Whither Philosophy in Africa?

Abstract

This paper examines the position of philosophy in Africa from the time African and expatriate philosophers engaged in the debate on whether or not there was a uniquely African Philosophy. I argue that where this debate, prompted by the earlier writings of some colonial anthropologists, was going on, there was serious teaching, although not writing, of Western Philosophy. Major writings focused on the African Philosophy question. However, positive work was done after the publication of positive work on African Philosophy, leading to the abandonment of serious publication on Western Philosophy. In spite of this, the presence of expatriate staff in many departments of philosophy between 1975 and 1984 led to great expectations of the discipline on the African continent, as shown in my published work in 1987. Unfortunately, philosophy in Africa has been deteriorating since the end of the 1980's due to neglect and lack of funding by military governments (e.g., Nigeria). In addition to the bad economic situation which led to an exodus of prominent philosophers from Africa to the West, pioneering philosophers have retired and died. These unfortunate developments leave a bleak future for philosophy in Africa, as there may be no experienced philosophers to supervise undergraduate students, leaving a lack of viable replacements for the older philosophers. While resolution of this problem appears difficult, this paper is written in hope that the World Congress might intervene to counteract this desperate situation.