Kayleigh May
Student no: 68021321
PLS1502 – Assignment 2 – Unique No: 786712
Date: 29/09/2020
, According to Osuagwu, an African philosopher, Africanity is what makes African
philosophy, African. Africanity refers to a specific set of characteristics that distinguish
African philosophy from other philosophies, such as Western or Chinese, and speaks of
the social context in which the African philosophy takes place, and this is what makes the
philosophy African. The “philosophy” in African philosophy is a word from the Greek
language and means “love of wisdom.” It also means that the journey of obtaining reliable
knowledge and acting out the knowledge in relevant situations, is very important when
doing philosophy. The philosopher is the person or enterprise responsible for the
philosophy. They must either be African or be heavily involved in the life of African
persons, in order to contribute to the African thought in a meaningful and authentic way.
Osuagwu (1999), provided us with four factors that determine which persons can be
regarded as African philosophers (African historical reconstruction, vol 1:30). These
factors of Africanity refer to the person, place, time event, culture and other members.
These factors indicate that philosophers descending from other countries can be
classified as African philosophers. In this essay, I will discuss each of these four factors
and comment on whether I agree with them or not.
The first factor is the ethno-African. This identifies an African author as being African by
his origin, specifically referring to his birth, ancestry, tribe and physiology. Professor Ali
Mazrui, an African author, refers to these Africans as “Africans of the blood”, meaning
they were born African. This ties in with Osuagwu’s first factor. I agree with this factor and
I believe this is the strongest factor as being African-born will immediately enable you to
become an African philosopher. The views of the indigenous Africans play a major role in
African philosophy and I am also of the opinion that no philosopher from a different origin
will be able to understand and appreciate African philosophy as much as an African-born
philosopher can.
The next factor is the geo-temporal African. This factor refers to the time and space in
Africa in which the African philosophy is currently occurring. The geo-temporality is by the
physical placement of the African author, whether in the African continent itself or
Student no: 68021321
PLS1502 – Assignment 2 – Unique No: 786712
Date: 29/09/2020
, According to Osuagwu, an African philosopher, Africanity is what makes African
philosophy, African. Africanity refers to a specific set of characteristics that distinguish
African philosophy from other philosophies, such as Western or Chinese, and speaks of
the social context in which the African philosophy takes place, and this is what makes the
philosophy African. The “philosophy” in African philosophy is a word from the Greek
language and means “love of wisdom.” It also means that the journey of obtaining reliable
knowledge and acting out the knowledge in relevant situations, is very important when
doing philosophy. The philosopher is the person or enterprise responsible for the
philosophy. They must either be African or be heavily involved in the life of African
persons, in order to contribute to the African thought in a meaningful and authentic way.
Osuagwu (1999), provided us with four factors that determine which persons can be
regarded as African philosophers (African historical reconstruction, vol 1:30). These
factors of Africanity refer to the person, place, time event, culture and other members.
These factors indicate that philosophers descending from other countries can be
classified as African philosophers. In this essay, I will discuss each of these four factors
and comment on whether I agree with them or not.
The first factor is the ethno-African. This identifies an African author as being African by
his origin, specifically referring to his birth, ancestry, tribe and physiology. Professor Ali
Mazrui, an African author, refers to these Africans as “Africans of the blood”, meaning
they were born African. This ties in with Osuagwu’s first factor. I agree with this factor and
I believe this is the strongest factor as being African-born will immediately enable you to
become an African philosopher. The views of the indigenous Africans play a major role in
African philosophy and I am also of the opinion that no philosopher from a different origin
will be able to understand and appreciate African philosophy as much as an African-born
philosopher can.
The next factor is the geo-temporal African. This factor refers to the time and space in
Africa in which the African philosophy is currently occurring. The geo-temporality is by the
physical placement of the African author, whether in the African continent itself or
