What explanation can we give for the seeming struggle between good and evil?
Why does the chameleon change its colour and walk as it does? The answers are
naturally clothed in stories which serve as necessary tools for preservation and
subsequent handover from one generation to the next. Hence the collection of
myths, stories, images and legends symbolizes the mythological aspect of religion
because it is through them that the supersensible world is represented. The African
has the important role of utilizing any modern means available, to preserve and
transmit these rich cultural traits to generations yet unborn. African myths deal
with organization of the universe in relation to man\u2019s existence, life and destiny.
This article is an attempt to present the African traditional thought systems as
reservoirs for understanding African human reality as a whole and
our connection with the Supreme Being.

The task of philosophy is not to overlook the views held by the common man on the grounds that
such views might be unreflective. Philosophical investigations and reflections are supposed to
discover and unveil the inherent difficulties in the common sense view, redefine, refine and

the Philosophical Society of St. Augustine\u2019s Major Seminary Jos, Plateau State \u2013 Nigeria. Special thanks to late Sr. Sharon Dei, SSND [Baltimore] who edited the paper and made some useful suggestions. May her soul rest in peace, amen! The paper is published in the internet by the author for wider use. It can be cited in any work provided the source is acknowledged.

remodel these thoughts.2 When the Ashanti says, \u201cNo man\u2019s path crosses another\u2019s\u201d, the
philosopher should understand this as saying that everyone has a direct path to the Supreme
Being. When he says, \u201cNo one shows a child the sky\u201d, he means that the sky above is the abode
of the Supreme Being so much so that a child needs no one to inform him.3 In the light of these,
the philosopher is concerned with thoughts and ideas which enlarge the scope of his own
thinking. The world is what it is today because ideas developed in various philosophies and
cultures. Therefore, it is a sine qua non for the philosopher to discover new material about
African thought systems within the capability of his philosophical reasoning.

Recent study by African scholars has unearthed new materials about African thought systems
initially misconceived by European travellers and sit-at-home scholars. This alone is a
development and the philosopher, am sure, will learn more from African thought patterns
because \u201ca people\u2019s religion or worldview should better be interpreted as the people themselves
would explain or interpret it.\u201d4 African scholars inadvertently have a most challenging task of
undertaking a prolonged research in areas of religious beliefs, cosmological theories, moral
ideas, social organization, social values and philosophy. What do we mean by African thought

beliefs or body of knowledge. Bourdieu reminds us that, \u201cevery individual unconsciously brings
to bear general tendencies. .. and patterns of thought which organize reality by directing and
organizing thinking about reality and make what he thinkst hi nkabl e for him as such and the
particular form in which it is thought.\u201d5

In order words, these thought patterns are culturally oriented and directed. Professor John S.
Mbiti has summarized the religious zeal of the African when he said that for the African, \u201cit is
religion, more than anything which colours their understanding of the universe and their
empirical participation in that universe.\u201d6 This is quite true of the African behavioural patterns

as confirmed by Professor E. Bolaji Idowu. He said that to remove religion from the African
would be like disembowelling him.7 The Ashanti believe that \u201cthe universe is full of spirits,\u201d 8
while the Yoruba society has nearly two thousand divinities [orisa].9

Robin Horton has also provided useful works on further understanding of African thought
systems. According to him there is a need for Western philosophical dialogue with African
thoughts. He argues that philosophical concepts can deepen our understanding of African
cosmogonies if we accept them as systems of \u201cexplanations, prediction and control\u201d based on
\u201ctheoretical models.\u201d A major factor of Horton is his insistence that there is a similarity between
African cosmology and science such that \u201cAfrican religious systems can be seen as the outcome
of a model-making process which is found alike in the thought of science and in that of pre-
science.\u201d1 0 This work therefore is a philosophical reflection on African traditional though
systems. It will focus mainly on mythology. The whole point to be understood is that African
traditional thought incorporates both implicitly and explicitly comparable ideas just as
philosophy links events on logical implications of ideas for appropriate usage.

Perhaps we may begin with ordinary usage of the word \u2018myth\u2019. In common English
conversation, to say that something is amyt h would probably mean that something isf alse. But
when the term \u2018myth\u2019 is applied to the religious situation, it is quite neural as to the truth or
falsity of a story enshrined in a myth. Originally, however, a myth meant a story. But calling a
myth a story does not justify it as true or condemn it as false. It is necessary not to use myth
merely in relation to stories about the Supreme Being, about lesser gods, spirits, etc. but about
the whole historical events of a religious significance in a given tradition. For example, the
Passover ritual in Judaism serves as historical event and also functions as a myth.1 1
In writing about myths, Robert Tikpor has supplied us with some insights on what myth is all
about. According to him, a myth is simply a prehistorically cultural attempt at answering the

7 E. Bolaji Idowu, African Traditional Religion: A Definition. [London: Heinemann, 1973], pp.76 \u2013 78.
8 Daryll Forde, Op. cit., p. 191.
9 E. Bolaji Idowu, Olodumare: God in Yoruba Belief. [London: Longmans, 1962], pp. 67 \u2013 68.
10 Robin Horton, \u201cRitual Man in Africa,\u201dA fric a 34, no. 2[1964]99 and \u201cAfrican Traditional Thought and Western