Author Description

In a broad sense, the term "philosophy" designates the search for knowledge that began when human beings began to try to understand the world through reason. The term can also define the set of conceptions, practical or theoretical, about the existence, beings, the human being and the role of each one in the Universe. In academic practice, it is used to designate the "set of metaphysical conceptions (general and abstract) about the world". The great criticism that is made to attempts to characterize traditional African thought as philosophy is that, in Africa, the natives, faced with the great unknown that is the Universe, would be unable to go beyond the fear and reverence, typical of so-called "primitive" minds. From then on, the so-called "scientific racism", one of the pillars of colonialism in the 19th century - disqualifying the sources of African knowledge known since antiquity - denied the possibility of Africans producing philosophy. Therefore, the recognition as philosophers, in the strict sense of the term, of thinkers born in Africa and of a philosophical line originating from them only occurred from the 20th century onwards. African Philosophies deals with both ancestral African knowledge, its essence preserved in proverbs, multicultural diversity and teachings passed down through generations through orality, and the contribution of contemporary African and Afro-descendant philosophers in updating this knowledge, many of which are based on decolonialism. Nei Lopes and Luiz Antonio Simas, in a didactic way, once again wrote a work that highlights the complexity, sophistication and depth of African thought and the perspectives of the world that its philosophy provokes.