African philosophers you may not have heard of

When we think of philosophers, names such as Socrates, Nietzsche and Sartre quickly spring to mind. The insights of African philosophers, however, are rapidly gaining attention.

For someone who grew up in the West, surrounded by that culture, African philosophy can be somewhat difficult to understand. Nigerian philosopher Sophie B. Oluwole believes that the biggest difference is that the Western way of thinking is based on contradictions, ‘either/or’, in other words.

The reason is that since the time of Socrates, Westerners assume that there are two sides to reality: matter 
on one hand, and non-matter on the other. Put simply, there is the tangible, and the non-tangible (an idea, our minds or energy, for example). Our entire way of thinking is based on this dichotomy; something is either good or bad, or of the body or mind, or is true or false. This is referred to as an exclusive way of thinking. As such, in the Western world, we always assume that there is a contrast between individuals and the common good for example, or between nature and what is man-made.