A Critical Appraisal of African Philosophy

Abstract

The debate on what African philosophy is, or is not, as repeatedly engaged philosophers from many years now. Oblivious of the changes taking place in the world today, this explains its slow progress and misunderstanding of its goal and purpose. This study has examined factors responsible for this situation, and as identified some of them as, lack of an adequate definition and methodology, for purposes of clarification, the study has distinguished between the narrower and broader meaning of the term philosophy. This study has also made a critical exposition of key methods in any philosophical venture namely, the scientific critical and comparative method in this respect we have learned that without a proper understanding of a subject's conceptual cognition, and methodology. it becomes difficult for it to respond to the challenges encountered, and this endangers its own survival. To achieve this aim this study recommends that African philosophy must have as its goals. The enhancement of intellectual activity it ought to be forward, cultivating independence of thought through critical and rational analysis. It ought to accept and encourage the process of change so as to attain new and broader ways of looking at reality, rather than resting on a set of theoretical assumptions or ideas about people and the universe from the foregoing, this study comes to the conclusion that African philosophy should be a continuous process giving new direction to human thought. Life is dynamic and so at problems of human existence hence the past and present ought to be critically studied for scholars to learn useful lessons from them and be able to forge out into the future.