Bantu ontology is grounded in vital force rather than Being

Evidence

This philosophy is ontology of vital forces. In the history of Western philosophy, starting from the Pre-Socratic philosophers, the nature of reality has been described in terms of a static conception of being, by the use of set phrases such as “the reality that is,” “anything that exists,” or “what is.” This may be largely so in Western philosophy, but it is not universally so. Tempels does not accept this static conception of being. Instead, he attributes to the Bantu a dynamic conception of being, an ontology in which being is conceived as “vital force” The universe can be described as an interrelation of forces within the whole of existence. — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 526

Categorization

• DEFINE: Core distinction between static Western ontology and dynamic Bantu ontology of vital force.
• XREF: Connects to Heraclitus, Heidegger, Sartre as Western antecedents of dynamic being — parallels the reader’s grounding in Western metaphysics. — connects to: Bantu vital forces form a hierarchy from God down through ancestors to animals; Claiming force equals being makes the Bantu ontology a mere tautology; Bantu personhood rejects Cartesian cogito in favor of relational compassion (+5 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 526

Broader Connections

• Mbiti articulates African ontology in five ordered categories from God down to objects #expands (0.60)
• Tempels first raised whether an African ontology exists #corroborates (0.40)