African philosophy

African philosophy is the philosophical discourse produced by indigenous Africans and their descendants, including
African/Americans. African philosophy presents a wide range of topics similar to its Eastern and Western counterparts. African
philosophers may be found in the various academic fields of philosophy, such as metaphysics, epistemology, moral philosophy, and
political philosophy. One particular subject that many African philosophers have written about is that on the subject of freedom and
what it means to be free or to experience wholeness.[1] Philosophy in Africa has a rich and varied history, some of which has been
lost over time.[2] One of the earliest known African philosophers was Ptahhotep, an ancient Egyptian philosopher. In the early and
mid-twentieth century, anti-colonial movements had a tremendous effect on the development of a distinct African political
philosophy that had resonance on both the continent and in the African diaspora. One well-known example of the economic
philosophical works emerging from this period was the African socialist philosophy of Ujamaa propounded in Tanzania and other
parts of Southeast Africa. These African political and economic philosophical developments also had a notable impact on the anti-
colonial movements of many non-African peoples around the world.

Contents
Definition
Types
Pre-modern
North Africa
West Africa
Horn of Africa
Southern Africa
Central Africa
African Diaspora
Modern
Ethnophilosophy and philosophical sagacity
Professional philosophy
Nationalist and ideological philosophy
African ethics
Africana philosophy
List of African philosophers
See also
Notes and references
Further reading
External links

Definition
There is some debate in defining the ethnophilosophical parameters of African philosophy and identifying what differentiates it from
other philosophical traditions. One of the implicit assumptions of ethnophilosophy is that a specific culture can have a philosophy
that is not applicable and accessible to all peoples and cultures in the world., In A Discourse on African Philosophy: A New
Perspective on Ubuntu and Transitional Justice in South Africa, Christian B. N. Gade argues that the ethnophilosophical approach to
African philosophy as a static group property is highly problematic. His research on ubuntu presents an alternative collective
discourse on African philosophy that takes differences, historical developments, and social contexts seriously. According to Edwin
Etieyibo and Jonathon O. Chimakonam in their article “African Philosophy: Past, Present, and Future”, historical context plays an
important role in African philosophy. History provides the framework in which we can inspect philosophical problems. In terms of
. “There are no facts without history." [3]
African philosophy, one must look at the whole picture through the lens of African history

African philosophy can be formally defined as a critical thinking by Africans on their experiences of reality. Nigerian born
Philosopher K.C. Anyanwu defined African philosophy as "that which concerns itself with the way in which African people of the
[4]
past and present make sense of their destiny and of the world in which they live.

Nigerian philosopher Joseph I. Omoregbe broadly defines a philosopher as one who attempts to understand the world's phenomena,
the purpose of human existence, the nature of the world, and the place of human beings in that world. This form natural
of philosophy
is identifiable in Africa even before individual African philosophers can be distinguished in the sources.[5] Like Western philosophy,
African philosophy contemplates the perceptions of time, personhood, space and other subjects.

Types

Pre-modern

North Africa
In North Africa, arguably central to the development of the ancient Egyptian philosophical tradition of Egypt and Sudan was the
conception of "ma'at", which roughly translated refers to "justice", "truth", or simply "that which is right". One of the earliest works
of political philosophy wasThe Maxims of Ptahhotep, which were taught to Egyptian schoolboys for centuries.

Ancient Egyptian philosophers also made important contributions to Hellenistic philosophy and Christian philosophy. In the
Hellenistic tradition, the influential philosophical school of Neoplatonism was founded by the Egyptian philosopher Plotinus in the
3rd century CE.

West Africa
The most prominent of West Africa's pre-modern philosophical traditions has been identified as that of the Yoruba philosophical
tradition and the distinctive worldview that emerged from it over the thousands of years of its development. Philosophical concepts
such as Omoluabi were integral to this system, and the totality of its elements are contained in what is known amongst the Yoruba as
the Itan. The cosmologies and philosophies of theAkan, Dogon. Serer and Dahomey were also significant.

In pre-colonial Senegambia (Gambia and Senegal in particular), the 17th-century philosopher Kocc Barma Fall stood out as one of
the renown philosophers in Senegambian history. His proverbs are still recited by Senegalese and Gambians alike, including in
Senegambian popular culture - for example in Ousmane Sembene's films such as Guelwaar[4][5] Other notable philosophical thinkers
include the Gambian historianAlieu Ebrima Cham Joof, and the Malian ethnologist Amadou Hampâté Bâ.

Horn of Africa
In the Horn of Africa, there are a number of sources documenting the development of a distinct Ethiopian philosophy from the first
millennium onwards. Among the most notable examples from this tradition emerge from the work of the 17th-century philosopher
Zera Yacob, and that of his disciples. Yacob in his writings discusses religion, morality, and existence. He comes to the belief that
[6]
every person will believe their faith to be the right one and that all men are created equal.

Southern Africa
In Southern Africa and Southeast Africa the development of a distinctive Bantu philosophy addressing the nature of existence, the
cosmos and humankind's relation to the world following theBantu migration has had the most significant impact on the philosophical
developments of the said regions, with the development of the philosophy of Ubuntu as one notable example emerging from this
worldview.

Central Africa
Many Central African philosophical traditions before the Bantu migration into southern Central Africa have been identified as a
uniting characteristic of many Nilotic and Sudanic peoples, ultimately giving rise to the distinctive worldviews identified in the
conceptions of time, the creation of the world, human nature, and the proper relationship between mankind and nature prevalent in
Dinka mythology, Maasai mythology and similar traditions.

African Diaspora
Some pre-Modern African diasporic philosophical traditions have also been identified, mostly produced by descendants of Africans
in Europe and the Americas. One notable pre-modern diasporic African philosopher was Anthony William Amo, who was taken as a
slave from Awukenu in what is now Ghana, and was brought up and educated in Europe where he gained doctorates in medicine and
philosophy, and subsequently became a professor of philosophy at the universities of Halle Halle and
Jena in Germany.

Modern
Kenyan philosopher Henry Odera Oruka has distinguished what he calls four trends in modern African philosophy: ethnophilosophy,
philosophical sagacity, nationalistic–ideological philosophy, and professional philosophy.[7] In fact it would be more realistic to call
them candidates for the position of African philosophy, with the understanding that more than one of them might fit the bill. (Oruka
later added two additional categories: literary/artistic philosophy, such as the work of literary figures such as Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o,
Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, Okot p'Bitek, and Taban Lo Liyong, and hermeneutic philosophy, the analysis of African languages
in order to find philosophical content.) In the African diaspora, American philosopher Maulana Karenga has also been notable in
presenting varied definitions for understanding modern African philosophy
, especially as it relates to its earliest sources.

Ethnophilosophy and philosophical sagacity

Ethnophilosophy has been used to record the beliefs found in African cultures. Such an approach treats African philosophy as
consisting in a set of shared beliefs, values, categories, and assumptions that are implicit in the language, practices, and beliefs of
African cultures; in short, the uniquely Africanworldview. As such, it is seen as an item of communal property rather than an activity
for the individual.

One proponent of this form, Placide Tempels, argued in Bantu Philosophy that the metaphysical categories of the Bantu people are
reflected in their linguistic categories. According to this view, African philosophy can be best understood as springing from the
fundamental assumptions about reality reflected in the languages of Africa.

Another example of this sort of approach is the work of E. J. Algoa of the University of Port Harcourt in Nigeria, who argues for the
existence of an African philosophy of history stemming from traditional proverbs from the Niger Delta in his paper "An African
Philosophy of History in the Oral Tradition." Algoa argues that in African philosophy, age is seen as an important factor in gaining
wisdom and interpreting the past. In support of this view, he cites proverbs such as "More days, more wisdom", and "What an old
man sees seated, a youth does not see standing." Truth is seen as eternal and unchanging ("Truth never rots"), but people are subject
to error ("Even a four-legged horse stumbles and falls"). It is dangerous to judge by appearances ("A large eye does not mean keen
vision"), but first-hand observation can be trusted ("He who sees does not err"). The past is not seen as fundamentally different from
the present, but all history is contemporary history ("A storyteller does not tell of a different season"). The future remains beyond
knowledge ("Even a bird with a long neck cannot see the future"). Nevertheless, it is said, "God will outlive eternity." History is seen
as vitally important ("One ignorant of his origin is nonhuman"), and historians (known as "sons of the soil") are highly revered ("The
son of the soil has the python's keen eyes"). However, these arguments must be taken with a grain of cultural relativism, as the span
of culture in Africa is incredibly vast, with patriarchies, matriarchies, monotheists and traditional religionists among the population,
and as such the attitudes of groups of the Niger Delta cannot be construed to the whole of Africa.
Another more controversial application of this approach is embodied in the concept of Negritude. Leopold Senghor, a proponent of
Negritude, argued that the distinctly African approach to reality is based on emotion rather than logic, works itself out in participation
rather than analysis, and manifests itself through the arts rather than the sciences. Cheikh Anta Diop and Mubabinge Bilolo, on the
other hand, while agreeing that African culture is unique, challenged the view of Africans as essentially emotional and artistic,
arguing that Egypt was an African culture whose achievements in science, mathematics, architecture, and philosophy were pre-
eminent. This philosophy may also be maligned as overly reductionist due to the obvious scientific and scholarly triumphs of not
only ancient Egypt, but also Nubia, Meroe, as well as the great library of Timbuktu, the extensive trade networks and kingdoms of
North Africa, West Africa, Central Africa, the Horn of Africa and Great Zimbabwe and the other major empires of Southern,
Southeast and Central Africa.

Critics of this approach argue that the actual philosophical work in producing a coherent philosophical position is being done by the
academic philosopher (such as Algoa), and that the sayings of the same culture can be selected from and organised in many different
ways in order to produce very different, often contradictory systems of thought.

Philosophical sagacity is a sort of individualist version of ethnophilosophy, in which one records the beliefs of certain special
members of a community. The premise here is that, although most societies demand some degree of conformity of belief and
behaviour from their members, a certain few of those members reach a particularly high level of knowledge and understanding of
their cultures' worldviews; such people are sages. In some cases, the sage goes beyond mere knowledge and understanding to
reflection and questioning—these become the tar
gets of philosophical sagacity.

Critics of this approach note that not all reflection and questioning is philosophical; besides, if African philosophy were to be defined
purely in terms of philosophic sagacity, then the thoughts of the sages could not be African philosophy, for they did not record them
from other sages. Also, on this view the only difference between non-African anthropology or ethnology and African philosophy
seems to be the nationality of the researcher.

Critics argue further that the problem with both ethnophilosophy and philosophical sagacity is that there is surely an important
distinction between philosophy and the history of ideas, although other philosophers consider the two topics to be remarkably
similar.[8] The argument is that no matter how interesting the beliefs of a people such as the Akan or the Yoruba may be to the
philosopher, they remain beliefs, not philosophy. To call them philosophy is to use a secondary sense of that term, such as in "my
philosophy is live and let live.

Professional philosophy
Professional philosophy is usually identified as that produced by African philosophers trained in the Western philosophical tradition,
that embraces a universal view of the methods and concerns of philosophy.[7] Those philosophers identified in this category often
explicitly reject the assumptions of ethnophilosophy and adopt a universalist worldview of philosophy that requires all philosophy to
be accessible and applicable to all peoples and cultures in the world[7] This is even if the specific philosophical questions prioritized
by individual national or regional philosophies may differ.[7] Some African philosophers classified in this category are Paulin
Hountondji, Peter Bodunrin, Kwasi Wiredu, Tsenay Serequeberhan, Marcien Towa and Lansana Keita.[7]

Nationalist and ideological philosophy

Nationalist and ideological philosophy might be considered a special case of philosophic sagacity, in which not sages but ideologues
are the subjects. Alternatively, it has been considered as a subcategory of professional political philosophy. In either case, the same
sort of problem arises with retaining a distinction between ideology and philosophy, and also between sets of ideas and a special way
of reasoning. Examples includeAfrican socialism, Nkrumaism, Harambee and Authenticite

African ethics
Although Africa is extremely diverse, there appear to be some shared moral ideas across many ethnic groups.[9] In a number of
African cultures, ethics is centered on a person's character, and saying "he has no morals" translates as something like "he has no
character".[9] A person's character reflects the accumulation of her deeds and her habits of conduct; hence, it can be changed over a
person's life.[9] In some African cultures, "personhood" refers to an adult human who exhibits moral virtues, and one who behaves
[9]
badly is not considered a person, even if he is considered a human.

While many traditional African societies are highly religious, their religions are not revealed, and hence, ethics does not center
around divine commands.[9] Instead, ethics is humanistic and utilitarian: it focuses on improving social functioning and human
flourishing.[9] On the other hand, social welfare is not a mere aggregate of individual welfare; rather, there is a collective "social
good" embodying values that everyone wants, like peace and stability.[9] In general, African ethics is social or collectivistic rather
than individualistic and united in ideology.[9] Cooperation and altruism are considered crucial.[9] African ethics places more weight
estern ethics.[9]
on duties of prosocial behaviour than on rights per se, in contrast to most of W

Africana philosophy
Africana philosophy is the work of philosophers of African descent and others whose work deals with the subject matter of the
African diaspora.

Africana philosophy includes the philosophical ideas, arguments and theories of particular concern to people of African descent.
Some of the topics explored by Africana philosophy include: pre-Socratic African philosophy and modern day debates discussing the
early history of Western philosophy, post-colonial writing in Africa and the Americas, black resistance to oppression, black
existentialism in the United States, and the meaning of "blackness" in the modern world.

List of African philosophers

This is a list of notable philosophers who theorize in the African tradition, as well as philosophers from the continent of Africa.

Algerian Kenyan

Albert Camus John Mbiti

Louis Althusser Micere Githae Mugo
Mohammed Arkoun Henry Odera Oruka
Augustine of Hippo Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
Malek Bennabi
Libyan
Jacques Derrida
Frantz Fanon Sextus Julius Africanus
Bernard-Henri Lévy Aref Ali Nayed
Mohammed Chaouki Zine
Malawian
Beninese
Didier Kaphagawani
Paulin J. Hountondji
Malian
Cameroonian
Amadou Hampâté Bâ
Achille Mbembe
Moroccan
Congolese
Taha Abdurrahman
Jacques Depelchin Alain Badiou
V. Y. Mudimbe Bensalem Himmich
Ernest Wamba dia Wamba
 Theophile Obenga Mohammed Abed al-Jabri
Mohammed Aziz Lahbabi
Egyptian Judah ben Nissim
Mohammed Sabila
Mustafa Abd al-Rizq
Abu al-Abbas as-Sabti
Arnouphis
Mohammed Allal Sinaceur
Abdel Rahman Badawi
Hourya Sinaceur
Mohamed Osman Elkhosht
Abdellatif Zeroual
George of Laodicea
Hassan Hanafi Nigerian
Ihab Hassan
Zaki Naguib Mahmoud Obafemi Awolowo
Abdel Wahab El-Messiri John Olubi Sodipo
Plotinus Chinua Achebe
Rifa'a al-Tahtawi Wole Soyinka
Fouad Zakariyya Nana Asma'u
Maimonides Emmanuel Chukwudi Eze
Usman dan Fodio
Ethiopian Josephat Obi Oguejiofor
Ike Odimegwu
Walda Heywat
Zera Yacob Theophilus Okere[10]

Gambian Rwandan

Kocc Barma Fall Alexis Kagame

Alieu Ebrima Cham Joof
Senegalese
Ghanaian
Cheikh Anta Diop
Kwame Nkrumah Souleymane Bachir Diagne
Kwame Anthony Appiah Kocc Barma Fall
Al-Hajj Salim Suwari
South African
Anton Wilhelm Amo
W. E. B. Du Bois Es'kia Mphahlele
Kwame Gyekye John Langalibalele Dube
Ato Sekyi-Otu Steve Biko
Kwasi Wiredu David Benatar
J. N. Findlay
Hellenistic
John McDowell
Apollodorus of Athens Mpho Tshivhase
Clitimachus
Tanzanian
Dio of Alexandria
Dionysius of Cyrene Julius Nyerere
Heraclides Lembus
Tunisian
Hypatia
Lacydes of Cyrene Rachida Triki
See also
African philosophers

Notes and references

1. Mucale, Ergimino Pedro (Fall 2015). "The Libertarian Paradigm in Ngoenha: A Contribution to the African
Philosophy". Philosophia Africana. 17: 45–54.
2. BBC (2010-01-13), Neglected African History - Lost Kingdoms of Africa Nubia - BBC4 Highlight
(https://www.youtub
e.com/watch?v=I8M8JMKhTrU), retrieved 2019-03-13
3. Etieyibo, Edwin; Chimakonam, Jonathan (Fall 2015). "African Philosophy: Past, Present, and Future".
Philosophia
Africana.
4. Ware, Rudolph T., The Walking Qurʼan: Islamic Education, Embodied Knowledge, and History in West Africa, UNC
Press Books (2014), p. 101,ISBN 9781469614311 [1] (https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=gRGpA wAAQBAJ&pg=
PA101#v=onepage&q&f=false)
5. Murphy, David, Sembene: Imagining Alternatives in Film & Fiction.James Currey Publishers (200), p. 63,ISBN 978-
0-85255-555-2
6. Sumner, Claude (1994). Ethiopian Philosophy.
7. Samuel Oluoch Imbo, An Introduction to African Philosophy (1998), pp. 38-39,
https://books.google.com/books?
isbn=0847688410
8. "OVERVIEW AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY"(https://books.google.pt/books?id=uWOnYFyGZcMC&pg=P A172&dq=ethno
philosophy+philosophy+history+of+ideas+the+same+or+not&hl=pt-PT&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=ethnophil
osophy%20philosophy%20history%20of%20ideas%20the%20same%20or%20not&f=false) , p. 172, One Hundred
Philosophers, Peter J. King, Zebra, 2006
9. Gyekye, Kwame (9 Sep 2010)."African Ethics" (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/african-ethics/)
. The Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Fall 2011 Edition. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
10. Okere, Theophilus. African Philosophy: A Historico-Hermeneutical Investigation of the
Conditions of its Possibility.
Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1983.

Further reading
Peter O. Bodunrin Philosophy in Africa: Trends and Perspectives (1985: University of Ife Press)
Paulin J. Hountondji African Philosophy: Myth and Reality(1983: Bloomington, Indiana University Press)
Samuel Oluoch Imbo An Introduction to African Philosophy(1998: Rowman & Littlefield)ISBN 0-8476-8841-0
Bruce B. Janz "African Philosophy"PDF
Christian B. N. Gade. A Discourse on African Philosophy: A New Perspective onUbuntu and Transitional Justice in
South Africa (2017: Lexington Books)
Safro Kwame Reading in African Philosophy: An Akan Collection(1995: University Press of America)ISBN 0-8191-
9911-7
H. Odera Oruka [ed.] Sage Philosophy [Volume 4 in Philosophy of History and Culture] (1990: E.J. Brill) ISBN 90-04-
09283-8, ISSN 0922-6001
Prof Nwala "Igbo Philosophy",ISBN 978-245-453-2
Tsenay Serequeberhan [ed.]African Philosophy: The Essential Readings(1991: Paragon House)ISBN 1-55778-
309-8
Placide Tempels, La philosophie bantoue(Bantu Philosophy), Elisabethville, 1945, Full text in Frenchhere.
Kwasi Wiredu Philosophy and an African(1980: Cambridge University Press)
Kwasi Wiredu [ed.] A Companion to African Philosophy(2004: Blackwell)
Kwasi Wiredu Toward Decolonizing African Philosophy AndReligion In: African Studies Quarterly, The Online
Journal for African Studies, Volume 1, Issue 4, 1998
Olabiyi Babalola Yai, Guest Editor: African Studies Quarterly, Volume 1, Issue 4 (1998): Religion and Philosophy in
Africa
Mubabinge Bilolo, Contribution à l'histoire de la reconnaissance de Philosophie en Afrique Noireraditionnelle,
T
(1978: Kinshasa, Facultés Catholiques de Kinshasa, Licence en Philosophie et Religions Africaines)
 Mubabinge Bilolo, Les cosmo-théologies philosophiques de l'Égypte Antique. Problématiques, Prémisses
herméneutiques et problèmes majeurs. Academy of African Thought, Sect. I, vol. 1, (1986: Kinshasa-Munich-
Libreville, African University Studies)
Peter O. Bodunrin Philosophy in Africa: Trends and Perspectives (1985: University of Ife Press)
Babajide Dasaolu/Demilade OyelakunThe concept of evil in Yoruba and Igbo thoughts: Some Comparisonsin:
Philosophia: E-Journal of Philosophy and Culture– 10/2015.
Kwame Gyekye An Essay of African Philosophical Thought: The Akan Conceptual Scheme (1995: Temple University
Press) ISBN 1-56639-380-9
Paulin J. Hountondji African Philosophy: Myth and Reality(1983: Bloomington, Indiana University Press)
Samuel Oluoch Imbo An Introduction to African Philosophy(1998: Rowman & Littlefield)ISBN 0-8476-8841-0
Bruce B. Janz "African Philosophy"PDF
Safro Kwame Reading in African Philosophy: An Akan Collection(1995: University Press of America)ISBN 0-8191-
9911-7
Joseph I. Omoregbe "African philosophy: yesterday and today” (in Bodunrin; references to reprint in [E. C. Eze] [ed.]
African Philosophy: An Anthology(1998: Oxford, Blackwell))
H. Odera Oruka [ed.] Sage Philosophy [Volume 4 in Philosophy of History and Culture] (1990: E.J. Brill) ISBN 90-04-
09283-8, ISSN 0922-6001
Tsenay Serequeberhan [ed.]African Philosophy: The Essential Readings(1991: Paragon House)ISBN 1-55778-
309-8
Placide Tempels, La philosophie bantoue(Bantu Philosophy), Elisabethville, 1945, Full text in Frenchhere.
Kwasi Wiredu Philosophy and an African(1980: Cambridge University Press)
Kwasi Wiredu [ed.] A Companion to African Philosophy(2004: Blackwell)
Kwasi Wiredu Toward Decolonizing African Philosophy AndReligion In: African Studies Quarterly, The Online
Journal for African Studies, Volume 1, Issue 4, 1998
Olabiyi Babalola Yai, Guest Editor: African Studies Quarterly, Volume 1, Issue 4 (1998): Religion and Philosophy in
Africa
K.C. Anyanwu (and E.A. Ruch) African Philosophy: An Introduction (1981: Catholic Book Agency)
Janheinz Jahn Muntu : African culture and the Western world (1990: Grove Weidenfeld) ISBN 0802132081
Alexis Kagame La philosophie bantu-rwandaise de l'être(1966 Johnson Reprint)

External links
African Philosophy — African Studies Centre
African Sage Philosophyby Gail M. Presbey in theInternet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
History of African Philosophyby Jonathan O. Chimakonam in theInternet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Wikiversity Research Project of African Philosophy

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