THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF NKIRU NZEGWU AND WANGARI MAATHAI: TOWARD AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY AND DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

From the 6lh century when Eurocentric philosophy commenced in the ancient city of Athens in Greece, the world has been blessed by the contributions of eminent philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Locke and Aquinas. Others arc Descartes, Bacon, Augustine, Rousseau, Dewey, Hobbes, Nietzsche, Pestallozi and so on. In Africa, we have had fantastic contributions from elites like Nnamdi Azikiwe, Ahmadu Bello and Obafemi Awolowo of Nigeria, Milton Obote of Uganda, Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana and Julius Nyerere of Tanzania. Recently, we have had people like of Mary Field Belanky, Jane Rowland Martin, Carol Gilligan, Nel Noddings and Kieran Egan making their inputs globally. Their works were very philosophical, rich in content and demonstrated life realities, contributing to knowledge in the process. Also, to a great extent, they provided some kind of solutions to intellectual, social, economic, ethical and health problems nationally, continentally and universally. It is obvious however that most of the mentioned philosophers were not Africans neither were the African female philosophers represented despite the successes recorded, hence the need for a study of this magnitude. Philosophy in Africa has continued to evolve despite myriads of problems in the continent which must not be left alone to the African male philosophers or people from other climes to handle. Likewise, it is important to recognize the contributions of African female philosophers especially in recent years toward African development. This study thus, discusses the seemingly unrecognized roles of African female philosophers such as Nkiru Nzegwu and Wangari Maathai, their philosophies and relevance to philosophy and development in general.