Placide Tempels wrote Bantu Philosophy in (Flemish-) Dutch, his original language.
His friend Émile Possoz, magistrate in Congo, who had also inspired him to write the book, immediately started to translate the chapters in French, the main language in the Belgian colony.
Only after this publication the Dutch version came out as a book, in 1946 with publishing house De Sikkel in Antwerp, Belgium.
When the Parisian publishing house Présence Africaine wanted to republish it, Tempels corrected Rubbens first version extensively, and this became the 1949 edition.
A third French translation, which aimed to correct errors in the earlier versions and get closer to the Dutch original, was made by Tempels expert A.J.