Tempels holds that the desire for plenitude of life structures all African religion

Evidence

In a real sense, African philosophy was there even before Tempels arrived in the Congo. Considered from that perspective, it can be said that the real fathers and mothers of African philosophy are the Luba men and women in the Congo. Janz (n.d.) admits as much when he says that “[Tempels], does not originate African Philosophy as such – that lies in the hands of Africans, and dates much further back.” What Tempels (1945) did, and what he deserves much credit for, was he applied European philosophical tools to understand the people he was working for, and he then shared the findings of his excavation with his superiors and colleagues in Belgium, the mission territories and the wider world. — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 111 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: African philosophy predates Tempels and originated with the Luba people themselves. — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 111; African religion permeates every department of life and cannot be isolated

Related

• African philosophy predates Tempels and originated with the Luba people themselves. (similarity 0.91)
• Tempels helped initiate the debate over whether African philosophy exists (similarity 0.87)
• Tempels’s evangelization aim made him a philosopher of religion. (similarity 0.87)
• Tempels claims Western philosophy is needed to articulate Bantu thought (similarity 0.86)
• Placide Tempels originated the claim that Africans have a philosophy (similarity 0.86)
• Tempels argued Bantu culture merits philosophical recognition partly through resemblance to Christian Europe (similarity 0.86)
• Tempels first raised whether an African ontology exists (similarity 0.85)
• Tempels generalized the Baluba worldview to all Africans (similarity 0.85)
• Tempels’s Bantu Philosophy aimed at more effective Christianization of the Bantu. (similarity 0.84)
• Tempels’s Bantu Philosophy challenged Western philosophy’s universal claims in 1946 (similarity 0.84)
• Tempels’s book targeted colonial practitioners despite his anticolonial aims (similarity 0.84)
• Tempels sincerely sought African dignity yet retained Christian superiority beliefs. (similarity 0.84)
• Tempels generalized Luba religious conclusions to all Africans, overwriting local voices (similarity 0.84)
• Tempels’ Bantu Philosophy remains seminal to African philosophy despite its missionary origins (similarity 0.84)
• Tempels’s thought is best understood through his whole corpus, not just Bantu Philosophy (similarity 0.84)

Broader Connections

• African religion permeates every department of life and cannot be isolated #expands (0.80)
• African philosophy predates Tempels and originated with the Luba people themselves. #corroborates (0.30) — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 111