Ubuntu’s vital force derives from Aquinas and Bergson as much as Africa

Evidence

The concept of vital force, upon which Ubuntu philosophy and management are based, is however just as European as it is African. Placide Tempels derives the concept of vital force from Thomas Aquinas’s Thomism and Henri-Louis Bergson’s elan vital. At the same time, Tempels acknowledges the Bantu concept of vital force as a convergent category of both African and Western ontologies. The concept of vital force connects African and Western philosophy. Tempels modified the concept of vital force and incorporated it into his perspective in Bantu Philosophy. Then, African leading voices adapted the concept, so that it is seen today as authentically African. Consequently, the African vital force could be called an invention of tradition. — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 847

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: Undermines the presumed African authenticity of Ubuntu’s foundational concept, showing it as a hybrid construct — this reframes how we read the entire Bantu-Philosophy lineage.
• XREF: Directly extends the chapter’s core argument about Bantu philosophy as an ‘invention of tradition’; connects to the general literature on invented traditions (Hobsbawm & Ranger). — connects to: Leibniz and Bergson treated temporality as mere immanent continuity