytic Philosophy; Introduction to Philosophy; and Philosophical Issues in
novels about Africa. This last course was one
of several Core Humanities Courses from which each student was required to
select and study one in order to fulfil the
graduation requirement of the college. The objective of these courses was to
broaden the students' horizon beyond their immediate areas of concentration.
Novels studies: Joseph Conrad, The Heart
of Darkness, Chinua Achebe, Things
Fall Apart and A Man of the People,
and Robert Serumaga, Return to the Shadows.
1981-1985: Teaching Assistant, Department of Philosophy, McGill University.
1979-1981: Lecturer,
Department of Philosophy, Fourah Bay College,
University of Sierra Leone, Freetown, Sierra Leone, West Africa. (During this
period I was on leave of absence from McGill University,
having completed a year in the doctoral
program. And in the second year,
1980-1981, I was appointed Acting Head in the absence of the substantive
Departmental Head.)
Courses: Rationalism and Empiricism; Problems in Ethics; History of
Ethics; Metaphysics; Introduction to Philosophy; and Epistemology. I also
delivered a weekly one-hour public lecture on philosophic thought to first year
non-Philosophy students as part of the college's Foundation Course Program.
This Foundation Course was a mandatory full-year course in which all
departments in the Faculty of Arts participated. The contribution of the
Philosophy Department consisted in providing all first-year non-Philosophy
students some grounding in critical thinking through a general introduction to
some of the perennial questions examined in the discipline.
1978-1979: Teaching
Assistant, Department of Philosophy, McGill
University.
1977-1978: Graduate Assistant, Dalhousie
University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
1976-1977: Research and Teaching Assistant in Philosophy, Fourah Bay College,
University of Sierra Leone. Conducted conferences on Introductory
Philosophy; assisted in setting up and grading examinations; directed the
activities of the Philosophy Students' Association; and edited students' essays
for publication in The Philosophy Journal.
1975-1976: Teacher, Albert
Academy, Freetown, Sierra Leone. Taught Literature at Sixth and Fourth Forms,
and English Language at Fifth Form. In addition, I supervised the meetings of
the Intermediate Division (consisting of
Third and Fourth Form pupils) of the school's Literary and Debating Society.
The object of this society was to train students in the art of public speaking. As a member of the English department, my
role as supervisor of the society was to plan and coordinate the activities of
the society, to schedule special events, decide on topics for weekly debates,
and to moderate discussions and debates. Panelists were all students.
PUBLICATIONS:
BOOK
Cornel West
and Philosophy: The Quest for Social Justice (Routledge,
2002).
ARTICLES, BOOK CHAPTERS, REVIEW ESSAYS, ETC.
“Public Morality, Liberalism and Virtue Ethics.” In Caribbean Journal of Philosophy, an On-line
Journal, Vol. 2, No.1 (2010).
“Reading
Between the Lines: Kathryn
Gines on Hannah Arendt
and Antiblack Racism.” In Southern Journal of Philosophy,
Vol. XLVII (2009).
"Reconceptualizing Blackness
and Making Race Obsolescent." Commissioned chapter contribution to volume
entitled White on White/Black on Black (ed.) George Yancy.
Rowman and Littlefield, 2005.
“Author Meets Critics Session on Cornel West and Philosophy at the APA Eastern Division Meeting
December 27-30, 2003: Response to My Critics.” In the APA Newsletter on Philosophy and
the Black Experience, Vol. 4 No.2, (spring 2005), pp.6-9.
“A Critique of Cornel
West’s Christo-Marxian Prescription for Social Justice.” In Cheryl L. Hughes
(ed.), Race, Social Identity, Human Dignity, Social Philosophy Today Book Series, Vol. 16, (Philosophy Documentation
Center, 2002).
“Reading Cornel West as a Humanistic Scholar: Rhetoric and
Practice.” In George
Yancy
(ed.), Cornel West: A Critical Reader, (Blackwell, 2001).
“Cornel West, African American Critical Thought, and the
Quest for Social Justice.” The Journal of Social Philosophy,
Vol. 32, No.4 (Winter 2001), 547-572.
"Paulin Hountondji, African Philosophy
and Philosophical Methodology." Southern Journal of Philosophy, Vol. XXXVI
(1998), pp.179-195.
“Scholarship, Power, and Moral Decency.” The
Journal of Thought, Vol. 33 (1), (Spring 1998), pp.9-14. This is the lead piece in the volume.
"Cornel West as Pragmatist and Existentialist." In
Lewis R. Gordon
(ed.), Existence in Black: An Anthology
of Black Existential Philosophy,
(Routledge, 1997).
"An Analysis of John Mbiti's Treatment of the Concept of Event in African
Ontologies." QUEST: An International Journal of African Philosophy, Vols. IX
(2) and X (1), (1996), pp.139-157.
"Annette
Baier on
Reason and Morals in Hume's Philosophy." DIALOGUE: Canadian Philosophical Review,
Vol. XXXIV, No.
2 (Spring 1995), pp.367-380.
"Teaching the Canons of Western Philosophy at
Historically Black Colleges and Universities: The Spelman
College Experience."
Metaphilosophy, Vol. 26, No.4 (October 1995),
pp.413-423.
"Capaldi's Copernican Reading
of Hume." DIALOGUE: Canadian Philosophical Review,
Vol. XXXIII No.1 (Winter 1994), pp. 71-78.
"Hume's Theory of Moral
Responsibility: Some Unresolved Matters." DIALOGUE: Canadian Philosophical
Review, Vol. XXX1, No.1 (1992), pp.3-18. This is the lead article in the volume and it
has been reprinted in Roland
G. Bonnel (ed.), Facets
of the Eighteenth Century (Ontario: Captus
University Publications, 1991), pp.79-92.
The reprint in Facets appeared before the original
publication in DIALOGUE because DIALOGUE, as a result of a backlog,
rescheduled the manuscript from its originally slated issue.
"Yet Another Look at Cognitive Reason And Moral Action
in Hume's Ethical System." Journal of Philosophical Research,
Vol. XVII (1992), pp. 225-238.
"Lehrer and the Analysis of Knowledge." The Southwest Philosophy Review,
Vol. 8, No. 2 (July, 1992), pp. 89-96.
"Hume on Character, Action and
Causal Necessity." AUSLEGUNG: A Journal of Philosophy,
Vol. 16, No. 2 (Summer 1990), pp. 149-164.
This article has been indexed in the select bibliography of The
Cambridge Companion to Hume
(ed.) David Fate Norton. Cambridge
University Press, 1994.
“The Humanistic Scholarship of Cornel West.”
In Lewis R. Gordon
(ed.) Key Figures in African American Critical Thought. Routledge. Forthcoming.
"The Concept of Essence in African Religious and
Philosophical Thought." Encyclopedia of African Religions and Philosophy,
(ed.) V.Y. Mudimbe.
Commissioned article. Dordretch, The Netherlands:
Kluwer Academic Publishers Inc. Forthcoming.
"The Nature of Event in African Religious and
Philosophical Thought." Encyclopedia of African Religions and
Philosophy, (ed.) V.Y.
Mudimbe.
Commissioned article. Dordretch, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic
Publishing Inc. Forthcoming.
“Resistance to Modernity: Two Contesting Viewpoints.” In Blackness
and Modernities, Eds. Violet Showers Johnson and Isabel
Soto. Collegium for African
American Research FORECAST Series. Hamburg and Munster: Lit Verlag
Press, 2011. Forthcoming.
BOOK REVIEWS
Review of Lewis
Gordon’s An Introduction to Africana Philosophy (Cambridge, 2008). In CHOICE: Current Reviews for
Academic Libraries: Review No.46-3172,
February, 2009.
Review of Gilbert Harman and Sanjeev Kulkari’s
Reliable Reasoning: Induction and
Statistical Learning Theory.(MIT Press, 2007) In CHOICE: Current Reviews for
Academic Libraries: Review
No. 45-3711, March, 2008.
“Democratic Governance and (Transitional) Postcolonial States:
A Review of George Carew’s Democratic
Transition in Postcolonial Africa – A Deliberative Approach” (Mellen, 2006). In the APA Newsletters, Vol. 7, No.1 (fall
2007), pp.5-10.
Review of Donald
Rutherford (ed.) The Cambridge
Companion to Early Modern Philosophy (Cambridge,
2007). In CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries: Review No.
45-0208, September, 2007
Review of Joseph
Margolis, Introduction to Philosophical Problems (Continuum, 2006). In CHOICE:
Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, Review No. 44-3229, February,
2007.
Review of Andrew
Lawless, Plato’s Sun: An Introduction to Philosophy (Toronto, 2005). In CHOICE: Current Reviews for
Academic Libraries, Review No. 43-3324, February, 2006.
Review of Mathias Steup and Ernest Sosa
(eds.) Contemporary Debates in
Epistemology (Blackwell, 2004). In CHOICE:
Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, Rev. No. 43-0232, September
2005.
Commissioned review of Kwasi Wiredu's
(ed.) A Companion to African Philosophy
(Malden, MA and
Oxford UK: Blackwell Publishing, 2004). In
APA
Newsletter on Philosophy and the Black Experience, Vol.4, No.2 (spring
2005), pp.11-13.
Review of Kwasi Wiredu's
(ed.) A Companion to African Philosophy
(Malden, MA and
Oxford UK: Blackwell
Publishing, 2004). In CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic
Libraries, Rev. No. 42-1478, November, 2004.
Review of Roy
Sorenson's A Brief History of the
Paradox: Philosophy and the Labyrinths of the Mind (Oxford, 2003). In CHOICE: Current Reviews for
Academic Libraries, Rev. No. 41-6462, July, 2004.
Commissioned review of Rosemary Cowan's
Cornel West: The Politics of Redemption
(Cambridge, UK
and Malden, MA: Polity and Blackwell Publishers, 2003).
In the APA Newsletter on Philosophy and the Black Experience, Vol. 3
(1), Fall 2003, pp.52-56.
Commissioned review of Rosemary Cowan's
Cornel West: The Politics of Redemption
(Cambridge, UK
and Malden, MA: Polity and Blackwell Publishers, 2003).
In The
A.M.E. Church Review, Vol. CXX
(January-March, 2004), pp. 139-140.
Review of Barry Hallen's A Short
History of African Philosophy (Bloomington
and Indianapolis: Indiana University
Press, 2002). In CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, Rev. No. 403328,
February, 2003.
On-line Review of Andrew B. Schoedinger’s
Our Philosophical Heritage, (Dubuque,
Iowa: Kendall/Hunt, 1999). In Amazon.com
Review of Paulin Hountondji's
African Philosophy: Myth and Reality, 2nd. ed. (Bloomington
and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1996). In DIALOGUE: Canadian Philosophical
Review, Vol.
XXXVIII (3), 1999, pp.684-688.
Review of Kwasi Wiredu's
Cultural Universals and Particulars
(Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1996). In Philosophy
in Review, XVII (4), 1997, pp.300-302.
Review of Gilles
Deleuze's Empiricism and
Subjectivity: An Essay on Hume's Theory of Human
Nature (New York: Columbia University Press, 1991). In AUSLEGUNG: A Journal of
Philosophy, Vol. 20, Number 1 (Winter 1995), pp. 35-37.
Review of African
Philosophy: The Essential Readings
(ed.) Tsenay
Serequeberhan
(New York: Paragon House, 1991). In AUSLEGUNG:
A Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 19, Number 1, (Winter 1993), pp.
104-109.
Review of Trudy Govier's
God, The Devil and The Perfect Pizza: Ten
Philosophical Questions (Peterborough & New York: Broadview Press,
1989). In AUSLEGUNG: A Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 18, Number 1, (Winter
1992), pp. 82-85. This review is a descendant of my comments as referee of the
book's manuscript for Broadview Press. Excerpts from this review have been
quoted in at least two promotional fliers of Broadview Press.
Commissioned review of The
Philosopher As Writer (ed.) Robert
Ginsberg, (Selinsgrove: Susquehanna University Press
1987). In Canadian Philosophical Reviews Vol. VIII,
No. 6 (June 1988), pp. 210-213.
Review of Teodros
Kiros’ Zara Yacob: Rationality of the Heart (Lawrenceville, NJ and Asmara, Eritrea:
The Red Sea Press, Inc., 2005). Philosophia Africana.
Under editorial consideration.
WORK(S) IN PROGRESS
“Science, Technology
and Morality”
John Locke, American Slavery and
the Age of Paradox.
PUBLIC LECTURES
·
“Public Morality,
Liberalism and Virtue Ethics.” Annual Lecture in Public Philosophy, St. Mary’s
University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. September 22, 2011.
“Democracy in a Pluralistic Society: Challenges of
Difference.” Keynote Address at Duquesne
University and the University of Pittsburgh
jointly sponsored conference entitled A
New Democracy? Economics, Culture and Difference, held at Duquesne University,
March 20, 2009.
“Democratic Governance and (Transitional) Postcolonial
States.” DePauw University,
Greencastle, Indiana, Friday, November 9, 2007.
“Customs, Cultures and Normative Judgments: Transcending
Differences.” Inaugural lecture, Spring 2002 Honors College Annual Lecture
Series, Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU), January 13, 2003.
“The Sins of our
Philosophical Forebears: Modern Philosophy and Eurocentricism.”
Boise State
University, Boise, Idaho,
October 30, 1999.
“Morality and the Limits of Technology.” Boise State University, Boise,
Idaho, October 29, 1999.
“Modern Philosophy, The Legitimation of Racism, and the
Alienation of the Other.” The University
of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee, April 14,
1999.
“Morality and the Limits of Technology.” Inaugural lecture,
Fall 1999 Honors College Annual Lecture
Series, Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU), August 30, 1999.
“Modern Philosophy, The Legitimation of Racism, and the
Alienation of the Other.” Keynote
address at the 45th Annual Southeastern Undergraduate Philosophy
Conference, Tennessee State University, Nashville,
Tennessee, February 26, 1999.
“Modern Philosophy and the Legitimation of Racism.” Spring
1999 Lecture Series of the African American Studies Program, MTSU, February 16, 1999.
“The Philosophical Basis of Cornel West’s Sociopolitical
Engagements.” Southern Illinois
University at Edwardsville,
Edwardsville, Monday, February 16, 1998.
“The Prophetic Pragmatism of Cornel West.”
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga,
Wednesday, November
5, 1997.
"Scholarship, Power and Moral Decency." Spelman College 1997 Scholarships, Prizes and
Awards Ceremony, April
24, 1997.
SCHOLARLY PRESENTATIONS
“Public Morality, Liberalism and Virtue Ethics.” Presented
at MTSU Annual Scholar’s Day Conference, April 1, 2009.
“Public Morality, Liberalism and Virtue Ethics.” Presented
at the First Global Conference on Ethics and Public Policy, Salzburg, Austria,
March 13-15, 2009.
“Reading
Between the Lines: Kathryn Gines on Hannah Arendt
and Antiblack Racism.” Presented at the 27th
Annual Spindel Conference on the theme Race, Racism
and Liberalism in the 21st Century. University of Memphis,
September 25-27, 2009.
“On George
M. Carew’s
Democratic Transition in Postcolonial
Africa: A Deliberative Approach (Mellen,
2006)”.Presented at the Fourth Annual Caribbean Philosophical Association
conference, The University of West Indies—Mona,
Kingston, Jamaica, June 27-30, 2007.
“Resistance to Modernity: Two Contesting Viewpoints.”
Presented at the Seventh International Collegium for African American Research
(CAAR) Conference, National University,
Madrid, Spain,
April 18-21, 2007.
“A Conversation on Double Consciousness: Molefi
K. Asante and Clarence
Sholé Johnson.” Co-sponsored by The Institute
for the Study of Race and Social Thought, The Center for the Humanities and the
Philosophy Department of Temple University; held at Temple
University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
Friday, March 23,
2007.
“Asante
and Du Bois on Race(ism) and the Problem of Double
Consciousness.” Presented at the Third Annual Caribbean Philosophical
Association conference, Montreal,
Quebec, Canada,
August 1-3, 2006.
“In Defense of Racial Eliminativism.”
Presented at the Second Annual Caribbean Philosophical Association conference ,
San Juan, Puerto Rico,
June 1-4, 2005.
“Descartes, Zara Yacob and Philosophical
Modernity.” Presented at the Second Annual Caribbean Philosophical Association
conference, San Juan, Puerto
Rico, June 1-4, 2005.
“(Re)Conceptualizing Blackness and Making Race Obsolete.”
Presented at the annual Collegium for African American Research (CAAR)
conference in Tour, France, April 20-25, 2005.
"John
Locke, the Problem of Personal
Identity and English Colonial/Economic Enterprise."
Presented at the First Annual Meeting of the Caribbean Philosophical
Association, Accra Beach Hotel, Christ
Church, Barbados,
May 19-22, 2004.
"Author Meets Critics: A critical discussion of
Clarence Sholé Johnson's Cornel West and Philosophy (Routledge,
2002)" at the 100th annual meetings of the American
Philosophical Association (Eastern Division), the Washington Hilton Hotel,
Washington, DC, December 27-30, 2003. Critics: Robert
Bernasconi (University of Memphis),
Cynthia Willett
(Emory University),
and Albert Mosley (Smith College).
Respondent: author.
“Affirmative Action and the Issue of Social Justice: Why Not
a Universal Class-Based Policy?” Presented at the National Association of
African American Studies Annual Conference, Houston, Texas,
February 11-16, 2002.
“Affirmative Action and the Issue of Social Justice: Why Not
a Universal Class-Based Policy?” Presented at the 33rd Annual
Meetings of the Tennessee Philosophical
Association, Vanderbilt
University, November,
2-3, 2001.
“A Critique of Cornel West’s Christo-Marxian Prescription
for Social Justice.” Presented at Middle Tennessee State University Second
Annual University-wide Faculty Research Symposium, April 25, 2001.
“Cornel West, the Black-Jewish Conflict and the Consequences
for Social Justice.” Presented at the National Association of African American
Studies (NAAAS) Annual Conference, Houston,
Texas, February 12-17, 2001.
“Cornel West, African American Critical Thought, and the
Quest for Social Justice.” Presented at the National Association of African
American Studies (NAAAS) Annual Conference, Houston, Texas,
February 21-26, 2000.
“A Humean Kant or a Kantian Hume?: A Response to Randy Cagle’s
‘The Role of the Affective in Kant’s Theory of Moral
Motivation’.” Presented at the 31st Annual Meetings of the Tennessee Philosophical Association, Vanderbilt University,
November 6, 1999.
“Cornel West, African American Critical Thought, and the
Quest for Social Justice.” Presented at the Sixteenth International Social
Philosophy Conference, Villanova
University, July 15-17,
1999.
“Text, Textuality, and Constructing Philosophy as a Way of Life: A
Response to Samuel
Oluoch Imbo.” Presented
at the Twenty-Third Annual Mid-South Philosophy Conference, The University of Memphis,
Tennessee,
March 5-7, 1999.
“Cornel West, The Early Black Cultural Critics, and the
Politics of Representation.” Presented at the National Association of African
American Studies (NAAAS) Conference, Houston,
Texas, February 9-13, 1999.
“Paulin Hountondji, African Philosophy
and Philosophical Methodology.” Presented at the 20th Third World Studies
Conference, University of Nebraska (Omaha)
October 9-11, 1997.
"Cornel West as Pragmatist and Existentialist."
Presented at the Ninety-Third Annual Meetings of the American Philosophical
Association, December 27-30, 1996, at the Marriott Marquis Hotel, Atlanta, Georgia.
"Causation, Sympathy and Morality: A Response to Andrew Cunningham's
'Aspects of Mind and Causation in Hume's Treatise'." Presented at the
Fortieth Annual Conference of the Canadian Philosophical Association at Brock University, Ontario,
Canada, 29th
May-1st June, 1996.
"An Analysis of John Mbiti's Treatment of the Concept of Event in African
Ontologies." Presented at the 18th Annual Third World Studies Conference, The University
of Nebraska (Omaha)
Nebraska,
October 12-14, 1995.
"Outlines of the Main Argument on Hume's
Conception of Reason in its Relation to Moral Conduct." Presented at the
Bush Faculty Development Grant and
Evaluation, Spelman
College, May 24, 1995.
"Teaching the Canons of Western Philosophy at HBCUs:
The Spelman College Experience." Presented at the American Association of
Philosophy Teachers (AAPT) Tenth International Workshop-Conference on Teaching
Philosophy, Marianopolis College, Montréal, Quebec,
Canada, August 5-8, 1994.
"Hume's Instrumentalist Conception of Practical Reason: A
Reply to Jean
Hampton." Presented at the
Twenty-First Hume International Conference, Universita di
Roma ("La Sapienza"),
Rome, Italy, June 20-24, 1994.
"Conflict and Conciliation: War and Peace." A
Workshop Presentation at the Curriculum Development Institute on the theme Governance, Equity and the Global Poor,
jointly sponsored by Interfaith Hunger Appeal and Spelman College. Spelman College, June 9-12, 1994.
"Monitoring the Environmental Policies of
Companies." A presentation at the
Industrial Ecology Workshop and Forum jointly sponsored by AT&T and Spelman
College Environmental Task Force. Spelman College, March 20-26,1994.
"Did Hume Replace Reason
with Sentiment in his Moral Enterprise?"
Presented at the 45th Annual Northwest Conference on Philosophy, Kwantlen College, Vancouver,
British Columbia, Canada,
November 5-6, 1993.
"Yet Another Look at Cognitive Reason and Moral Action
in Hume's Ethical System." Presented at the
Joint Meetings of the Twentieth Hume Conference and
the Eighteenth-Century Scottish Studies Society at the University
of Ottawa, Ontario,
Canada,
July 6-10, 1993.
"Annette
Baier on
Reason and Morals in Hume's Philosophy." Presented in a symposium to the Canadian
Philosophical Association at the Thirty-Seventh Annual Congress of the Canadian
Learned Societies, Carleton University, Ottawa,
30th May-2nd June,1993. Fellow symposiasts included David Braybrooke,
Louise Marcil-Lacoste and Annette Baier.
"In Defense of Hume's view of our Ascriptive
Practices." Presented at the annual Intermountain Philosophy Conference,
held at Appalachian State University, Boone,
North Carolina, April 23-24,
1993.
"Foot on Hume on Moral
Responsibility." Presented at the 44th Annual Northwest Philosophy
Conference, Boise State University,
Boise, Idaho,
November 6-7, 1992.
"Yet Another Look at Cognitive Reason and Moral Action
in Hume's Ethical System." Presented at Spelman College Faculty Brown Bag Colloquium, 27th
October, 1992.
"Locke and the Problem of
General Knowledge: A Cartesian Reply to Odegard." Presented at the Canadian Philosophical
Association at the Thirty-Sixth Annual Congress of the Canadian Learned
Societies, University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island,
Canada, 24-27
May, 1992.
"Foot on Hume on Moral
Responsibility." Presented at the Spring Meetings of the Georgia
Philosophical Society, Georgia
State University,
Saturday, 2nd May, 1992.
"Yet Another
Look at Cognitive Reason and Moral Action in Hume's
Ethical System." Presented at the annual Fall Meetings of the Georgia
Philosophical Society, Oglethorpe
University, Saturday, 19th
October, 1991.
"Hume's Theory of Moral Responsibility: Some Unresolved Matters." Presented at
the Sixteenth Annual Meetings of the Atlantic Society For Eighteenth Century
Studies, Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, April 20-22, 1990.
"Hume on Character, Action
and Causal Necessity." Presented at the Canadian Philosophical
Association, at the Thirty-Second Annual Congress of the Canadian Learned
Societies, McMaster University, Hamilton,
Ontario, Canada,
24-27 May,1988.
CONFERENCE/WORKSHOP
PARTICIPATION
AND ATTENDANCE
Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) Leadership Academy,
SunTrust Bank, Murfreesboro,
spring 2002.
Dean’s designee, MTSU Leadership Institute, Fall Creek Falls
Resort, Piketon, Tennessee, April 9-12, 2001.
Represented the President of Spelman
College at the 79th Annual
Meetings of the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS),
Sheraton Society Hill Hotel, Philadelphia,
May 1-2, 1998.
The Thirty-Ninth annual conference of the Canadian
Philosophical Association at the Annual Congress of the Canadian Learned
Societies, Université du Quebec a Montréal (UQAM), June 3-6, 1995.
Facilitator, "The Use of DNA
Testing in Criminal Investigations: Ethics, Legality and Scientific
Accuracy." Spelman
College, November 16, 1994.
The Inaugural Conference of the Southeastern Seminar in
Early Modern Philosophy, Emory
University, November 5-6,
1994.
The Eighteenth
Hume Conference held at the University
of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon,
August 12-15, 1991.
The
Region Three Workshop of Partnership for International Development Program and
USAID, held at Morris Brown College, Atlanta,
Georgia,
September 1, 1995. The
workshop was directed at faculty in Historically Black Colleges and
Universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) on grant proposal
writing and strategies in obtaining and using information about grant
opportunities through which the types of institutions in question could become
involved with USAID. In particular, the object of the all-day workshop was to
provide “information and insight into the process of becoming involved with
USAID contracting opportunities” and to "assist individuals in assessing
and marketing their institution's strengths."
The second of five workshop series sponsored by The
Consortium for Inter-institutional Collaboration in African and Latin American
Studies (CICALS), and hosted by Spelman
College. Spelman
College, March 10-12,
1995.
The Spelman and Morehouse Colleges 1993 Peace and
International Studies Summer Workshop, Spelman College,
May 17-28, 1993.
Summer
Workshop of Spelman College Liberal Arts Core Course Committee on the then
proposed course entitled The African Diaspora and the World, Spelman College,
June 1-12, 1992. I was one of twelve (12) faculty members charged with the
responsibility of drawing up the syllabus for the course.
Spelman College Bush Grant sponsored Faculty Development
Workshop on Teaching and Learning Styles, Spelman College,
20th May, 1992.
Spelman College Comprehensive Writing Program Summer
Workshop entitled "Pedagogical Uses of Computer Technology.” Spelman College, June 10-14, 1991.
RESEARCH AWARDS,
FELLOWSHIPS AND
SCHOLARSHIPS
2009: MTSU Faculty Research and Creative Activity Summer
Research Grant to enable me to revise for final submission my paper “Resistance
to Modernity: Two Contesting Viewpoints” that is to appear as a chapter in a
forthcoming book Blackness and Modernities (eds.)
Violet Showers Johnson and Isabel Soto. (Hamburg
and Munster:
Lit Verlag Press.)
2008: MTSU Non-Instructional Assignment Grant (otherwise
known as a sabbatical leave grant) to conduct research for manuscript entitled John Locke, American Slavery and the Age of Paradox.
2004: MTSU Faculty Research and Creative Activity Grant,
with a one-course release time, to pursue research on the topic
"(Re)Conceptualizing Blackness and Making Race Obsolescent."
2003: MTSU Faculty Research and Creative Activity Grant,
with a one-course release time, to pursue research on the topic “Science,
Technology and Morality.”
2002: MTSU Faculty Research and Creative Activity Grant,
with a one-course release time, to complete manuscript entitled “A Critique of
Cornel West’s Christo-Marxian Prescription for Social Justice.”
2001: MTSU Faculty Research and Creative Activity Summer
Research Grant to conduct research on the topic “Cornel West, the Black-Jewish
Conflict and the Consequences for Social Justice.”
2001: MTSU Faculty Research and Creative Activity Grant,
with a one-course release time, to revise for publication my paper entitled
“Cornel West, African American Critical Thought and the Quest for Social
Justice.”
2000: MTSU Faculty Research and Creative Activity Grant,
with a one-course release time, to revise for publication my paper entitled
“Reading Cornel West as a Humanistic Scholar: Rhetoric and Practice.”
1998 (Spring semester): Scholar-in-Residence, Faculty
Resource Network, New York
University. I was on a sabbatic leave from Spelman College,
during which period I conducted a substantive body of research for my book Cornel West and Philosophy (published in
2002). My faculty host at NYU was Professor
Robert Gurland.
1996: Spelman
College Presidential
Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching.The award
consisted of a recognition plaque signed by then President, Dr. Johnnetta B.
Cole, and a cheque
for $1,000.
1996: Spelman College
Faculty Development Grant of $1,259.50 to present a paper entitled
"Causation, Sympathy and Morality: A
Response to Andrew
Cunningham's 'Aspects of Mind and
Causation in Hume's Treatise'" at the Fortieth
Annual Conference of the Canadian Philosophical Association. The conference was held at Brock University, Ontario,
Canada, May
29-June 1, 1996.
1994: Charles Merrill International Travel Award of $1,500 to present a paper entitled
"Hume's Instrumentalist Conception
of Practical Reason: A Reply to Jean Hampton" to the Hume Society at its
21st annual Hume Conference at Universita di Roma
("La Sapienza"), Rome, Italy, June 20-24,
1994.
1994: Spelman College Bush Faculty Development Award of $575 to
conduct research on Hume and Practical Reason
(completed as "Hume's Instrumentalist Conception
of Practical Reason: A Reply to Jean Hampton”) and presented at the 21st annual Hume
conference at the Universita di Roma
("La Sapienza") in Rome, Italy,
June 20-24, 1994.
1993: Charles
Merrill International Travel Award
of $1,200 to present a paper to the Canadian Philosophical Association on 31st
May, 1993 at the annual conference of the Canadian Learned Societies held at Carleton University,
Ottawa, Canada.
1993: Charles Merrill
International Travel Award of $1,197.15
to present paper to the Hume Society at its 20th Hume Conference jointly
sponsored
by the Eighteenth Century Scottish Studies Society, at the University of Ottawa, July 6-10,1993, in Ottawa, Canada.
1991: Spelman
College Bush Faculty
Development Grant of $1,300 to conduct research into the third and final part
of a Hume study.
1990: Spelman
College Bush Faculty
Development Grant of $2,000 to conduct
research on the second of a three-part study of the philosophy
of David
Hume.
1984-85: Dow-Hickson Fellowship, McGill University.
This was a major merit-based departmental award.
1981-1985;
1978-1979: Teaching Assistant, McGill University. Five-time recipient of the McGill University
Annual Summer Research Fellowship of $1,500; and Twice recipient of the McGill University
Foreign Student Graduate Fee Bursary of $500.
1977-1978: Dalhousie University
Graduate Fellowship to pursue the M.A. degree in Philosophy. This was a major
university award.
1972-1975: Sierra
Leone Government Scholarship for Higher
Education. This was a merit-based four-year scholarship to pursue
undergraduate studies.
1971-1972: Sierra Leone
Government scholarship to pursue studies at the Sixth Form.
BOARD MEMBERSHIP, PEER REVIEWING
AND RELATED
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
2010: Editorial Board Member, Radical Philosophy Review.
2010: Editorial Board Member, Caribbean Journal of Philosophy
2008: External Reviewer for Duquesne University’s Philosophy
Department in connection with the candidacy of a faculty member for tenure and
promotion to Associate Professor.
2008: External Reviewer for Marquette University’s
Department of Philosophy in connection with the candidacy of a faculty member
for tenure and promotion to Associate Professor.
2008: Manuscript Reviewer for the journal Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority
Education: International (School
of Education, Hebrew
University, Jerusalem, Israel,
91905).
2007: Board Member in the capacity of Secretary for African
Political Thought, Caribbean Philosophical Association.
2006: External Reviewer for Kent State University’s Department of Philosophy in
connection with the candidacy of a faculty member for promotion to Full
Professor.
2006: Manuscript Reviewer for the journal Research in African Literatures.
2004-2006: Board Member in the capacity of Secretary of
Philosophy and Human Rights, Caribbean Philosophical Association.
2004-2006: Member, Dissertation Committee of Ms. Lina Buffington, Ph. D.
candidate in Philosophy at Emory University, Atlanta,
GA.
2004: Book Proposal Reviewer for Rowman
& Littlefield Publishers
2003: Manuscript Reviewer for the journal African Studies Quarterly.
2002- present: Reviewer, CHOICE:
Current Reviews for Academic Libraries.
2002: Manuscript Reviewer for the American Philosophical Quarterly.
2000-2001: Organizer of the 48th Annual
Southeastern Undergraduate Philosophy Conference hosted by the Department of
Philosophy, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, March
2-3, 2001.
1999-2000: Manuscript Reviewer for Social Philosophy Today Book Series
1999-2002: Area Coordinator of the National Association of
African American Studies (NAAAS) Annual National Conference, February 22-26,
2000
1999: Student Scholastic Showcase Judge, Golden Key
International Honor Society.
1999: Consultant, Tennessee
State University
Honors Interdisciplinary Humanities Curriculum Development Program.
1998: Manuscript
Reviewer for Howard
University Press.
1997: Manuscript
Reviewer for Dialogue: Canadian
Philosophical Review
1997: Grant Proposal
Reviewer, FY 1998 Specific Research Grant Program, Idaho
State Board of Education.
1996: Manuscript
Reviewer for Dialogue: Canadian
Philosophical Review
1996: Text Reviewer
for Prentice Hall (Englewood
Cliffs, NJ).
1996: Grant Proposal
Reviewer, FY 1997 Specific Research Grant Program,
Idaho State Board of Education.
1995-present:
Assistant Editor, AUSLEGUNG: A
Journal of Philosophy.
1995: Organizer of
the 43rd annual Southeastern Undergraduate Philosophy Conference, Spelman College,
Atlanta, Georgia,
March 3-4, 1996.
1994: Consultant
Manuscript Reviewer for the journal AUSLEGUNG:
A Journal of Philosophy.
1992: Consultant Manuscript Reviewer for the journal Eidos. I
refereed manuscripts for a special issue devoted to the philosophy of David
Hume under the
guest editorship of Professor
Nathan Brett,
Dalhousie University,
Halifax, Nova
Scotia, Canada.
1988: Consultant Reviewer, Broadview Press, P.O. Box, 1243, Peterborough, Ontario,
Canada. K9J
7H5. I refereed the manuscript of the
book God, The Devil and the Perfect
Pizza: Ten Philosophical Questions, subsequently published in 1989.
INSTITUTIONAL SERVICE
Coordinator, Departmental Five-Year Program Review, 2007
Member Search Committee for Associate Dean, College of Liberal Arts, MTSU
Member, Tenure and Promotions Committee, College of Liberal Arts
MTSU,
2005-2008.
Minority Member Art Department Faculty Search Committee, MTSU, 2002-2003.
Committee Member, MTSU Faculty Welfare Committee, 2002-2003.
Elected to University Faculty Senate, MTSU, 2002-2005.
Committee Member, Student Affairs Committee C, MTSU Senate,
1998-2000.
Committee Member, MTSU African American History Month 2000
Celebration; reappointed in 2001. (Presidential appointments.)
Member Advisory Committee, MTSU African American Studies
Program since 1998.
Member, MTSU Communicating Across the Curriculum Task Force,
1999.
Mentor, MTSU Mentoring Program, 1999-2000.
Faculty Advisor, Georgia Epsilon
Chapter of PHI SIGMA TAU: International Honor Society for Philosophy. The
Spelman College Chapter was inaugurated in May, 1998.
Elected Member-at-Large, College Council Executive
Committee, Spelman
College.
Elected for a three-year term as the Representative of the
Humanities Division to the Executive Committee of the College Council, Spelman College.
Humanities Representative, Study Abroad Committee, Spelman College. (Diverse Dates.)
Humanities Representative at the Academic Integrity
Committee, Spelman
College. (Diverse Dates.)
Chair, International Student Services Advisory Committee,
Spelman College, 1995/96
Chair, Faculty Welfare Committee, Spelman College, 1994/95.
International Studies Committee, Spelman College, 1994/95
and 1992/93.
Food Service Committee, Spelman College, 1993/94.
Liberal Arts Core Course Committee , Spelman College,1992/93
Faculty Personnel Committee, Spelman College, 1991/92. I was
the junior faculty of the Committee.
Library Committee, Spelman College, 1990-1992, and 1994
–1996.
Scholarships, Prizes and Awards Committee, Spelman College,
1990 -1992.
Freshmen Advisor, Spelman College, 1991-1997; and also
UNCF/Mellon Mentor to a number of Philosophy majors, Spelman College,1995-1998.
Founder of and Faculty Advisor to The Spelman College
Philosophy Society, 1991-1998
Interim Departmental Chair, Spelman College
-- 1993/94 and Spring 1992.
HONORS
Meritorious Service
Award, Golden Key International Honor Society (1999).
Honorary Member Golden
Key International Honor Society. (Inducted February, 1997).
Presidential Faculty
Award for Excellence in Teaching, Spelman
College, 1996.
President (1995-97),
Beta Omega Chapter of Phi Beta Delta Honor Society for International Scholars.
Dean's Honor List for
excellence in the Ph.D. program. This is a formal acknowledgement of an
outstanding performance in the doctoral program by the Dean of Graduate Studies
on behalf of a candidate's program committee, department, and the candidate's
doctoral examining committee. (A copy of the Dean's
official notification is attached.)
Top Graduating Philosophy Student
Fourah Bay College,
University of Sierra Leone.
Head Boy
and Senior Prefect 1971-72, Methodist Boys' High School, Freetown, Sierra Leone. The Head Boy and Senior Prefect are appointed
by the Principal on the recommendation of faculty. And the appointment is in
recognition of outstanding scholastic performance of the "best" and
"second best" students, respectively, in the Sixth Form. In my
case, because I was a distant first to
the "second best" student, the administration decided to appoint me
to both positions and to appoint the "second best" as my deputy.
The
functions of Head Boy and Senior Prefect approximate roughly those of the SGA
President and the Senior Class President in the United States. In particular, as
both Head Boy and Senior Prefect I functioned as liaison between the student
body and the administration, chaired Prefects’ Council Meetings, assigned
duties and responsibilities to Prefects, was student representative at various
school committees that were presided over by faculty; led school delegation to
state functions, and gave the vote of thanks at most formal school functions.
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
The American Philosophical Association (Currently Inactive)
The Canadian Philosophical Association (Currently Inactive)
The Tennessee
Philosophical Association
The Hume Society (Currently
Inactive)
The Southwest Philosophy Society
North American Society for Social Philosophy
Caribbean Philosophical Association
REFERENCES: Available on
request