History of Philosophy Research Group Talk (Stephen Peprah, Toronto)
Thursday May 1, 2025, 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
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The History of Modern Philosophy Group is pleased to welcome as its guest speaker Stephen Peprah, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Toronto, currently working with Rachel Barney. His interests lie in ancient philosophy, early modern philosophy, metaphysics, and ethics. One of his current research projects focuses on the philosophical works of Anton Wilhelm Amo, an eighteenth-century Ghanaian-German slave-turned-academic (three of Amo’s philosophical works remain extant). Another of Dr. Peprah’s book projects is tentatively titled “Plato on the Individual, Polis, and Political Authority in the Republic.”
Talk Title
Anton Wilhelm Amo on Practical Philosophy
Talk Abstract
Anton Wilhelm Amo is now known mainly for his metaphysical views: the mind and body are exclusively distinct, such that they can only relate through a commerce (commercio). But his conception of practical philosophy has not received attention. This paper’s goal is twofold: to account for Amo’s practical philosophy and to defend the view that his epistemology and metaphysics have direct relation with his practical philosophy. To these effects, the paper advances three claims. First, it argues that for Amo, whenever we engage in philosophy, we are (ought to be) inseparably connected with three main aims: (a) the act of understanding and willing by which we are concerned with things in themselves (b) to know them distinctly and adequately; and (c) the application of the acquired knowledge to perfecting humanity and nature. Therefore, for Amo, the contemplative life ought necessarily to culminate in practical life. Second, it shows how Amo’s metaphysics and epistemology are necessary conditions for his practical philosophy. It concludes that for Amo, ethical problems (human and ecological crisis) result from epistemic failures.
One of six departmental Research Interest Groups, the History of Philosophy Group explores topics in ancient and/or medieval philosophy, the period from Descartes to Kant, and Jewish philosophy from the medieval period to the 20th century.
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