Bantu Philosophy


Bantu Philosophy is a 1945 book written by Placide Tempels which argues that the people of Sub-Saharan Africa have a distinctive philosophy, and attempts to describe the underpinnings of that philosophy.

Overview

In his book, Tempels argues that the African philosophical categories can be identified through the categories inherent to language. According to Tempels, the primary metaphysical category in the thought of Bantu-speaking societies is Force. That is, reality is dynamic, and being is force.
Tempels argues that there are three possible views of the relationship between being and force.
He argues that members of Bantu-speaking cultures hold the last view of force. Specifically:
Tempels argues that as a result of this fundamental difference in categories, the African life of the mind is structured around understanding and defining Force, which contrasts sharply with the Western enterprise of understanding and defining Being.
Bantu Philosophy has been criticized, primarily on the ground that conclusions are gross generalizations which seek to characterize the thought of an entire continent, which, it is argued, it is fundamentally impossible to do in any meaningful way.