Emergent Personhood Symposium – April 29–30, 2025

This interdisciplinary symposium, co-sponsored by the University of Ghana’s Department of Philosophy & Classics and the University of Washington’s Department of Bioethics & Humanities, will bring together scholars from Africa and the West to examine how personhood emerges and its implications for the moral status of humans and nonhumans, including AI, animals and nature.

Inspired by the book What is a Person? Untapped Insights from Africa (Oxford, 2025) by Bioethics and Humanities Professor, Nancy Jecker, and Affiliate Professor, Caesar Atuire, this event offers a unique opportunity to engage with global perspectives on profound philosophical questions.

Key Questions to Be Explored:

• What is ‘emergence’?
• Can beings of superlative moral worth emerge through human relationships?
• Could an artificially intelligent (AI) agent be a person? Could a tree or river?
• Is a prenatal human being a person?
• How does a person cease to be a person?
• Is consciousness necessary for personhood?
• Is personhood based on properties or processes?
• Is personhood relational or intrinsic?
• Does the historical rendering of person as persöna apply today?

This thought-provoking symposium will challenge, expand, and bridge existing perspectives and offer fresh insights into the moral status of humans, animals, and even ecosystems.

Dates: April 29–30, 2025
Location: University of Ghana & Online

Don't miss this chance to be part of the conversation! REGISTER HERE.