Publisher's Synopsis
Once upon a time, it was believed that Africa never knew philosophy as a systematized, formalized way of thinking. Philosophy was then seen as the sole privilege of the West wherein it was said to be given birth about 2500 years ago and it was denied to African people unduly. According to Parrinder, "to say that African people have no system of thought is, explicit or assumed, would be to deny their humanity." Therefore, one major purpose behind this denial was to "dehumanize" black people so that the West would wish or have to "re-humanize" the "black souls" by bringing so called western civilization to them. However, nowadays, as the philosopher Anthony Kanu points it out, the question of whether or not there was something called "African Philosophy" is just a "matter of historical interest." Many would surely not agree with this point of view, but if we define philosophy as a laborious effort of rational thinking about Nature itself, Human Nature, Life and Death, the Universe, the Godhead, Time and Space, and the list of categories goes on, then no doubt we can aver that Africa indeed knew philosophy. What is so specific about this philosophy of Africans would first be the subject of this book's part I, thereafter we shall see the nature of a kind of African philosophy called Negritude in a philosophical perspective, and finally we shall discuss the issues of identities that seem to permeate contemporary African philosophies.
