On the Myth Called ‘Negro-African Mode of Knowing
African philosophy has recorded fallacious but otherwise significant arguments in its defense. Some scholars have falsely argued that Africans know in a unique way, different from and superior to the Western standards of knowledge. If the argument is granted, then cultural relativism is implied. However, the argument is only a stratagem that employs a reductive view of knowledge- as intuition, and of epistemology- as mere cultural beliefs. Instead of striving to arrive at knowledge and epistemology, those scholars redefine knowledge such that the kind of beliefs found in African cultures ordinarily qualify as knowledge- discarding the challenge for criticality and logicality. If they take up the challenge, rather presenting collections of myths and proverbs as African epistemology, African philosophy would be better for it.
Keywords: called, knowing, mode, myth, ‘negro-african