Songs, poems and folklore constitute the material of African philosophy

Evidence

In Bell’s characterisation, it is this narrative aspect of philosophy that is expressive of the varied ways in which lived experiences play out for individuals and communities. It is this narrative aspect which ties philosophy to concrete existence and helps to preserve it from abstraction. To pay attention to the “self-expressed forms of life” – the manner in which both art and science are woven into the fabric of African life – is an important step in establishing the philosophy of a people. As Bell argues, the “songs, poems, and even folklore deriving from culture are part and parcel of the memoir that philosophy must write; they are part of the conversation, both oral and written, that Africans must keep going in a creative fashion” (Bell, 1989, p. 375). — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 389

Categorization

• DEFINE: Specifies what ‘self-expressed forms of life’ concretely include in African philosophy.
• XREF: Resonates with the ‘storytelling as epistemology’ theme in Indigenous and narrative-based thought traditions.