Father temples Flashcards
What aspect/school of philosophy does mans roll through?
Ethnophilosophy
And he reconstructed the philosophy of the Bantu through the study of the Congo Baluba
He believed that African philosophy was made up of basic principles that underline African behaviour, beliefs and customs and govern Africans in their at to day lives
What were his intentions?
To equip “colonial of goodwill” with the tools to carry out Christian colonizing more efficiently cuz he believed the Africans had their philosophy but just couldn’t articulate it, so him and the Europeans would do so for them
Compare western and African modes of being
West had cosmic beings while the Bantus believed the world consisted of forces (vital force) that fell in a heiracrchy
- God (all powerful force) 2. The ancestors
- Living Humans 4. Animals 5. Plants
What is the difference between western ontology and Bantu?
Western is static & Bantu is dynamic ( in man, there is body, shadow, and breath)
What is ontology?
Ontology is like a branch of metaphysics dealing with the nature of being and like creation and stuff and that’s kinda what the vital force hierarchy is although it more epistemology
What is epistemology?
The nature of human knowledge and like rationality of belief and like belief system and ethics and stuff which is what the vital force falls under more
What is Bantu epistemology?
The fact that knowledge applied on an ontological scale sooo the higher the ontological status of being= the more knowledgeable it is
How do Bantu ethics play in relation to the hierarchical order?
Right, good justice are all stuff that are in good standing and go the way of ontological heirarchy
While wrong, evil and justice are basically going against whatever that heirarchy says or places as important
To them, what is heirarchy?
It is the clearest expression of God’s will
What are certain criticism of Tempels?
That his objective is literally the Christian colonizer to make it easier for them to win.
The fact that he produces an exaggeration.
He places this group philosophy on all Bantu and says none of them can articulate for themselves.
What is the positive side to Tempels?
He is one of the few Europeans who believed and argued that Africans had their philosophy and his approach is ethnophilosophy
