62 Rethinking the Tripartite Conception of Person in Yoruba Traditional Thought Sunday Layi Oladipupo Adekunle Ajasin Univesity, Nigeria layioladipupo@gmail.com ABSTRACT The concept of person is an important issue in philosophy that has resulted in a perennial debate in philosophy in general and African philosophy in particular. In Yoruba traditional though, the concept of person has been exposed by scholars such as Bolaji Idowu, Olusegun Gbadegesin, Olusegun Oladipo, Wande Abimbola and Moses Makinde. These scholars have presented the concept of person in Yoruba thought using the tripartite argument of the body (Ara), soul (Emi) and inner head (Ori-inu). Against this background, this essay attempts a rethink of the tripartite conception of person in the Yoruba thought, revealing some aspects of the Yoruba concept of persons which are not accounted for in the tripartite conception. This essay concludes by advocating for a multi-dimensional conception of person which takes cognizance of other stages of the coming-to-be of person as obtainable in the Yoruba mythological account. KEYWORDS: personhood, Yoruba, ara, emi, ori. INTRODUCTION The paper sets to discuss the Yoruba conception of person in African traditional thought system. This is considered justified because of the centrality of the question of person to all branches of philosophy as well as related social sciences disciplines. The motivation of the study however, arises from the apparent controversies and contradictions in the existing discussion on the concept and the apparent gap left in the existing literature on the Yoruba concept of person as articulated by