AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY
LECTURER: MOMPATI SETLOGELO
CONTACT DETAILS
LECTURER: MR. MOMPATI SETLOGELO
EMAIL:
[email protected] OFFICE: A2 BASE BUILDING B BLOCK, G 073
WHATSAPP GROUPS
SCHOOL OF CURRICULUM STUDIES, FACULTY OF
EDUCATION, MAHIKENG CAMPUS
AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY
AFRICAN TRADITIONAL THOUGHT WAS
CONCERNED WITH THE NATURE OF THE
COSMOS, CONCEPTIONS OF DEITY, THE
PHILOSOPHY OF THE MIND, A
COMMUNALIST AND HUMANISTIC
NOTION OF MORAL RESPONSIBILITY AND
CONSENSUAL PHILOSOPHY OF POLITICS.
AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY
AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY HAS ITS ROOTS
IN ORAL TRADITION. ITS WRITTEN FORM
CAN BE TRACED FROM THE NILE RIVER
CIVILISATION, WHICH INCLUDES NUBIA
(ANCIENT SUDAN), ETHIOPIA AND
KHEMET (ANCIENT EGYPT).
AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY
IN AFRICA SOUTH OF THE SAHARA,
WRITTEN AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY
EMERGED AS A RESPONSE TO THE WAY
COLONIALISM AND IMPERIALISM
SUBJUGATED (CONTROLLED OR
DOMINATED) THE CULTURAL,
SCIENTIFIC, ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL
LIVES OF AFRICANS.
AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY
THIS SUBJUGATION, IT HAS BEEN
ARGUED, MARGINALISED INDIGENOUS
KNOWLEDGE SYSTEMS AND IMPACTED
NEGATIVELY ON AFRICAN IDENTITY AND
AFRICAN WAYS OF SEEING THE WORLD”
(RETHINKING OUR WORLD 51).
AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY
HENRY ORUKA’S WELL-KNOWN
FRAMEWORK HAS OFTEN BEEN CITED
WHEN TRYING TO IDENTIFY THE BASIC
TRENDS IN AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY,
WHICH HE IDENTIFIED AS FOLLOWS:
• ETHNIC-PHILOSOPHY
• PHILOSOPHIC SAGACITY
• NATIONAL-IDEOLOGICAL PHILOSOPHY
• PROFESSIONAL PHILOSOPHY
AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY
ETHNIC-PHILOSOPHY
ETHNIC PHILOSOPHY / ETHNO-
PHILOSOPHY: IT CONSISTS OF THE
RELIGIOUS AND MORAL BELIEFS OF
THE CONTINENT OF AFRICA; IT
CONTAINS PEOPLE’S VIEW OF LIFE AND
AFRICA’S ABILITY TO CRITICISE ITS
OWN TRADITIONS.
PHILOSOPHIC SAGACITY
SAGE (WISDOM) PHILOSOPHY
FOCUSES ON THOSE INDIVIDUALS IN
SOCIETY WHO ARE KNOWN TO BE
WISE AND FAR-SIGHTED AND CAN
AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY
NATIONAL-IDEOLOGICAL PHILOSOPHY
KWAME NKRUMAH, JULIUS NYERERE,
AMILCAR CABRAL, LEOPOLD SENGHOR
AND FRANTZ FANON ARE REGARDED AS
THE MAIN REPRESENTATIVES OF
AFRICAN POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY.
THE ASSUMPTION IS THAT IT MUST BE A
PECULIARLY AFRICAN POLITICAL
PHILOSOPHY, DIFFERENT FROM
CAPITALIST, SOCIALIST OR COMMUNIST
POLITICAL PHILOSOPHIES.
AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY
PROFESSIONAL PHILOSOPHY
PROFESSIONAL PHILOSOPHIES: IT IS
PHILOSOPHY DONE BY AFRICAN
PHILOSOPHERS IN “MAINSTREAM
AREAS” OF ACADEMIC PHILOSOPHY,
SUCH AS EMPIRICISM, CRITICAL
RATIONALISM AND EXISTENTIALISM:
KWAME WIREDU, PETER BODUNRIN,
HENRY ODERA ORUKA, KWAME
ANTHONY APPIAH AND PAULIN
HOUTONDJI.
AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY
ACCORDING TO LESLEY LE GRANGE,
THE FOUR TRENDS IN AFRICAN
PHILOSOPHY PROVIDE A CONTINUUM
WITH EXTREME POSITIONS OF A
NARROW PARTICULARISM
CHARACTERISTIC OF ETHNO-
PHILOSOPHY AT THE ONE END, AND A
NARROW UNIVERSALISM OF
PROFESSIONAL PHILOSOPHY ON THE
OTHER (149).
UNIT 1: AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY
LESLEY LE GRANGE CONTENDS THAT
DIFFERENT STRANDS OF AFRICAN
PHILOSOPHY ENGAGE AFRICAN
COMMUNALISM AND UBUNTU
DIFFERENTLY (146 -7).
AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY
“FOR PARTICULARISTS, PHILOSOPHY
AND CULTURE ARE TIGHTLY
INTERTWINED – SO MUCH SO THAT
CULTURAL VALUES/EXPRESSION ARE
COMMENSURATE TO PHILOSOPHY.
FOR PARTICULARISTS, UBUNTU IS NOT
ONLY A CULTURAL VALUE BUT A
PHILOSOPHY.
AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY
FOR UNIVERSALISTS, THE NOTION OF
UBUNTU MAY BE THE OBJECT/SUBJECT
OF PHILOSOPHICAL ENQUIRY” (149).
AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY
ACCORDING TO PARKER, THE
DISCOURSE OF BLACK CONSCIOUSNESS
WHICH FOUND EXPRESSION IN THE
WRITINGS OF STEVE BIKO,
“REPRESENTED AN ‘INDIGENISED’
DISCOURSE WHICH BECAME PART OF A
BROADER INTERNATIONAL MOVEMENT
KNOWN BROADLY AS AFRICANA
PHILOSOPHY” (149).
AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY
LEWIS GORDON:
“AFRICANA PHILOSOPHY IS A SPECIES OF
AFRICANA THOUGHT, WHICH INVOLVES THE
THEORETICAL QUESTIONS RAISED BY CRITICAL
ENGAGEMENTS WITH IDEAS IN AFRICANA
CULTURES AND THEIR HYBRID, MIXED, OR
CREOLIZED FORMS WORLDWIDE.
SINCE THERE WAS NO REASON FOR THE
PEOPLE OF THE AFRICAN CONTINENT TO HAVE
CONSIDERED THEMSELVES AFRICAN UNTIL
THAT IDENTITY WAS IMPOSED UPON THEM
THROUGH CONQUEST AND COLONIZATION IN
THE MODERN ERA... (WIKIPEDIA)
AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY
THE IDEA OF AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY
RESULTING MAINLY FROM CONTACT
WITH WESTERN COLONISATION WOULD
SEEM TO BE A CONTENTIOUS ONE.
IT WOULD SEEM TO DISREGARD
PRECOLONIAL AFRICAN CIVILISATIONS
AND THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS TO EVEN
WESTERN CIVILISATION ITSELF, IF WE
LOOK AT THE WORK OF SCHOLARS
SUCH AS CHEIKH ANTA DIOP AND
GEORGE G. M. JAMES. WHAT DO YOU
THINK?
AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY
YUSEF WAGHID’S CONTENTION IS
THAT AN AFRICAN AND AFRICANA
PHILOSOPHY ARE CLOSER TO EACH
THAN WHAT SOME SCHOLARS WANT
US TO BELIEVE (127).
“AFRICANA PHILOSOPHY STILL
REMAINS A FORM OF AFRICAN
PHILOSOPHY, DESPITE
[PROFESSIONAL PHILOSOPHERS’]
CRITIQUE OF IT”.
AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY
IT COULD BE ARGUED THAT AFRICAN
PHILOSOPHY IS NOT JUST A BODY OF
FORMAL LITERATURE. IN ITS WIDER
SCOPE IT INCORPORATES THE SPOKEN
TRADITION AND THE WIDER
COMMUNITY.
AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY
IN OTHER WORDS, IT IS NOT JUST A
PRACTICE THAT BELONGS TO THE
ACADEMY.
IT ALSO HAS THE POWER TO HELP
COMMUNITIES AND INDIVIDUALS
ANALYSE AND DEAL WITH THEIR
VARIOUS CHALLENGES.
AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY
PHILIP HIGGS HAS SUGGESTED THAT
AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY CAN CONTRIBUTE
TO THE TRANSFORMATION OF
EDUCATIONAL DISCOURSE IN SOUTH
AFRICA.
[BY] EMPOWERING COMMUNITIES TO
PARTICIPATE IN THEIR OWN
EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT SINCE IT
RESPECTS DIVERSITY, ACKNOWLEDGES
LIVED EXPERIENCE AND CHALLENGES
THE HEGEMONY OF WESTERN
EUROCENTRIC FORMS OF UNIVERSAL
KNOWLEDGE (WAGHID,128).
AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY
THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT OF
AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY IS THAT UNLIKE
WESTERN PHILOSOPHY, WHICH
REGARDS THE INDIVIDUAL AS THE
CENTRE OF LIFE, IT PUTS COMMUNITY
FIRST.
JULIUS NYERERE’S IDEA OF UJAMAA,
KENNETH KAUNDA’S HUMANISM, KWAME
NKRUMAH AND SEKOU TOURE’S
SCIENTIFIC SOCIALISM, LEOPOLD
SENGHOR’S NEGRITUDE AND STEVE
BIKO’S BLACK CONSCIOUSNESS.
AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY
HIGGS ARGUES FOR “THE NEED FOR A
FORM OF AFRICAN COMMUNITY BASED
RESEARCH WHICH TAKES COGNISANCE
OF INDIGENOUS AFRICAN
EPISTEMOLOGIES AND VALUES PRESENT
IN THE COMMUNITY, FOR PURPOSES OF
FOSTERING THE COMMUNAL DISCOURSE
OF THAT COMMUNITY.
AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY
COMMUNITY BASED RESEARCH IS,
THEREFORE, A KIND OF RESEARCH THAT
IS CONDUCTED BY, WITH AND, FOR THE
COMMUNITY” (2417-8).
AFRICANPHILOSOPHY
HIGGS (ECHOING SOME OF OLADIPO’S
STATEMENTS):
EMPOWERMENT OF COMMUNITIES
COULD BE ACHIEVED THROUGH
“WHATEVER INTELLECTUAL SKILLS THEY
POSSESS” (WAGHID,128).
AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY
WAGHID:
“STRUCTURES OF DIALOGUE AND
ARGUMENTATION” NEED TO LISTEN TO
THE VOICES OF OTHERS (NO MATTER
HOW ILL-INFORMED.
AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY
WHAT APPEARS CENTRAL TO HIGGS’
ARGUMENT IN DEFENCE OF A FORM OF
HUMAN ACTIVISM IS THE NOTION OF
UBUNTU OR HUMANNESS.
“A FORM OF HUMANISM WHICH COULD
ENGENDER “COMMUNAL
EMBEDDEDNESS AND CONNECTEDNESS
OF A PERSON TO OTHER PERSON
(WAGHID, 129).
AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY
YUSEF WAGHID CONTENDS THAT
UNIVERSITY TEACHING OUGHT TO BE
FRAMED WITHIN AN ACTIVIST AFRICAN
PHILOSOPHY AND A POSITIVE AFRICANA
PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION THAT
APPROPRIATES VALUES SUCH AS
FREEDOM, AUTONOMY AND HUMAN
RIGHTS, TRUTH, SCIENTIFIC
KNOWLEDGE, JUSTICE AND FAIRNESS”
(127).
