From Myth to Reality: African Philosophy at Century-End

It is a little more than fifty years that African cultures have been the subject of open and widespread philosophical deliberation, and African philosophy has only more recently become a subject of academic learning, investigation and debate. Earlier, contributions of such African philosophers as Tertullian, Origen, St. Augustine, and, more recently, Anton Wilhelm Amo were mostly absorbed into philosophical discourses that addressed and went on to constitute significant aspects of the Western tradition in philosophy and related disciplines. But the end of European colonization of Africa in the twentieth century has enabled African scholars generally and philosophers particularly to pursue consciously and at times vigorously Africans’ cultural freedom. As we know and debate them today, several key issues in African philosophy are a critical part of the wider postcolonial cultural critique that has occurred across the disciplines. Many of these issues may continue to address what some continue to perceive as Africans’ need for total cultural independence. Africans’ practice of philosophy in the postcolonial period has made it possible to reconsider many philosophical issues and problems with the freshness of new comparative conceptual dimensions, making it possible for African philosophers to participate in a crosscultural philosophical discourse without sacrificing the independence of African modes of thought.

The past quarter-century has been a particularly productive period for African philosophy, especially because it has involved the voices of African thinkers more directly and in greater numbers than ever before. Most African universities have now established departments of philosophy that have grown considerably in human and intellectual resources. These departments have been either separated from their original alliances with religious studies or have been established anew as full-fledged academic departments. Several universities also founded philosophical associations, some armed with excellent journals that provided enrichment forums for philosophical discourse among African philosophers across the continent, for example, on the English-speaking side, Second Order (based at the then University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University), Universitas (University of Ghana at Legon), and Thought and Practice (University of Nairobi); on the French-speaking side, memorable journals include Cahiers Philosophiques Africains/African Philosophical Journal (based at the then Université Nationale du Zaïre), Annales de la Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaines (Université de Dakar), Koré, Revue ivoirienne de philosophie et de Culture (Université de Côte d’Ivoire). There were also journals that, following the institutional history of African philosophy, appeared to address especially their clerical audiences, such as Cahiers des religions africaines, Revue africaine de théologie, La Revue du Clergé Africain, the Bulletin of African Theology, Zaïre-Afrique, and Mélanges de philosophie africaine. Other regular publications, like the Seminar series from the then Université Nationale du Zaïre (Semaine philosophique de Kinshasa), helped to promote and sustain a rich philosophical dialogue among African philosophers. Outside the continent, European-based journals like Présence Africaine, Recherches, pédagogie et culture, and Diogène spread the discourse across global borders. Discussion of African philosophy in mainstream philosophical journals in the West, whether by Africans or others, is most recent, but steadily growing. Also, new journals of African philosophy have recently emerged, for example, Quest, African Philosophy (formerly a newsletter of the US-based Society for African Philosophy in North America, SAPINA, whose acronym it shared), and African Philosophical Inquiry (University of Ibadan in Nigeria). Other renowned academic journals that do not focus directly on philosophy have also played important roles as platforms for philosophical debates with an African orientation, especially Transition and Research in African Literatures.

Together, these mediums have enhanced the visibly rapid growth experienced by African philosophy in the past decade or so. This growth has been particularly apparent in North America, where an ever increasing number of African intellectuals, among them philosophers, are entering the academy as professionals. The rise and visibility of Africa as part of the American academic practice has made possible the inclusion of African ideas and concepts into the repertoire of philosophy and variations in the expression of key elements of knowledge. In particular, philosophical essays with African orientation are now included in anthologies of both general introductory...