African thought defines the human person as a relation to others, world, and God.
Evidence
Therefore, a human being is seen in African thinking as a relation (between himself and his peers, himself and the world, himself and God). Based on this primordial characteristic of the human being, of the human person, one can easily affirm that saying “I” is equivalent to saying “you” or, better still, saying “the other” and saying “us” means affirming “human existence”. — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 306
Categorization
Category: Definitional Content
- DEFINE: Defines the relational (Ubuntu-like) conception of the person, contrasting with Western individualist ontology.
- XREF: Connects to Ubuntu philosophy and relational accounts of personhood in contemporary African philosophy.
Related
- In African thought a person is fundamentally a relation, not an individual (similarity 0.92)
- African philosophy reduces to the relation between man, world and God (similarity 0.85)
- African philosophy’s central problem is the relationship between man, the world, and God. (similarity 0.85)
- African religion permeates every department of life and cannot be isolated (similarity 0.84)
- In African thought the collective community precedes and grounds individual identity (similarity 0.82)
- African philosophy grounds equality in shared humanity and dialogical relation. (similarity 0.82)
- Bantu personhood rejects Cartesian cogito in favor of relational compassion (similarity 0.82)
- Bantu philosophy is the religious and ethical thought of the Bantu peoples. (similarity 0.81)
- African philosophy has been defined more by negation than by positive formulation (similarity 0.81)
- Africans achieve full personhood only through a long social birth process (similarity 0.80)
- African philosophy is both universal inquiry and continentally rooted cultural reflection (similarity 0.80)
- African community-individual relations are organic like cells to organism (similarity 0.80)
- African philosophy is formulated collectively rather than by named individuals (similarity 0.80)
- Ubuntu personhood defines the self only through communal relation (similarity 0.80)
- African Vitalogy is African thinking analogous to but distinct from Western philosophy (similarity 0.80)
Broader Connections
- African philosophy’s central problem is the relationship between man, the world, and God.
#corroborates(0.80) — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 304 - Life, man, and God are preconceptual and transcultural realities in African thought.
#corroborates(0.70) — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 303 - Vital force makes African civilisation a culture of relations with nature and the divine
#corroborates(0.60) — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 328 - Tempels first made personal status depend on community in African philosophy
#qualifies(0.50) — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 438 - African philosophy must arise from its own cultural circumstances rather than replicate other traditions.
#expands(0.40) — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 382 - Human culture originates in the socially mediated relation between man and nature
#corroborates(0.30) — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 881