Polycarp A. Ikuenobe

Polycarp Ikuenobe holds the rank of Professor in the Department of Philosophy. He obtained a B. A. (Honors), 1981, and an M.A., 1983, both in philosophy from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. He obtained his Ph.D. in philosophy, 1993, from Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan. He came to Kent State University in 1997, after teaching four years at Alverno College, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In Fall 2012, he was a Visiting Professor to the University of Botswana.

In 2016, he won Kent State University Outstanding Research and Scholarship award.

He specializes in Africana Philosophy, Philosophy of Law, Social and Political Philosophy, Moral Philosophy, Philosophy of Race, and Informal Logic and Critical Thinking. He has published extensively in all these areas in philosophy journals. His representative publications include:

1. Symposia, Readings in Philosophy: Legal Positivism (edited volume, Pearson Publishing, 2001).
2. Symposia, Readings in Philosophy: Libertarianism (edited volume, Pearson Publishing, 2001).
3. Philosophical Perspectives on Communalism and Morality in African Traditions (Lexington Books, 2006).
4. “Rationality, Practical Reasonableness, and the Social and Moral Foundation of a Legal System,” Journal of Social Philosophy, 32:3 (2001), 245–267.
5. “In Search of Criteria for ‘Fallacies’ and ‘Begging the Question’,” Argumentation, 16:4 (2002), 421–441.
6. “Optimizing Reasonableness, Critical Thinking, and Cyberspace,” Educational Philosophy and Theory, 35:4 (2003), 407–424.
7. “Citizenship and Patriotism,” Public Affairs Quarterly, 24:4 (2010), 297–318.

He teaches courses in Philosophy of Law, Social and Political Philosophy, Philosophy and Justice, Philosophy of Love and Friendship, African and African-American Philosophy, Philosophy and Multiculturalism, Introduction to Philosophy, Principles of Thinking, and Introduction to Ethics.