Abstract

«The Constitution of Muntu» is an effort to outline the Bantu conception of person. The inquiry is undertaken in view of two perspectives: a formative dimension, which envisages the person as a perfectible reality bound by certain determinisms; and a formal dimension, which envisages him as a definable reality. The two are complementary. In going about this task, a great importance has been alloted to the «sources» or causes of muntu as a person. The ultimate goal of the inquiry is to lay down a viable foundation to African philosophy and theology by understanding the subject engaged in those disciplines - man the knower.