“As I See It” Revisited: Re-Reading Holy Prof. Dr. Bernard Nsokika Fonlon’s Legacy and Emancipation

Abstract This paper revisits the moral, intellectual, and spiritual legacy of Holy Prof. Dr. Bernard Nsokika Fonlon (1924–1986), one of Africa’s most profound thinkers whose writings continue to shape the philosophical and ethical discourse of postcolonial societies and the neocolonial period in which we live. Through works such as As I See It, The Genuine Intellectual, The Task of the Educated Man, and Under the Rising Sun, Fonlon called for mental, moral, and cultural emancipation as the foundation of authentic civilization. This paper re-reads his vision in light of 21st-century challenges neo-colonialism, moral fatigue, cultural imitation, and psychological dependency and integrates it with contemporary intercultural experiences from Germany. The argument advanced is that Fonlon’s philosophy of conscience remains the most urgent path toward liberation: a revolution not of weapons or politics, but of the human spirit.