Peter Aloysius Ikhane

The work investigates the debate of the question of a unique mode of knowing in African epistemology. Whereas proponents of a unique African mode of knowing argue that there is a peculiar African mode of knowing discernible from the monism of interaction of the object and subject of knowledge in African belief systems, objectors of this claim assert that the idea of a unique African mode of knowing is a myth and does not exists. In examining the debate, I develop the view of ‘ontologized knowledge’, understood as knowledge conceived in relation to ontological commitments arising from African beliefs about ‘what is’. On the basis of this, I argue that while claims about the existence of a unique African mode of knowing are problematic, conceiving knowledge in relation to the ontological commitments of African beliefs about ‘what is’ constitutes a fresh perspective to the global discourse of knowledge in epistemology.