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PLS1502 EXAMSection A
1. African Philosophy –
Etymology- The study of indigenous philosophical systems is known as ethnophilosophy.
Ethnophilosophy refers to bodies of opinion and experience with metaphysical significance that can
be redescribed in words taken from empirical philosophy that have not been consciously articulated
as philosophy by philosophers. This bodies of opinion and knowledge express themselves in the
thoughts and behaviours of individuals who share a society.1 There are various interesting disputes
concerning Africa's cultural unity. Whereas theorists such as Diop, Obenga, and Chami claim that,
despite the different so-called ethnic and linguistic groups, there is a linguistic and cultural unity
throughout the African continent that makes it meaningful to refer to its people and philosophical
legacy as "African philosophy." Speaking about African philosophy would be unsustainable because
Africa is not a unified and valid description of people. When it comes to Africa, some authors include
all African-descended peoples, such as African Americans and Afro-Caribbeans, whereas others claim
only individuals from the continent may be referred to as such.
Philosophy is commonly translated as "the love of wisdom" based on its Greek interpretation;
however, some, like as Obenga, believe the word predates its Greek use and originated in the
Ancient Egyptian language. In any event, even in the Western tradition, philosophers continue to
debate what philosophy is. For example, what we now call physics was known as Natural philosophy
during the time of Isaac Newton.2 Professional philosophers such as Oruka are adamant that “the
talk of a uniquely African conceptual framework or way of thinking (African mentality) with respect,
at least, to the discipline of philosophy is not entertained”.3
Periodisation
In the history of African philosophy, there are ancient, mediaeval, modern, and contemporary
periods, each with its own set of problems, concerns, and individuals.
1. Excavationism- Both those who attempted to construct the edifice of African thought by
systematizing African cultural worldviews are known as the Excavators. Others attempted to
create compatible political philosophies for Africa from the native political structures of
African cultures, while others aimed to retrieve and recreate presumably missing African
identity from the raw materials of African society. Their aim was to create and display a
distinct African identity in different ways. Placid Tempels, Julius Nyerere, John Mbiti, Alexis
Kagame, Leopold Senghor, Kwame Nkrumah, and Aime Cesaire are only a handful of them4.
2. Afro-constructionism/Afro-deconstructionism (called the Modernists or the Universalists)-
They are also known as Modernists or Universalists, wanted to deconstruct the Excavators'
edifice on the grounds that their raw materials were inferior cultural paraphernalia. They are
1
Karp, I., 1998
2
Alford, A.F. 2002
3
Oruka, H.O. 2002 page 120
4
Gyekye, 1987.
, opposed to the idea of unique African identity or culture-bound philosophy and preferred a
philosophy that will integrate African identity with the identity of all other races.
3. Critical Reconstructionism/Afro-Eclecticism- A few Afro-deconstructionists from the middle
period evolved into Critical Reconstructionist, intending to build a critical, individualistic, and
universal edifice of real African philosophy from the ground up. They became Critical
Reconstructionist, aiming to build a critical, individualistic, and universal edifice of authentic
African philosophy from the ground up. They say that the ethnophilosophical edifice, which
they destroyed in the middle century, lacked vital rigor. This campaign played a crucial
reconciliatory function, which African philosophy did not completely appreciate. Perhaps
notably, they discovered a way out and set the groundwork for Conversationalist to emerge.
In the later era of African philosophy, members of this twin-movement flourished5.
4. Conversationalism- are those working to create a lasting corpus of African philosophy by
bringing together elements of history and individual thinkers in constructive dialogue. In
prescribing and analysing their theories, they stress originality, imagination, ingenuity, peer-
criticism, and cross-pollination of ideas
2. Ethnophilosophy -
Ethnophilosophy represents the collective worldview of traditional African societies. Ethno-
philosophy is a hotly debated subject, and it is closely tied with Paulin Hountondji's criticism of his
contemporaries' intellectual practices. 6The core of Hountondji's criticism was that his colleagues
were engaging in ethnology masquerading as philosophy. He accused them of just gathering the
collective beliefs and opinions of many ethnic groups on specific issues such as the existence of God,
objections to murder, and the nature of souls, for example. He claimed that while presenting these
collective beliefs under titles such as "the Xhosa stance on interpersonal ethics" or "The Zulu
understanding of the mind-body dilemma" was interesting, it was not truly an exercise in philosophy
but rather ethnology.7
He maintained that philosophy was inherently critical, and that it should include not just a catalogue
of viewpoints, but also a self-critique of them. He also believed that philosophy was an individual
rather than a communal endeavour, and that it could not be properly attributed to any group but
rather to individual philosophers. Furthermore, he insisted that a written tradition was required for
any discussion of philosophy because it was the medium for critical and inter-temporal debate that
formed anything that could be considered a tradition.
Ethnophilosophy embodies the collective attempts of Tempels, ethnographers, anthropologists and
ethnophilosophers who endeavoured to identify specific worldviews (weltanschauung), wisdom and
philosophies in African societies.
Ethnophilosophy represents the collective philosophy of traditional African societies; individual
philosophies are not entertained in this trend. Okere, for example, has objected to Hountondji's
5
Onyewuenyi 1993.
6
Dübgen, F., & Skupien, S. (2018) page 20
7
Dübgen F., Skupien S. (2019) pp 13-45
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