African Humanism in Achebe in Relation to the West

Abstract

The belief system that defies or negates the existence of other beings is the one which claims superiority over other beings in existence. On the contrary, African humanism is the philosophy which naturally enables the coexistence of all humans, irrespective of their creed, culture, tribe, nation or race. Achebe expressed and x-rayed the displeasure in the breaking of this principle or philosophy with the intrusion and imposition of western way of life which defied the existence of the kind of tranquility that existed amongst Africans, thereby leading to all things breaking apart. This paper examined African humanism within the context of African philosophical outlook as it was yesterday, today and tomorrow in complementarity with the western humanism. It drums out a few examples from the works of Achebe as they express and relate African world view in relation to the west. The paper aims at bringing African philosophy to relevance and unifying it worldwide without which philosophy is without universal relevance.