African philosophy
The term "African philosophy " is controversial and is also well used by different philosophers in different ways. Although writing from Africa coming or there teaching philosophers also in many traditional areas of philosophy and research (about the questions of metaphysics, epistemology, moral philosophy and political philosophy ), a large part of appearing there literature but also deals with the essence of the African philosophy itself
- 3.1 ethnophilosophy and philosophical wisdom
- 3.2 Academic Philosophy
- 3.3 Philosophical and theological renaissance of Africa
- 3.4 Nationalist - ideological philosophy
Introduction
One of the key points of the discussion continues with the question of what should be called exactly by the term " African" at all: the contents of the local philosophy or the identity of the local philosophers. According to the first one philosophy is then hot african when dealing with specific African issues and concepts, or there developed methods used; after the second opinion simply includes African philosophy that part of philosophy that is of African philosophers (or, more generally, people of African descent ) were rendered.
In the following, African philosophy is considered especially among the first of the considerations listed above, enhancing their existing characteristics can be particularly clearly expressed. In addition, a change of perspective would also no significant change in the results, since in fact African philosophy in the first sense with such in the second sense (yet) coincide.
The subsequent historical outline is first person-centered act and philosophers illuminate that have been born on the African continent; to the beginning of the modern age then more and more of the content and the method of African philosophy are in the foreground. But first, a brief presentation on the development of African philosophy in the ancient world.
Antiquity to modern times
The history of philosophy in the pre-modern Africa can be classified based on the geographical conditions in two major areas: Developments in northern Africa and the rest of the continent. This division is based in turn on two correlated factors: the exchange with other cultural and religious traditions such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam and the development of written language.
South of the Sahara
First, a further distinction can be made, namely between a philosopher and philosophy on the other hand: Paulin J. Hountondji once remarked that without a written language
Here, even if that is a rather broad definition of the term " philosopher " is required - such as Joseph suggested I Omoregebe, a philosopher is someone
There is still a clear difference between the incoherent mass of individual thoughts of such a thinker, and the continuity of a thought which deserves to be called " philosophical tradition." Turned Easy: Even if there are African philosophers and has given the results do not necessarily lead to the establishment of an independent African philosophy.
The second view is with an alternative conception of philosophy one: If we assume that any philosophy can be described as a coherent sets of assumptions about nature, the world and man's place in it, you can in almost all cultures, a kind of philosophical thought prove. Such a conception of philosophy then no longer depends on the presence of people who philosophize in the sense of the above Omoregbe'schen proposal; as an African philosophy is conceivable even without African philosophers.
A lack of ability of the African population to philosophize is nowadays seriously put forward by anyone anymore and would be difficult to justify well. According to the common view needs ( that about at least a portion of the Company sufficient time and leisure for reflection and discussion has ) for the emergence of philosophical (or more generally scientific ) thought likely to be a particular kind of social structure; other factors are given. Even if one were but now assume that no philosophical thinking would have been formed in ancient Africa, it would be merely an indication that one or more of these contingent factors were not present there indicated; the ability of its citizens to philosophize can be called into question but barely.
So there is at least a safe example of a pre-modern, originating from Southern Africa philosophers Omoregbe'schen sense: Anton Wilhelm Amo (about today's Ghana) as a slave from the African Awukenu to Europe, grew up there and received a sound education: He earned degrees in the subjects law and philosophy and eventually became a professor at the universities of Halle and Jena.
Northern Africa
The philosophy in North Africa has achieved a rich and varied history: Beginning in pre-dynastic Egypt, and then further fueled by the birth of Christianity and Islam. A central theme in ancient Egypt was the concept of " ma'at " what about with "justice", "truth" or simply " what is right " can be played. One of the earliest works of political philosophy are the maxims of Ptah - Hotep, which formed the basis for learning of generations of Egyptian school children. Hermetic philosophers such as Giordano Bruno saw her -thinking roots in the ancient Egyptian philosophy, and in fact can be found in his work many references to Greek philosophers who have studied in Egypt. Some commentators, such as George James argued that large parts of Greek philosophy originally from Egypt, and Martin Bernall says in his book Black Athena, even, that a native of the Egyptian philosophy pre- Enlightenment approach later a Euro -centric point of view had to give way, which rejected the findings gained there.
Within the Christian tradition, a native of Africa philosopher Augustine of Hippo can be considered as one of the most important representatives of early Christian philosophy and theology. He lived 354-430 AD, and wrote, among other things, his most well known work " City of God " ( " The City of God " ) in Hippo Regius (now Annaba, in Algeria). In it he attacks a number of other Christian beliefs such as Arianism and leads concepts and theorems such as original sin and the doctrine of grace in the Christian theology, which were for their further course of crucial importance.
In the Islamic tradition are philosophers like Ibn Baja, who lived in the 12th century and took his philosophical starting point in Neo-Platonism. After Baja, the purpose of human life is the attainment of true happiness. This may on the the vision of the universals are reached. Here, reason and philosophy provide the necessary conditions for this because, whereas the established religions play a subordinate role.
Ibn Rushd ( Averroes, founder of Averroism ) developed a contrast rather Aristotelian -inspired philosophy. He took the view that there must be no real conflict between religion and philosophy, namely that both represent different but equally valid ways to God here. During the philosopher can choose as a friend of thinking freely the path of reason, the mass of ordinary people is not in a position and therefore opts for the path of faith.
Ibn Sab'in attacked this doctrine, arguing that Aristotle's philosophy is useless for understanding the universe, as we did not succeed her, reflect the fundamental unity of the world with yourself and God. Therefore, a true understanding of it would require an entirely different method of thinking.
Four possible candidates of modern African philosophy
The Kenyan philosopher Henry Odera Oruka has identified four different varieties of modern African philosophy: ethnophilosophy, Philosophical Wisdom, nationalistic or ideological philosophy and academic philosophy. It may also be possible to consider them as "candidates " for a certain direction in the African philosophy, the possibility remains open that more than one whose requirements can be meet.
Ethnophilosophy and philosophical wisdom
Ethnophilosophy includes the recording of African cultures represented in convictions. Such an approach treats African philosophy as a set of shared conditions, values, categories and assumptions that implicitly exist in language, thought and action of all African cultures; in focus, they tried to describe a specifically African worldview. Thus, it is perceived more as an object than as a joint holding activity that emanates from an individual.
A representative of this school of thought, Placide temple has set out in his book Bantu Philosophy tries that the metaphysical categories of the Bantu people are reflected in their linguistic categories. According to this view, African philosophy can best be understood as a representation of the fundamental assumptions about reality as it is reflected in the African languages.
An example of this approach is the work of EJ Alagoa from the University of Port Harcourt in Nigeria is entering his essay An African Philosophy of History in the Oral Tradition of a specifically African history of philosophy, which has evolved from developed traditional traditional wisdoms and proverbs of the peoples of the Niger Delta. After the age gets in the African philosophy of great importance when it comes to the acquisition of wisdom and the interpretation of the past. In support of this view he quotes some of the ancient wisdom, such as " More days, more wisdom," or "What an old man sitting recognizes, sees a young not even standing ." Truth ( " truth passes not " ) as eternal and immutable understood, but people are error- prone ( "Even a four-legged horse stumbles and falls "). It is dangerous to judge alone because of phenomena ( " A great eye does not lead to a sharp point of view " ), but erstpersönlichen observations can generally be trusted ( "The one who sees not wrong "). The past is not different in principle considered from the present, but history is always present history ( " A storyteller tells not of a different season "). The future remains beyond all knowledge ( "Even a bird with a long neck can not predict the future "). Nevertheless, it is said that God " survived the ages ." The history is of great importance given ( " Someone who is is about its origin in ignorance no real human being") have and historians ( which are called " sons of the soil " ) has a high reputation ( "The Son of the soil, the sharp eyes of a Python ").
Another, more controversial application of this approach lies in the concept of negritude. Leopold Senghor, a representative of the negritude argued that the specifically African view of reality is based more on emotion than on logic; their preparation is more in the individual's participation in a scientific analysis instead, so they are also strongly expressed than in scientific writings in works of art. In contrast, Cheikh Anta Diop agreed, although the Leopold'schen thesis, according to which the African culture is unique, but also made it out that pointed out by him characteristics are untenable, at least in the next width: As constituted about ancient Egypt with his achievements in the fields of science, mathematics, architecture and philosophy, the basis of the Greek (and Western ) civilization.
Critics have this approach, accused of real philosophical work much characterized by the setting up of a coherent philosophical position by an academically trained philosopher, whereas the gathering of wisdoms and aphorisms of a culture can be represented in different ways and interpret, which may also contradict each other. So you can well imagine what different possibilities arise if someone would try to set up a theory of memory solely on the basis of proverbs and sayings, such as "She has a memory like a sieve ", " He has a memory like an elephant ", etc.
Philosophical wisdom can be thought of as a first approximation as an individual variant of ethnophilosophy: In her collecting the basic beliefs of a culture of the whole society to the elite level is shifted: In the background there is the idea that most companies, although by its members a certain amount of participation on the companies represented by their beliefs and practices expected of them but only a small percentage of a higher level of understanding of the worldview of their culture reached; these people are then considered wise. However, in some cases, the way is also from the mere knowledge and understanding of the world view of criticism over; this constitutes the ultimate goal of Philosophical Wisdom
Pioneer of this approach is the Kenyan philosopher Henry Odera Oruka. In the 1970s, he has developed his project of Sage Philosophy (wisdom philosophy) in strict demarcation to ethnophilosophy. As part of his project, he has tried to document the individual thinking of African wise men and women ( sages ) on the basis of a modern, bound to argumentative criticism and subjective concept formation and concept of philosophy as to make the knowledge of African sage philosophy available.
Critics of this approach emphasize that not every questioning and criticism " philosophical " was; still he prevents that the thoughts of the wise may be considered themselves as part of the African philosophy as " African philosophy " yes only when the collection thereof is determined. Moreover, in this view, is hardly a difference between non-African anthropology or ethnology and African philosophy make out; this seems rather justified only in the cultural affiliation of the scientist to lie.
In general, the biggest problem with both approaches presented so far is seen in its definition: There still seems to be a distinct difference between the presentation of a philosophy and the development of a history of ideas. No matter how original or interesting the assumptions and beliefs of groups such as the Akan or the Yorùbá may be, yet they remain mere assumptions and are not a philosophy. " To let My philosophy is to live it and live " If they are still sometimes referred to as such, then in a secondary sense of the word, as a view of life, such as those in is expressed.
Academic Philosophy
In academic philosophy are understood in African philosophy, the traditional Western understanding of philosophy ( in which case both the continental and analytic philosophy should be included ), according to which it is a specific way to deal with the world and they thinking. According to the representatives of this approach, this is one for the African majority comparatively new idea of philosophy, so that they look grasped so than in the strong growth their subject, both in terms of quantity of given by African philosophers contributions, as well as what the quality in the form the introduction of new, specific concerns to African issues oriented topics and approaches.
The ethnophilosophers try to show the specificity of African philosophy by which specifically African in stress and lose almost the philosophy of the eyes. In contrast, the academic philosophers put reversed entirely on the generally shared determination of Western philosophy, whereby the specific African threatens to get out of sight. However, this dilemma is not inevitable, and many African philosophers have him successfully met, including Kwame Anthony Appiah, Kwame Gyekye, Kwasi Wiredu, Oshita O. Oshita, Lansana Keita, Peter Bodunrin and Chukwudum B. Okolo.
Philosophical and theological renaissance of Africa
Hard to classify the new academic trend, which is represented by the Congolese philosopher Mubabinge Bilolo. This tendency criticized the distraction of African philosophers with a sterile debate about the reception of Western definition of philosophy in Africa. African philosophy is not " African Okzidentologie or Europeanologie " ( Bilolo ), but a tradition that we need to understand entirely of African history and from the African texts and explain. Regarding the definition of philosophy, is Bilolo of the African languages and defines it as MRWT n M3at ( Merut -en- Maât ) " love of the truth - justice - solidarity - and - order". Bilolo, who is also an Egyptologist and historian of the African philosophy shows in his many publications that African philosophy has always been an integral part of the history of philosophy since the 16th century. Starting from Ancient Egypt reconstructed Bilolo the basic tendencies, the major schools and the core issues of African philosophy and religions. The result of this approach is a renaissance of African spirituality, the Bantu theology and philosophical Afrozentrizität throughout the African Diaspora.
This tendency of the Renaissance is neither Anglophone nor Francophone. It bears the stamp of the " Germano -speaking " African. This circle of Germano -speakers next to Mubabinge Bilolo include philosophers such as Duala M'Bedy, Tshiamalenga Ntumba, Claude Onzakom and Jacob Mabe.
Nationalist - ideological philosophy
Nationalist - ideological philosophy can be viewed as a special case of philosophical wisdom, the object but not the utterances of the wise, but those of the ideologues. Alternatively, it is also attributed to the field of academic political philosophy. In both cases, an accurate distinction between ideology and philosophy is made to ensure that distinction can be made between a mere set of ideas and the specific philosophical way of thinking.
( Parts of the English article, on the basis of the present German version was developed, based on Peter J. King's Introduction to African philosophy [see the link below this ] and with the permission of the author used )