African Concept of Time, a Socio-Cultural Reality in the Process of Change

Abstract

This paper is a defence for African thought system. We quite agree with Professor Olusegun Oladipo that African philosophers are in the best position to carry out coherent reflections on Africans philosophical issues and ideas. It is unfortunate and disgusting that many people across the world today still think like E. Ludwig, that “Africans are incapable of any philosophical conception”. Some, who are more liberal, opines that, Africans are capable of reasoning intelligently, but at the lowest ebb of thought. This is sad, evidences abound that Africans compete favourably with counterparts across the globe; in world universities like Harvard, Cambridge and Oxford etc. This work has therefore reflected on African thought system on time conception. It captured the pre-scientific period, the colonial period and the post colonial period. It has effectively justified that not only that Africans, even from pre scientific time, have their conceived ideas about time, but that their time conception is highly philosophical and thought provoking. It stretches beyond the physical world of reality even to the time eternity.

Keywords: Socio- Cultural Reality, Events