Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 September 2016
To run through the chronological repertory of works of African philosophy for the period 1950–1980 (Mudimbe, 1982a; Smet, 1978b), one fact strikes the eye immediately: the large number of books of “philosophy” published in Central Africa, mainly in Zaire. This quantity is due to the influence of Catholic missionaries during the colonial era. In the terms of the 1906 Convention between the Holy See and the Congro Free State they had a quasi monopoly in education. And also, at a very early stage, they had developed an elaborate structure of religious education leading to “major seminaries” in which candidates to the priesthood were introduced to Thomist philosophy before they undertook studies in theology.
In this century the first Africans to publish works claiming to be philosophical have been churchmen: Kagame (1956), Makarakiza (1959), Lufuluabo (1964), and Mulago (1965). They are spiritually disciples of Placide Tempels, refer to and use his Bantu Philosophy (1945). Their status and the special order of their mission have prepared them to receive sympathetically the basic hypotheses of Tempels as well as they way he advocated them. This submission to one perspective has, however, never meant a mere repetition of Tempels' ideas, as shown by Kagame's reservation (1956) and the widening of his investigation (1976).