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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | The problem of 'man' in Bantu philosophy |
Author: | Kagame, A.A. |
Year: | 1989 |
Periodical: | The African Mind: A Journal of Religion and Philosophy in Africa |
Volume: | 1 |
Issue: | 1 |
Pages: | 35-40 |
Language: | English |
Geographic terms: | Subsaharan Africa Africa |
Subjects: | philosophy man Bantu-speaking peoples Philosophy, Psychology Bantu area |
Abstract: | Throughout the Bantu cultural zones of Africa man is conceived as a complete animal on the one hand, and as an existent of intelligence on the other. Life consists in the union of the body with the two vital principles: the shadow or animal principle and the principle of intelligence. Death is the dissolution of this union. In the Bantu conception, there is no sanction after death. All sanctions take place on earth. There are three categories of goods to which punishment or reward are attached: the goods of fortune, of the person and of offspring. The goods of offspring take precedence over the others and represent, as it were, the ultimate end of man. |