Tempels’s Bantu Philosophy ignored Bantu languages and overgeneralized from one community

Evidence

According to Kagame, Tempels should be praised for using the philosophical (Scholastic, Thomist) method he learned in his training for the priesthood. Yet, Bantu Philosophy shows that Tempels was not a sophisticated, state-of-the-art scholar. The first reason Kagame gives is that Tempels did not pay attention to Bantu languages, which he claims could help express the worldview of Africans. The second is that Tempels’s synthesis, which is based strictly on his experience within the Baluba-Shaba community, does not offer a thorough understanding of Bantu cultures (Kagame, 1971, p. 592). — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 537

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the later ethnophilosophy debate and Kagame’s own ‘La Philosophie bantu-rwandaise de l’Être’ correction of Tempels.