Level 43
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African and Latin American Philosophy

African Philosophy: Ubuntu and Sage Philosophy

The communitarian ethics of Ubuntu and the oral sage-philosophy tradition that anchor much of sub-Saharan African philosophical reflection.

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A condensed, point-by-point summary of the module, for reviewing right before a test or exam.

  1. Defining African Philosophy: The Ethnophilosophy Debate. A methodological dispute over whether collective worldviews count as philosophy shaped the field's founding.
  2. Ubuntu: Personhood, Community, and "I Am Because We Are". Ubuntu holds that personhood is achieved relationally, through community, not given at birth in isolation.
  3. Sage Philosophy and Oral Traditions of Wisdom. Odera Oruka's fieldwork sought individually reasoned wisdom in named oral African sages, not anonymous custom.
  4. Kwame Nkrumah and Consciencism. Nkrumah's Consciencism fused Marxism, African communalism, and Islamic and Christian influence into one ideology.
  5. Placide Tempels and Bantu Philosophy Reconsidered. Tempels's 1945 "vital force" thesis both founded and became the central foil of academic African philosophy.
  6. Kwasi Wiredu on Conceptual Decolonization. Wiredu urged African philosophers to test inherited concepts, Western and traditional alike, by independent reason.
  7. African Communitarianism versus Western Individualism. The Gyekye-Menkiti debate tests how far communal constitution of the self can go without erasing autonomy.
  8. Contemporary Debates on the Universality of African Philosophy. Debate continues over whether African philosophy is a distinct tradition or philosophy practiced by Africans.

This is the starting point of African and Latin American Philosophy: you don't need any prior knowledge of this subject to begin.

Key points

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1Defining African Philosophy: The Ethnophilosophy Debate
2Sage Philosophy and Oral Traditions of Wisdom
3Placide Tempels and Bantu Philosophy Reconsidered
4Kwasi Wiredu on Conceptual Decolonization
5Contemporary Debates on the Universality of African Philosophy

Alternative visual view: a simplified sequence of some of the module's key points, in their order within the syllabus.

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Further reading

Bibliography and cited sources used to create this module.

  • Hountondji, P.J. (1983). African Philosophy: Myth and Reality (H. Evans, Trans., 2nd ed.). Bloomington: Indiana University Press. (Original work published 1976)
  • Mbiti, J.S. (1969). African Religions and Philosophy. London: Heinemann.
  • Tempels, P. (1959). Bantu Philosophy (C. King, Trans.). Paris: Présence Africaine. (Original work published 1945)
  • Oruka, H.O. (Ed.). (1990). Sage Philosophy: Indigenous Thinkers and Modern Debate on African Philosophy. Leiden: E.J. Brill.
  • Wiredu, K. (1996). Cultural Universals and Particulars: An African Perspective. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
  • Gyekye, K. (1997). Tradition and Modernity: Philosophical Reflections on the African Experience. New York: Oxford University Press.