| We start with yet another distinction: that between philosophers and philosophy. [[Paulin J. Hountondji]] has argued that, without a written language: “thousands of Socrates could never have given birth to Greek philosophy... so thousands of philosophers without written works could never have given birth to an African philosophy” (Hountondji, p.106; quoted in Kwame, Introduction, p.xx). Joseph I. Omoregbe's broad definition of a philosopher as, "one who devotes a good deal of his time reflecting on <nowiki>[</nowiki> fundamental questions about human life or the physical universe<nowiki>] </nowiki> and who frequently and habitually does this” (Omoregbe, p.4), and though no clearly articulated and documented philosophy exists, there is still a philosophical tradition. Put simply, even if there were no known African philosophers, there was African philosophy. | | We start with yet another distinction: that between philosophers and philosophy. [[Paulin J. Hountondji]] has argued that, without a written language: “thousands of Socrates could never have given birth to Greek philosophy... so thousands of philosophers without written works could never have given birth to an African philosophy” (Hountondji, p.106; quoted in Kwame, Introduction, p.xx). Joseph I. Omoregbe's broad definition of a philosopher as, "one who devotes a good deal of his time reflecting on <nowiki>[</nowiki> fundamental questions about human life or the physical universe<nowiki>] </nowiki> and who frequently and habitually does this” (Omoregbe, p.4), and though no clearly articulated and documented philosophy exists, there is still a philosophical tradition. Put simply, even if there were no known African philosophers, there was African philosophy. |