Diop defined African philosophy as reconnecting with ancient Egypt

Evidence

As far as Diop was concerned, the whole enterprise that Tempels was engaged in was useless. He writes, “Sheikh Anta Diop regarded the false struggle of ethnophilosophy (that of Tempels and those who continued his project) as useless” (Chachage, 1994, p.53). According to Diop, the only meaningful struggle worth the efforts of young African philosophers was not to reconstruct ethnophilosophy but to re-establish the link between ancient Egypt, the birthplace of African philosophy, and modern thought. In Diop’s estimation then, African philosophy is that which seeks to reconnect with ancient Egypt. Anything which does not do that is useless and does not deserve to be called African philosophy. — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 114

Categorization

• DEFINE: Articulates Diop’s distinctive normative definition of what counts as authentic African philosophy — an Egypt-centered criterion.