A collection of essays concerned with the unity and purpose of human knowledge and culture in an African setting. The volume contains Chinua Achebe's essay 'Commitment and the African Writer' in which he discusses the development in African literature through the poetry of Equiano, Senghor and David Diop; and compares attitudes of African and European writers to committed literature and commitment as disenchantment and self-criticism in the post-colonial period. There are other notable essays on philosophy and languages. 'Towards an African Philosophy' addresses individual and cultural, and European and African approaches to philosophy; and attitudes towards moral questions in an African culture; and another contributor examines the role and status of African languages in intellectual activity and scientific discourse. Other subjects broached by individual writers are archaeology and the reconstruction of African heritage; music and dance; and the contribution of education and information to development and urbanisation.