Introduction

Friday, 2 February 2024 was marked by the death of one of the most illustrious modern African philosophers: Paulin Jidenu Hountondji. Born in 1942, he was the first African to hold the agrégation in philosophy and played an important role in its history. His impact, which was of the utmost importance, will be explained in some detail in this article.

The birth of ‘African’ philosopher

During colonisation, it was accepted that black people were incapable of personal reflection. This idea, supported by philosophers and anthropologists, led to the denial of the existence of a philosophy understood as critical reflection in Africa. However, in his famous book La philosophie bantoue, published in 1945, Placide Tempels, a Belgian missionary, showed that the Bantu vision of the world could be qualified as philosophy. By this discipline, he meant any implicit vision of the world expressed in culture, stories and languages. His work therefore consisted in analysing African traditions to show what is philosophical. His work was enthusiastically received on the continent because, by changing the meaning of the term philosophy, it enabled Africans to adopt one for themselves.

Apology for a ‘true’ African philosopher

Paulin Hountondji was one of the first to be wary of Temple’s’ work, criticising the dilution of the meaning of the concept that emerged from it. For him, philosophy is a personal reflection, not a collective work. He described these attempts to unearth an African philosophy buried in tales, proverbs and customs as ethnophilosophy (neither ethnology nor philosophy). In this way, he established himself as the precursor of modern philosophy, ethnophilosophy having become obsolete. Today, the existence of an African philosophy is undeniable, as evidenced by philosophers such as Kwame Antony Appiah, Achille Mbembe, Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Mahamadé Savadogo and Nadia Yala Kisukidi, among others. This is a reflection on African problems.

Reflection on endogenous knowledge

In criticising ethnophilosophy, Paulin Hountondji urges Africans to embrace true philosophy, which is universal because it is one. However, he warns that it is not a question of abandoning everything that is African. That is why he set out to revisit traditional knowledge and turn it into “endogenous knowledge”. This project, which occupied the second half of his life, aimed to highlight the contribution of traditional African knowledge (traditional medicine, for example) to the various fields of science.

Conclusion

To sum up, Paulin Hountondji is one of the so-called “critics of ethnophilosophy” in the history of African philosophy. In the weeks before his death, this indefatigable enthusiast was taking part in a conference on the ‘Actuality of African philosophy’ at the Université Toulouse Jean-Jaurès. He leaves behind an immense philosophical contribution. Unfortunately, his work will only be better appreciated after his death.