3 ideas
The Akan describe a person as okra (the soul, the divine spark that carries destiny), sunsum (the spirit that grounds personality and character), and honam (the body). Gyekye argues that okra and sunsum are both immaterial, which makes the scheme a soul-body dualism rather than a three-substance theory. He also argues it is an interactionist dualism, because Akan thought holds that disturbances of the spirit can cause bodily illness and the reverse.
In Akan thought, each okra receives a destiny (nkrabea) from God before birth. Gyekye concludes that this destiny cannot be changed, but because it fixes only the general outline of a life, free choice and moral responsibility operate within its limits. He distinguishes a person's circumstances improving from their destiny itself being altered.
Although the Akan conceptual scheme is religious, Gyekye argues that its morality is not derived from God's commands. Acts count as good or bad according to their effect on human well-being and social harmony. Morality is therefore grounded in human welfare and remains intelligible without religious sanction.