Hountondji defines African philosophy procedurally by authorship rather than by content

Evidence

By African philosophy I mean a collection of writings and, to be precise, a collection of written texts made by Africans who qualify as philosophical by themselves. I want to point out, however, that such a definition does not imply any form of assertion of principle. The meaning of the qualifying term “philosophical” does not justify the issues discussed, let alone the pretension of having a right to such a qualification. I am only taking into consideration the fact that the authors themselves gave to “philosophy” that qualification, and always refer correctly to this term. — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 278

Categorization

• DEFINE: Captures Hountondji’s formal, empirical definition of African philosophy based on who writes rather than what is written.