The State of African Philosophy in Africa

Abstract

In this chapter we begin some empirical legwork into the question in respect of the sort of intellectual progress that has been made by African philosophers or African philosophy following the metaphilosophical debate in the decades past about its existence, nature, and substance. We consider this investigation to be important for African philosophy not just for stocktaking purposes or the least because of the rising unease, discussions, and protests around a lack of transformation in universities in Africa and the need to Africanize or decolonize the philosophy curriculum in universities in Africa. These are important considerations for embarking on a stocktaking exercise of African philosophy. However, in addition to these considerations, we think that a proper assessment will help invigorate African philosophy and direct African philosophers towards ways of plotting its trajectory for the future. From the data presented, we drew, amongst others, a couple of preliminary conclusions including that philosophy programs in many of the universities in sub-Saharan Africa are westernized, and that there are minimal courses offered in African philosophy in those universities.