Dualism in Banty Philosphy: Affirming a Connection between Causation in African Thought and Causation in Law

Abstract

This study adopts the method of hermeneutics and content analysis to examine Placide Tempels’ Bantu philosophy which is rooted in metaphysical dualism. It builds on Placide Tempels account of Bantu belief in the principle of cause and effect to establish a connection between African belief in causality and causality in the law. This paper discovers that most of the works done by authors in establishing link between African belief in causality and Western account of the concept approach it from the perspective of free will and determinism. The paper argues that such approach tends to limit causation in the law to cause-in-fact, whereas, studies on attribution of responsibility in law strongly show that cause-in-fact is inadequate for causal relations in law. The position of this paper is that Cause-in-law, which, both philosophers and legal scholars see as the most important factor for causation in the law, features in dualism of cause and effect among the Bantus. The connecting factor being that the Bantus’ belief in a metaphysical element (ancestor) playing a role in determining consequences of action especially in the circumstance diminution of vital force (the determinant of personhood), aligns with the idea of intuition being the determinant of cause-in-law. Consequently, this study regards as unfounded the distinction usually made between Western thought patterns and African world view. It calls for a genuine approach to understanding African thought patterns, believing that such approach could lead to reforming most of the anomalies observed in Western thought such as the object/subject dichotomy.