Abstract
This chapter contends that the criterion question—“what is it that makes a philosophy African?”—is the most enduring question about the existence, and future direction, of African philosophy. Hountondji, Oruka, Bodunrin, Uduma, and Chimankonam are among those who have engaged with this question. I align myself with Chimakonam’s arguement that the proposals in respect of the criterion question put forward by a number of African philosophers are inadequate. However, I claim that he is mistaken to propose logic as the criterion for African philosophy. I argue that what makes a philosophy African is not its logic but its African background ontology. This chapter adopts the conversational method as its interrogative paradigm.
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Notes
- 1.
Ho untondji (1996: 62–67).
- 2.
Oru ka (1975: 50).
- 3.
- 4.
Chim akonam (2015b: 45–48).
- 5.
Fr ege (1960: xxii).
- 6.
Wi redu (1984: 38).
- 7.
Ibid: 42.
- 8.
Ibid.
- 9.
Ibid: 38.
- 10.
Ram ose (2002: 35).
- 11.
Chim akonam (2015b: 33–50).
- 12.
Ibid: 35.
- 13.
Chim akonam (n.d.: xii).
- 14.
Chim akonam (2015b: 35).
- 15.
Chim akonam (2015a: xiii).
- 16.
Bo dunrin (1991: 72).
- 17.
Chima konam (2015b: 40).
- 18.
Udu ma (2014: 143).
- 19.
Chim akonam (2015b: 43).
- 20.
Ibid: 44.
- 21.
Ibid.
- 22.
O ruka (1975: 50).
- 23.
Chim akonam (2015b: 36).
- 24.
Ibid: 37.
- 25.
Ibid: 38.
- 26.
Nw ala (1985: 46).
- 27.
Olu wole (1989: 209).
- 28.
Chim akonam (2015b: 38).
- 29.
Ibid: 42.
- 30.
Ony ewuenyi (1991: 44–45).
- 31.
Chi makonam (2015b: 42–43).
- 32.
Ibid: 33.
- 33.
Chim akonam (2015c: 101).
- 34.
Ibid: 45–46; Chimakonam (2015c: 45–46).
- 35.
- 36.
Chima konam (n.d.: 10).
- 37.
Chima konam (2015c: 110).
- 38.
- 39.
- 40.
Ibid: 106.
- 41.
Chima konam (2015c: 45).
- 42.
Uduma (2015: 26).
- 43.
Ibid.
- 44.
Ibid: 25.
- 45.
Chima konam (2013: 73).
- 46.
Ijiomah (2006: 30).
- 47.
Dummett (1965: 431–432).
- 48.
Chima konam (2012: 23–34).
- 49.
Chim akonam (2014: 59).
- 50.
Ijio mah (2000: 148).
- 51.
Ijio mah (1996: 30).
- 52.
Ogu gua and Ogu gua (2015: 245).
- 53.
Ibid: 244.
- 54.
Ibid: 243.
- 55.
Aristotle (1947: Bk 5).
- 56.
As ouzu (2012: 13).
- 57.
Iji omah (1996: 50).
- 58.
Az enabor (2010: 5).
- 59.
On yewuenyi (1991: 85).
- 60.
Obiajulu (2015: 53).
- 61.
Ma solo (1994: 10).
- 62.
Ma urier (1984: 30, 34).
- 63.
Ibid: 35.
- 64.
Ibid: 36.
- 65.
Ibid: 34.
- 66.
Ed et (2014: 625).
- 67.
Mosima (2016: 22–23).
- 68.
Ma urier (1984: 31).
- 69.
Omoregbe (2004: 1).
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Acknowledgments
I wish to acknowledge The Conversational School of Philosophy (CSP), University of Calabar, Nigeria, whose funding enabled me to present a version of this essay at the September 9-11, 2015 African Philosophy Conference at the University of the Witwatersrand, as well as complete this research. Research Grant number: CSP/ART-CONF/RE-014672/2015.
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Ogbonnaya, L.U. (2018). Between the Ontology and Logic Criteria of African Philosophy. In: Etieyibo, E. (eds) Method, Substance, and the Future of African Philosophy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70226-1_7
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