African philosophy developed through four periods: 1) Early period (1920s-1960s) focused on reconstructing African identity in response to colonial claims of African irrationality. 2) Middle period (1960s-1980s) saw debates between Traditionalists, who emphasized African culture, and Universalists, who downplayed it. 3) Later period (1980s-1990s) aimed to reconcile Traditional and Modern African philosophy through Eclecticism or Critical Reconstructionism. 4) New contemporary era (1990s-present) emphasizes Conversational Philosophy through dialogue between traditions and modernity.

1. PERIODIZATION OF
AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY
By Jonathan O. Chimakonam
PRESENTED BY FRED OKETCH

2. INTRODUCTION
• The Western world viewed Africans as naturally naive and irrational. They also
accused Africans of having contributed nothing to the history of civilization.
• The frustrations climaxed in the post-colonial period when the Europeans
made it clear that despite assimilating the European cultures, Africans were
still not equal to them.
• The development of African philosophy underwent different periods. These
periods are:
1. Early period:1920s - 1960s
2. Middle Period: 1960s - 1980s
3. Later period: 1980s - 1990s
4. New (Contemporary) Era: 1990s to date
NB: This periodization intends to highlight African philosophy as a system that
a system that first began in the late 1920s.

3. Early Period: 1920s - 1960s
This is considered to be the period of cultural excavation, aimed at
reconstructing the lost African Identity.
Hegel wrote that the Sub-Saharan Africans had no high cultures and made no
contributions to world history and “civilization”. Lucien Levy Bruhl also
suggested that they were “pre-logical”. The summary of these two positions,
which represent the colonial mindset, is that Africans have no dignified identity
like their European counterpart.
Still after colonization, Africans were considered to have made no contribution
to human history. They were considered to be backward and low in intelligence
of culture. African intellectuals worked to disapprove this view. Others devoted
themselves to proving the rationality of the Africans.
Africans applied different ways to restore their lost dignity e.g. religious,
economic, and political.
It is only by returning to the true African cultural system that the true African
identity can be found.

4. Middle Period: 1960s - 1980s (Great Debate Period)
• In the early period of African philosophy, a major fallout on the true African identity was
experienced. This triggered the emergence of the Middle Period of African Philosophy. Two
strongly opposing sides emerged: The Traditionalists and the Universalists.
• Traditionalists sought to construct an African identity based on excavated African cultural
elements, the Universalists sought to demolish such architectonic structure by associating it with
ethnophilosophy.
• It was during this period that Odera Oruka introduced the trends in African Philosophy.
• This period is also characterized by the doubts cast on the existence of African Philosophy.
• Later these two groups took the names, traditionalists, and modernists.
• It is in this period that we see that all the questions asked by the Modernists were answered by
the Traditionalists. It is out of this that the Eclectic school emerged. It is a school of thought that
accommodates discourses pertaining to African experiences, culture, and world-view as parts of
African philosophy.

5. Later period: 1980s - 1990s
• This is the period of reconciling Traditional African philosophy and Modern African philosophy.
Two rival camps emerged; the Critical Reconstructionisms and the Eclectics.
• The Critical Reconstructionisms aimed at reconstructing African episteme in a universally
integrated way while the Eclectics seemed to harmonize the Traditional African Philosophy and
the Modern African Philosophy. They both desired a new episteme.
• The Critical Reconstructionists found it hard to implement their approach. This challenge was
brought about by the difficulty of producing their philosophical works without being
contaminated by Westernism. This marked the dead end of this illustrious group. The Eclectics
were left as the only standing group.
• The Eclectics now embarked on producing an authentic African philosophy. They worked to
integrate the African native system and the Western system to produce a synthesis that is first
African and then modern. The new challenge was what to incorporate from the African culture
and what to be left out.
• The challenge of eclecticism is that eclectic theories and methods confine one to their internal
dynamics believing that for a work to be regarded as authentic African philosophy, it must
follow the rules of Eclecticism. Because of the pertinent problems, further evolutions in
African philosophy became inevitable.

6. New (Contemporary) Era: 1990s to date
• In this period the nature of African Philosophy turned to Conversational
Philosophy. This gave rise to the Conversational Schools.
• Conversational Philosophy involves various engagements of individual
African Philosophers in the creation of critical narratives through the
fusion of tradition and modernity.
• It is believed that the purity of the African philosophy can be attained in
Conversational philosophizing. This marks the beginning of the
Contemporary African Philosophy.
NB: The central approach in this period is conversation. The dialogue has
dialogue has saved the African philosophy from the retrogressive and
retrogressive and perverse dialogues witnessed in the early and middle
and middle periods.

7. CONCLUSION
The development of African philosophy through the periods yields two
vital conceptions for African philosophy, namely that African
philosophy is a critical engagement of tradition and individual thinkers
on the one hand, and on the other hand, it is also a critical construction
of futurity. So, the authentic African philosophy is not just a future
project; it can also continue from the past.