Revisiter "la philosophie bantoue": L'idee d'une grammaire philosophique

In: La politique africaine, Heft 77, S. 44-53

Abstract

In spite of his ambiguities, Tempels was one of the first Europeans to recognize reference to a developed philosophical system by an African society. Forty-five years after its publication, a critical review of "Bantu Philosophy" helps renew our thinking on the relations between philosophy and African languages, thus permitting us to escape the impasse of "ethno-philosophy". This article argues that, if every language forges a specific "vision of the world", this does not imply confinement in a given "mentality": language "induces without necessitating". (Polit afr/ DÜI)