African philosophy

The expression African philosophy or Africana philosophy is used in multiple ways by different philosophers. Although several African philosophers have contributed to different areas, with metaphysics, epistemology, moral philosophy and political philosophy, a large part of the philosophers debate whether African philosophy in fact exists, although the record of African thought goes back at least five millennia in the ancient egyptian philosophy.One of the most basic reasons for discussion about African philosophy revolves around the application of the term "African", that is, whether the term refers to the content of philosophy or to the identity of philosophers. In the first view, African philosophy would be one that involves African themes or that uses methods that are distinctly African. In the second view, African philosophy would be any philosophy practiced by Africans or people of African origin.

History

Ancient african philosophy

Joseph I. Omoregbe defines a philosopher as "one who spends much of his time reflecting on fundamental questions about human life or the physical universe, and who does so in a habitual way", and says that there is no articulated African philosophy and documented, even though there is an African philosophical tradition. Simply put, even though there were no known African philosophers, philosophy was, in fact, practiced in Africa. A form of natural philosophy has been present in Africa since very ancient times. If we take philosophy as a coherent set of beliefs, but not as a system of explaining the unity of understanding of all phenomena, then practically all cultures have philosophy.

The standard view of the rise of philosophical (and scientific) thought is that it probably required a certain kind of social structure, but that even given that condition, there would be a further set of necessary factors. Philosophy in Africa has a rich and varied history, dating back to pre-dynastic Egypt, continuing through the birth of Christianity and Islam. Undoubtedly, the conception of "Ma'at" was fundamental, which, translated, means, approximately, "justice", "truth" or, simply, "what is right". One of the greatest works of political philosophy was the Teaching of Ptah-hotep, which was used in Egyptian schools for centuries.

Ancient Egyptian philosophers made extremely important contributions to Hellenistic philosophy, Christian philosophy, and Islamic philosophy. In the Hellenic tradition, the influential philosophical school of Neoplatonism was founded by the Egyptian philosopher Plotinus in the third century of the Christian era. In the Christian tradition, Augustine of Hippo was a cornerstone of Christian philosophy and theology. He lived from 354 to 430, and wrote his best-known work De Civitate Dei (The City of God) in Hippo, the present-day Algerian city of Annaba. He challenged a number of his old ideas including Arianism, and established the basic notions of original sin and divine grace in Christian philosophy and theology.

Medieval african philosophy

In the Islamic tradition, Ibn Bajjah philosophized along Neoplatonic lines in the 12th century. The meaning of human life, according to Bajjah, was the pursuit of happiness, and this true happiness is only attained through reason and philosophy, even transcending the limits of organized religion. Ibn Rush philosophized along Aristotelian lines, establishing the scholasticism of Averroism. Notably, he argued that there was no conflict between religion and philosophy, since there are several paths to God, all equally valid, and that the philosopher is free to take the path of reason, whereas ordinary people were only able to take the path of the teachings passed on to them.

Ibn Sab'in (1216/1217-1271) disagreed with this idea, claiming that the methods of Aristotelian philosophy were useless in trying to understand the universe, because they did not reflect the basic unity with God and with itself, so that true understanding necessary would require different methods of reasoning.

Modern african philosophy

A highlight is the Ethiopian philosopher Zera Yacob (1599-1692). The Ghanaian Anton Wilhelm Amo (1703-1759) is another important representative. He was taken by the East India Company to Europe, where he acquired degrees in medicine and philosophy, eventually teaching at the University of Jena. It is considered that both carried out philosophical investigations similar to those of the Enlightenment, preceding, among them, Kant and Descartes.

Contemporary African philosophy

In terms of political philosophy, Ethiopia's independence and the exercise of independence by native Africans against European colonialism served as rallying cries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and were decisive for the independence movements of a large part of the African countries during the 20th century.

Kenyan philosopher Henry Odera Oruka (1944-1995) distinguished what he calls four trends in contemporary African philosophy: ethnophilosophy, philosophical sagacity, nationalist ideological philosophy, and professional philosophy. Later, Oruka would add two more categories: literary/artistic philosophy, which had representatives such as Ngugi wa Thiongo, Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, Okot p'Bitek, and Taban Lo Liyong; and hermeneutical philosophy. Maulana Karenga (1941) is one of the leading philosophers. He wrote an 803 page book entitled "Maat, the moral ideal in Ancient Egypt". It is also worth mentioning the movement of Black Philosophy ("black philosophy"), which studies African culture and its reflexes, for example, in literary criticism.

Ethnophilosophy and philosophical sagacity

The term "ethnophilosophy" has been used to designate the beliefs found in African cultures. Such an approach treats African philosophy as consisting of a set of beliefs, values ​​and assumptions that are implicit in the language, practices and beliefs of African culture. One of the advocates of this proposal is Placide Tempels, who argues that the metaphysics of the Bantu people is reflected in their language. In this view, African philosophy can best be understood from the reality reflected in the languages ​​of Africa.

An example of this type of approach is that defended by EJ Algoa, from the Nigerian University of Port Harcourt, who defends the existence of a philosophy of history deriving from the traditional proverbs of the Niger Delta, in his article "A Philosophy of African History in the Oral Tradition ". Algoa argues that, in African philosophy, age is seen as an important factor in gaining wisdom and interpreting the past. In support of this thesis, he cites proverbs such as "More days, more wisdom" and "What an old man sees sitting down, a young man does not see when he stands." Truth is seen as eternal and immutable ("Truth never rots"), but people are subject to error ("Even a four-legged horse stumbles and falls").

It is also dangerous to judge by appearances ("A big eye does not mean keen eyesight"), but firsthand, it can be trusted ("He who sees does not err"). The past is not seen as fundamentally different from the present moment, but history is seen as a whole ("A storyteller does not speak of different times"). According to these proverbs, the future is beyond knowledge ("Even a bird with a long neck cannot predict the future"). However, it is also said: "God will survive eternity". History is seen as being of vital importance ("One ignorant of his origin is not a human"), and historians, known as "children of the earth" are highly respected ("Children of the earth have the keen eyes of a python"..

Another more controversial application of this approach is embodied in the concept of blackness. Léopold Sédar Senghor, one of the creators of this concept, argued that the distinctly African approach to reality is based more on emotion than logic, manifesting itself through the arts rather than through science and analysis. Cheikh Anta Diop and Mubabinge Bilolo, on the other hand, although they agree that African culture is unique, they contest this opinion, highlighting that Ancient Egypt was embedded in African culture when it made great contributions to the areas of science, mathematics, architecture and philosophy, providing a basis for Greek civilization.

Critics of this approach argue that the real philosophical work is being done by academic philosophers, and that words from a given culture can be selected and organized in many ways in order to produce often contradictory systems of thought.

Philosophical sagacity (Sage Philosophy, literally "philosophy of the sage") is a kind of individualistic view of ethnophilosophy. It was created in the 1970s by Henry Odera Oruka and consists of recording the beliefs of the "sages" of traditional African communities. The premise here is that while most societies require some degree of conformity of belief and behavior from their members, some of these members (the sages) reach higher levels of knowledge and understanding of their cultures and worldview. In some cases, the sage goes beyond mere knowledge and understanding, reaching reflection and questioning - thus becoming an example of philosophical sagacity.

Critics of this approach argue that not all questions and reflections are philosophical. Furthermore, if African philosophy is defined solely in terms of philosophical sagacity, then the thoughts of the sages could not fit into African philosophy, as they were not obtained from other sages. Also, from this point of view, the only difference between non-African anthropologists and African philosophers would be just the nationality of the researcher.

Professional philosophy

Professional philosophy, according to most Western philosophers, would be an originally European way of thinking, reflecting and reasoning, being, as such, a relatively new way in most of Africa. However, such an approach to philosophy tends to grow on the African continent and beyond.

Nationalist ideological philosophy

Nationalist ideological philosophy can be seen as a special case of philosophical sagacity. It can also be seen as a form of political philosophy. In both cases, the same kind of problem arises: a distinction must be maintained between ideology and philosophy, between sets of ideas and a special way of reasoning. Many African philosophers have distinguished themselves in this area, such as Kwame Anthony Appiah, Kwame Gyekye, Kwasi Wiredu, Oshita O. Oshita, Lansana Keita, Peter Bodunrin and Chukwudum B. Okolo.

Kwanzaa

Created by Maulana Karenga, the Kwanzaa philosophy is a synthesis of the African thought of practicing constant exchanges with the world. The entire celebration and rituals of Kwanzaa were conceived in 1966, after the Watts riots. Karenga sought, in remote African traditions, values ​​that could be cultivated by African Americans in those days of struggle for civil rights and the assassinations of their main leaders. Values ​​that, not being religious, could attract - as they did - all churches of all black communities across the country and, later, the entire world.

Lusophone african philosophy

Lusophone African philosophy is a branch of the field of philosophical production called African philosophy that is distinguished by its expression in Portuguese. African philosophy has been the point of debates and controversies that date back to its emergence in the 1940s and 50s, animated by an explosive production of foreign and African works, mainly of French and Anglophone expression, and from sub-Saharan Africa, which sought to qualify this body. distinguished philosophical thought and its critical antagonism with the so-called Western philosophy. This field of questioning was not limited to the academic philosophical community, but also permeated anthropology, politics, geography, literature and other artistic forms. The field of African philosophy soon began to differentiate itself informally along linguistic lines, as a result of the ease of movement of these philosophers within the intellectual milieu of a certain language, and the common legacy of colonialism between countries of a certain expression. The Portuguese-speaking African philosophy, however, had an unremarkable, or delayed, contribution to the construction of the countryside and its classics, especially Afro-Lusophone countries., such as Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Equatorial Guinea and São Tomé and Príncipe, being frequently excluded and minimized in anthologies of the subject.Despite the difficulties in its emergence, amidst the struggles for decolonization and destructive civil wars, the contributions and specificities of Lusophone African philosophy have been recognized as deserving of deep and dedicated attention. These philosophies appropriate the concepts, problems and points of attention common to contemporary African thought, reinterpreting them and developing them in their own directions, with an emphasis on the socio-cultural legacy shared by most of these Portuguese-speaking countries.