Print Price: $32.95

Format:
Paperback
248 pp.
6.125" x 9.25"

ISBN-13:
9780197668016

Publication date:
November 2022

Imprint: OUP Canada

Anton Wilhelm Amo's Philosophical Dissertations on Mind and Body

Edited by Stephen Menn and Justin E. H. Smith

Anton Wilhelm Amo (c.1703-after 1752) was the first African philosopher in the modern period to write in the European philosophical tradition and study and teach in European universities.

At the dawn of the eighteenth century, while still a small boy, he was sent from his home in present-day Ghana to Amsterdam. From there he was sent to Germany as a court attendant of Duke Anton Ulrich of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel, and was subsequently baptized in 1708. He matriculated at the University of Halle in 1727, where he defended a law thesis. He then studied and taught at the University of Wittenberg, before returning to Halle to teach, and later also teaching in Jena. He returned to West Africa permanently in 1747.

Though much attention on and study of Amo has previously focused on his symbolic importance as a historical figure--the first African philosopher in modern Europe--Stephen Menn and Justin E. H. Smith argue for a serious engagement with Amo's work as a philosopher. In an extensive introduction, they contextualize his biography and writing within the surrounding intellectual and historical environment, and discuss and analyze his arguments in conversation with other philosophers of the time. This volume contains his two Wittenberg philosophical dissertations, On the Impassivity of the Human Mind and the Philosophical Disputation containing a Distinct Idea of those Things that Pertain either to the Mind or to our Living and Organic Body, both first published in 1734. The editors present the original Latin texts with side-by-side English translations and detailed explanatory annotations. In centering Amo's philosophical thought and making it accessible to more students and scholars, Menn and Smith establish the originality and significance of Amo's rigorous contributions to the mind-body debate of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Readership : The book is intended for use by students and scholars of the history of modern philosophy, especially those interested in engaging with philosophers who have been historically marginalized and those interested in the history of the African diaspora. It will also be relevant to historians of 'Moors' in early modern European courts, historians of the slave trade, historians of early modern Germany, and university historians. It is intended to be accessible to readers of all levels of expertise. (A future paperback suitable for course adoption and without the original Latin pages will find a home in the Oxford New Histories of Philosophy series.)

Reviews

• "Replete with insightful historical commentary ... This is a well-written and important book."
  
  --Yual Chiek, Journal of the History of Philosophy
  
  
• "Amo, an 18th century philosopher from Africa who was trained in Europe and taught in Wittenberg, is little known among contemporary scholars. Yet his philosophy, as well as his biography, is fascinating. It's terrific to have a high quality modern edition of his work. The editors' well-developed introduction addresses matters of biography, reception, political and intellectual context, generic conventions, philosophical background, and provides a summary of Amo's arguments. This book will be used widely. Many of us are seeking to do a better job of conveying to students the global networks that have constituted philosophy across the centuries. Many will surely avail themselves of the opportunity to include Amo on a syllabus."
  
  --Danielle Allen, Edmond Safra Center for Ethics, Harvard University
  
  
• "Menn and Smith have produced the definitive translation of Amo's known writings and a treasure trove of critical apparatus. Essential and fascinating reading for anyone interested in the history of philosophy."
  
  --Alison Simmons, Harvard University
  
  
• "Making [Amo's] work accessible in a good contextualized translation along with the original text is useful both for scholars wanting to engage with him philosophically and for the wider audience that is interested in him as an historical figure. Smith and Menn have done excellent work here."
  
  --Kwame Anthony Appiah, New York University