Browsing by Author "Gyekye, K."

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Earth System Governance in Africa: knowledge and capacity needs
(Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 2015-06) Habtezion, S.; Adelekan, I.; Aiyede, E.; Biermann, F.; Fubara, M.; Gordon, C.; Gyekye, K.; Kasimbazi, E.; Kibugi, R.; Lawson, E.; Mensah, A.; Mubaya, C.; Olorunfemi, F.; Paterson, A.; Tadesse, D.; Usman, R.; Zondervan, R.
Traditional approaches for understanding environmental governance — such as environmental policy analysis or natural resources management — do not adequately address the gamut of human–natural system interactions within the context of the complex biogeophysical cycles and processes of the planet. This is perhaps more so in the African regional context where the complex relationships between modern and traditional governance systems and global change dynamics are arguably more pronounced. The Earth System Governance (ESG) Analytical Framework encompasses diverse systems and actors involved in the regulation of societal activities and behaviors vis-à-vis earth system dynamics. The concept encompasses a myriad of public and private actors and actor networks at all levels of policy and decision-making. The existence of, and interaction among, these diverse actors and systems, however, is under-researched in the African context. Various research approaches taken to address crucial global environmental change (GEC) challenges in Africa have proven to be inadequate because they tend to overlook the complex interactions among the various local actors, players, and indigenous conditions and practices vis-à-vis GEC system drivers and teleconnections. Similarly, the regional peculiarities in terms of governance typologies and socio-cultural diversity highlight the need for nuanced understanding of the complex interactions and nexuses among multiple actors and interests and Earth system processes. However, this diversity and complexity has often been lost in generalized enquiries. We argue that examination of the governance-GEC nexus through the aid of the ESG Framework would provide a much broader and more helpful insight.
Ghana @50 Anniversary Lectures
(Accra: National Planning Committee of the Golden Jubilee Lectures, 2008) Gyekye, K.
The publication contains sixteen lectures delivered from January through December 2007 as part of the activities to celebrate Ghana’s 50th anniversary of independence. The year-long lectures were organized by me, Kwame Gyekye, who edited all the lectures.
“Our Cultural Values and National Orientation”
(In: Gyekye, K. (ed.), Ghana @50 Anniversary Lectures. - Accra: National Planning Committee of the Golden Jubilee Lectures, pp. 103-131, 2008) Gyekye, K.
The paper defines the notion of national orientation and the place of the cultural values of a people in national orientation. It argues that national orientation must be tied to the public philosophy of a people, a public philosophy understood as a corpus of basic ideas and beliefs, an under-layer of values, perceptions, outlooks, fundamental convictions and truths shared by a large section of a society. The paper distinguished two avenues to evolving a national orientation: (i) reevaluation of those features of our culture that we have reason to believe would be worth our while to preserve and utilize in building the institutions of today; (ii) orientations that need to be acquired by reason of their worth in a contemporary society but which do not seem to have been purposely and robustly affirmed by our indigenous cultural values and practices, such as the innovative and scientific orientations or outlooks.
Relationship between Religion and Science
(Legon Journal of the Humanities, University of Ghana, 2009) Gyekye, K.
This paper presents an overview of the relationship between religion and science. It points out that historically religion preceded science, as the limitations of human intelligence in a bizarre world led man very early to postulate a being considered ultimate, supreme and worthy of human obeisance and worship. Like religion and philosophy, science began in wonder: to explore the wonders of nature – of the physical world. Religion and science are related in that both of them have perspectives on cosmic reality, even though there are several differences in their interpretations of reality. It is the different interpretations as well as their methods at arriving at their truths and conclusions that eventuated in conflicts, conflicts that actually came to the fore with the emergence of experimental science in and after the seventeenth century of our era and led to the condemnation by the Catholic Church of Galileo, the acknowledged founder of modern science. Scientific theories such as the evolution theory, quantum physics, and some theories of neuroscience presented challenges to religious doctrines of creation, cosmic order and intelligibility, divine sovereignty, and human nature. However, there are areas of integration, such as natural theology and design, order and regularity of nature, that provide evidence of the existence of God – evidence that is supported by most scientists. The paper concludes that religion and science are different languages that ultimately express the same reality or at least present complementary accounts of reality, and that, given the wonders and mysteries of the created universe and the limitations of human intelligence, religion and science will continue to be bedfellows in the twenty first century and beyond.
Relationship between Religion and Science: An Overview. Keynote Address delivered at conference organized by the Faculty of Science and the Department of Religious Studies of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology on 17-19 June 2008 on the theme “Relationship between Religion and Science in the Twenty-First Century and Beyond
(Legon Journal of Humanities (20): 1-22, 2009) Gyekye, K.
This paper presents an overview of the relationship between religion and science. It points out that historically religion preceded science, as the limitations of human intelligence in a bizarre world led man very early to postulate a being considered ultimate, supreme and worthy of human obeisance and worship. Like religion and philosophy, science began in wonder: to explore the wonders of nature—of the physical world. Religion and science are related in that both of them have perspectives on cosmic reality, even though there are several differences in their interpretations of reality. It is the different interpretations as well as their methods of arriving at their truths and conclusions that eventuated in conflicts, conflicts that actually came to the fore with the emergence of experimental science in and after the seventeenth century of our era and led to the condemnation by the Catholic Church of Galileo, the acknowledged founder of modern science. Scientific theories such as the evolution theory, quantum physics and some theories of neuroscience presented challenges to religious doctrines of creation, cosmic order and intelligibility, divine sovereignty, and human nature. However, there are areas of integration such as natural theology and design, order and regularity of nature that provide evidence of the existence of God—evidence that is supported by most scientists. The paper concludes that religion and science are different languages that ultimately express the same reality or at least present complementary accounts of reality, and that, given the wonders and mysteries of the created universe and the limitations of human intelligence, religion and science will continue to be bedfellows in the twenty first century and beyond.
Tradition and Modernity: Philosophical Reflections on the African Experience
(Tradition and Modernity: Philosophical Reflections on the African Experience, 2011-01) Gyekye, K.
This book offers philosophical interpretation and critical analysis of the African cultural experience in modern times. In their attempt to evolve ways of life appropriate to our modern world culture, African people and their society face a number of challenges; some stem from the values and practices of their traditions, while others rise from the legacy of European colonialism. Defending the cross-cultural applicability of philosophical concepts developed in Western culture, the book attempts to show the usefulness of such concepts in addressing a wide range of African problems. Among the issues are as follows: economic development, nation-building, evolution of viable and appropriate democratic political institutions, growth of appropriate and credible ideologies, political corruption, and crumbling of traditional moral standards in the wake of rapid social change. Throughout, the notion that modernity must be equated with Western values and institutions is challenged, arguing that modernity must be forged creatively within the furnace of Africa's multifaceted cultural experience. © 1997 by Kwame Gyekye. All rights reserved.