Stephen Clifford Ferguson

Associate Professor

Biography

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

My most recent book (co-authored with John H. McClendon III) is titled African American Philosophers and Philosophy: An Introduction to the History, Concepts and Contemporary Issues (Bloomsbury 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.

Publications

His other 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.
• Philosophy of African American Studies: Nothing Left of Blackness (Palgrave 2015).

• “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

Responsibilities

Coordinator, Africana Studies

Education

• Ph.D. in Philosophy from University of Kansas, 2004
• B.A. in Philosophy & History with a minor in Black Studies from University of Missouri-Columbia, 1996