Stephen Clifford Ferguson

Associate Professor

• Email: scfergus@ncsu.edu
• Phone: 919-515-0306

Biography

Born in Topeka, Kansas, I grew up in Kansas City, Missouri. I attended the University of Missouri-Columbia where I received my bachelors degree in philosophy and history with a minor in Black Studies.

My most recent book is Philosophy of African American Studies: Nothing Left of Blackness (Palgrave 2015).

Publications

His publications included:

• “Exploring the Matter of Race: A Materialist Philosophical Inquiry,” in Oxford Handbook of Philosophy and Race, ed. Naomi Zack (Oxford University Press, 2017)
• “Categorial Conversion as Nkrumaist Dialectics: Dialectical Arguments in Nkrumah’s Consciencism,” in Disentangling Consciencism: Kwame Nkrumah’s Practical Philosophy Today, ed. Martin Ajei (Lexington Books, 2017)
• “Shreds of Truth: The Antinomy and Synechdoche in the Work of Ta-Nehisi Coates,” co-authored with Gregory Meyerson, Works & Days (Special Issue: Scholactivism: Reflections on Transforming Praxis Inside and Outside the Classroom) 33-34 (2016-2017), 251-298.
• “The Philosopher King: Dialectics in the Political Thought and Practice of Martin Luther King, Jr.,” in Philosophical Perspectives on Martin Luther King, Jr., ed. Robert E. Birt (Lexington Books, 2012), 87-107.
• “The History of African American Philosophy and Philosophers: A General Outline,” co-authored with John H. McClendon, in The Oxford Handbook of World Philosophy (Oxford University Press, 2011), 509-523.

 He is currently working on a book (with John H. McClendon) titled African American Philosophers and Philosophy: An Introduction to the History, Concepts and Contemporary Issues to be published with Bloomsbury (Fall 2019). This book is the first book-length philosophical examination of academic African American philosophers and philosophy from 1865 to now. We examine how African American philosophers have developed a formidable body of works about philosophy, particularly how the Black experience is related to the “big questions” in the areas of metaphilosophy, epistemology, philosophy of science, history of philosophy, philosophy of social science, philosophy of history, philosophy of religion, ontology and political philosophy.

Education

• Ph.D. in Philosophy from University of Kansas, 2004