Keywords: language, philosophy, African philosophy, logocentrism, Eurocentrism, Africanity and Morality. Introduction Since the inception of the development of the corpus of African philosophical writing, African philosophy has been written exclusively in European languages. African philosophers write in English, in French, in Portuguese, in German, in Latin, and if we may include the non-African authors who made substantial contributions to African philosophy and the languages into which the major works of African philosophy were translated, we would arrive at a large number of European languages, but very few, if any, African ones (Rettova, 2002, p. 129). However, there are authors among African writers, who stress the importance of a renaissance of the traditional thought systems. These authors stress the view that European languages are very much inadequate to express African realities and that African languages ON THE PROBLEM OF LANGUAGE IN AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY Anthony C. Ojimba Department of Philosophy, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria Email: chima_ojimba@yahoo.com Phone: +2348066464290/8037700957, Paul T. Haaga Department of Philosophy, University of Nigeria, Nsukka , Nigeria Email: paulohaaga@gmail.com 08067666445 & Bruno Yammeluan Ikuli Department of Philosophy University of Nigeria, Nsukka Abstract Language embodies the spirit of culture and mediates life and value. It identifies members of a group, carrying their cultural, political and religious truth. Each distinctive language is a different way of experiencing truth. Thus, it is often claimed that language cannot be understood except in the context of the culture of its origin. However, this poses a serious problem for the African philosopher: how can authentic African reality be experienced and expressed in a foreign language? Some African writers have made forceful advocacies for doing African philosophy in African languages, but how realistic is this advocacy? The problem is further compounded with the realization that the African continent possesses many languages in which to express itself. This makes the problem more glaring: in what particular language amongst the different languages in Africa is African philosophy to be genuinely constructed? Based on the above, this study argues that African experiences can be expressed in any language including foreign languages and that Africans should make the learning and writing of their language more scientific to enable more people have access to it. structure and circumscribe distinctly Africa's perception of reality. In this connection, the South African writer, Kunene (I992, p. 38), affirms that “European languages are totally inadequate to express the African philosophical reality,” while Owomoyela (1992, p. 93) urges that “if we wish to assert and preserve distinctly African ways of being and living, we must cultivate distinctly African ways of speaking.” The Nigerian writer, Okara (1963, p. 15), on his own part, captures the situation in the following way, by confessing in an article in English: “You see, I am already groping for words to make you understand what I really mean as an African.” In a similar manner, when Jacques Rabemananjara, a participant at the I959 Second Congress of Black Writers and Artists in Rome, described the gathering as a conference of “language stealers” (cited in Wauthier, I964, p. 3I), it represented the first shot at what was to become a recurrent tradition of publicly evoking African literature's “language problem.” CONTEMPORARY JOURNAL OF ARTS AND SCIENCE . VOL. 1 NO. 1 . PUBLISHED ONLINE MARCH, 2015 COPYRIGHT © 2015 COJAS/RIN 104