Bantu Philosophy

The influential 1945 book by Belgian missionary Placid Tempels that argued African (Bantu) peoples possess a coherent, systematic ontology and philosophical worldview. It challenged colonial paternalism in mission methods and became a foundational, if contested, convergence point between African and other philosophical traditions.

Claims that use this term

• Tempels had no university training beyond seminary before writing Bantu Philosophy
• Bantu Philosophy challenged the colonial paternalism underpinning mission methods
• Tempels wrote Bantu Philosophy for practitioners, not professional philosophers
• Bantu Philosophy still serves as a convergence point between African and other philosophical traditions.
• Tempels’s thought is best understood through his whole corpus, not just Bantu Philosophy
• Bantu Philosophy was first published in Flemish and then in French in 1945.