Vital force is a convergent concept bridging African and Western philosophy.

Evidence

By discussing the ongoing deep influence of Bantu Philosophy on Ubuntu philosophy and management, Frans Dokman (Chapter 7) demonstrates how Tempels’s understandings still affect current concepts in these fields. Dokman’s position, in which Bantu Philosophy is the foundation for Ubuntu orientations, contradicts Ramose (1999: 49), who states “Ubuntu is the root of African philosophy”. With the construction of the holism-dualism dimension, Dokman proceeds to connect Africanand Western-oriented categories. The discussion relates the holistic basis of Ubuntu management with Western management designs dominated by dualism. The holistic concept of vital force itself connects African and Western philosophy. Tempels acknowledges that the Bantu concept of vital force, which proves to be a convergent category of both African and Western philosophies (from Thomism, Schopenhauer and Kierkegaard to Henri-Louis Bergson’s elan vital). — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 1011

Categorization

• XREF: The holism-dualism dimension and Ubuntu management relate to the reader’s earlier curation on social capital and rational-choice theory — both bridge structural and relational modes of analysis.
• DEFINE: Clarifies vital force as a hybrid concept with roots in Thomism, Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard, and Bergson’s elan vital.