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Comparative Studies | Philosophy | Tanzania | Volume 11 Issue 1, January 2022
Screening the African Cogito Ergo Sum: A Challenging Socio-Epistemological Question
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to scrutinize Kpakala?s statement. For us Africans, the Cogito, ergo sum (I think therefore I am) of Westerners turns out to be Sumus ergo sum (We are therefore I am). I tried to show that this statement is ambiguous because it can lead to a certain denial of any epistemology to Africans. On the other side, I pinpointed the fact that Kpakala might have scrutinized the Western principle on existentialist basis that regards actually one?s own existence by thinking without caring or worrying about others. By bringing together the epistemological principle with the anthropological one, the existentialist interpretation prevails because as one cannot doubt of his/her own existence, so one cannot think for him/herself alone according to African principle of thought. That means human beings have to fight the boundaries and the opposition between the individual and the community; between the ?particular and the universal; between the ?I? and the ?WE?; between the global and the local. That is my socio-epistemological stand: ?think globally, universally and act locally or think individually, locally and act universally. Any genuine thinking has positive repercussions on the society. I totally agree with Bodrunin when he says: ?if a problem is philosophical, it must have a universal relevance to all men?. Therefore, I suggest Kpakala?s statement to sound like ??For us Africans, the Cogito, ergo sum (I think therefore I am) of Westerners is not enough; it requires the Sumus ergo sum (We are therefore I am). My wish is that Sum ergo sumus becomes one day a reality for Africa besides Sumus ergo sum.
Keywords: Cogito ergo sum; Sumus ergo sum; Sum ergo sumus
Edition: Volume 11 Issue 1, January 2022,
Pages: 1272 - 1277