Over the years, we have continued to celebrate European and American philosophers without giving much credit to our African philosophers and this has created some levels of imbalance in our appraisals.
We celebrate ancient Greek philosophers like Socrates, Plato, Aristotle’s, Hiraclitus, Thales,Pythogoras, Hippocrates etc before them, there were African philosophers and deep thinkers only that they were not properly documented and recognized. They were lost with the passage of time but their deep thoughts survived as anonymous to this day.
All the African proverbs,fables, wise sayings, folk tales are all African ancient philosophies of our forebears who were not properly documented but have continued to guide us though life from generation to generation.
In contemporary times, we have Great philosophers who are not equally recognized and their works have not been given pepper credit. I will mention few here and their published works. I want you to name other African philosophers you know and credit their works as well.
SOPHIA OLUWALE
Sophia was first Nigerian woman to be awarded a doctorate in philosophy from Nigeria University, and she was one of the few academics who promoted African philosophy:
This resulted in her first substantial book, “Witchcraft”, “Reincarnation”, and the “Godhead”, which was followed by works in Ifa Corpus, African femininity in relation to western feminism, philosophical literature, and her most controversial work, which compared Socrates of Athens, the acclaimed father of western philosophy, and Orunmila of Ile-Ife, the progenitor of Yoruba philosophy.
V. Y. Mudimbe
Valentin-Yves Mudimbe is considered a pivotal figure in African intellectual and cultural history. His work influenced several areas, including African studies, philosophy, sociology, anthropology, linguistics, and history. His writings transformed African intellectual history by challenging the dominant racist historical reconstruction of Greek philosophy.
Mudimbe’s “The Invention of Africa” is a great broad review of how the western fabrication of “primitive” and “uncivilized” representations of Africa, notably in historical and anthropological research, has affected alienated speech and self-identity among Africans themselves.
NAME OTHER AFRICAN PHILOSOPHERS YOU KNOW AND THEIR WORKS