An Essay on African Philosophical Thought: The Akan Conceptual Scheme

Introduction

The Ghanaian philosopher Kwame Gyekye published the book with Cambridge University Press in 1987; a revised edition followed in 1995. Against Hountondji’s rejection of “ethnophilosophy”, it argues that a people’s shared thought can be studied philosophically if one draws on proverbs, language and conversations with sages and analyses them critically. Gyekye discusses the Akan concepts of God, of the person – composed of okra (soul), sunsum (spirit) and honam (body) – of destiny and free will, of evil and of ethics, which he sees as humanistic rather than religious in its foundation. He describes Akan social thought as balancing the claims of the community and the individual.

Connections

Responds to

• African Philosophy: Myth and Reality1976 · Paulin Hountondji