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I wish in this chapter to discuss some issues in the philosophy of mind with particular reference to the traditional thought of the Akans of Ghana. One reason for restricting myself to just one small ethnic group on the vast continent of Africa is that I wish to keep the discussion within reasonable anthropological bounds. There is too much easy generalizing about African traditional philosophy. It seems to me that at present there are not enough philosophically analytical studies of the traditional thought of the various peoples of Africa to support any very responsible or illuminating generalisations. The times, then, seem to call for ethnically specific studies. My own hope is that such inquiries would disclose a variety of philosophies, similar in some important respects, but distinct, nevertheless. It would be exceedingly useful, for example, to know from a philosophical elucidation of Yoruba or Mende or Luo or Banyarwandan conceptions of mind, as distinct from unanalytical narratives about their beliefs on the subject, how the thought of other African peoples compares with that of Akans on the same matter. At present, references to the concept of mind in discussions of traditional African philosophies (at least in English) are either nonexistent or utterly perfunctory.

DOI: 10.1007/978-94-009-3517-4_7

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