THE FOUR CATEGORIES OF FORCE IN AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY

Abstract

What the constitutes the bulk of African philosophical discussions is identified by the late Kenyan philosopher, Henry Odera Oruka, as being the six schools of thought on what African philosophy is or could be, namely, ethno-philosophy, philosophic sagacity, nationalistic-ideological philosophy, professional philosophy, hermeneutic philosophy, and artistic or literary philosophy. The first four are the generally well known and well explained schools of African philosophy. However, while ethno- philosophy and philosophic sagacity may not be totally qualify for philosophy in its real sense, they however, provide the data for serious philosophical reflection, like Placid Tempels Bantu Philosophy of force, where he presented the idea of African force vitale as the engine house of African philosophy where force is everything and everything is force. Force seen in this context equals the Western idea of Being, where everything that exist is being, and being is everything. The extra ordinary research on the concept of force was part of the process of decolonisation of knowledge highly dominated by the Western thought pattern. The intention is towards the rediscoverring of the ancestral philosophical worldview and spiritual values that had been denigrated and distorted by colonial education. Africans need to rediscover their values, which can only be done through mental re orientation that will orchestrate new conceptual framework. A hermeneutic approach is therefore necessary to interpret the use of African languages that will hitherto elucidate African worldview making it more meaningful.