Ethnophilosophy wrongly reduces a society’s philosophy to its worldview

Evidence

Hountondji (1996) and Towa (1971a, 1971b) used the term ethnophilosophy to refer to leading thinkers inspired by Tempels. Towa constructed the term to classify a group of works which mistakenly, according to him, attribute achievements of philosophy to “traditional” Africa. This consists in identifying the philosophy of any society with its worldview—in the case of Africa, the system of values which can be derived from myths, rites, proverbs, customs, and African culture at large. According to this conception, philosophy is implicit in every traditional society. — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 493

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the contested term ethnophilosophy as constructed by Towa and used critically by Hountondji.