{"id":2117,"date":"2021-02-02T17:21:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-02T17:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.anthrocervone.org\/africanhumanities\/?page_id=2117"},"modified":"2023-05-23T16:45:46","modified_gmt":"2023-05-23T16:45:46","slug":"philosophy","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.anthrocervone.org\/africanhumanities\/culture-society-2\/philosophy\/","title":{"rendered":"Philosophy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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African philosophy has a rich history spanning from the earliest known philosophers in Egypt to the political philosophers that fueled African liberation movements in the mid-twentieth century and continue to resonate with social justice movements worldwide. This lesson will provide a brief introduction to the ways philosophers in Africa have shaped, and continue to shape, the international field of philosophy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Objectives<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
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  • describe African philosophy<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • recognize Africana Philosophy<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • evaluate the contributions of African philosophers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
    Philosophy in Africa<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

    Philosophy in Africa has a rich and varied history from ancient times to the contemporary era. Some of the world’s oldest philosophical texts were produced in Egypt nearly 5,000 years ago, and Ptahhotep from Egypt is among the earliest known philosophers. The Maxims of Ptahhotep<\/em>, which dates to 2375\u20132350 BCE, is referred to as ‘wisdom literature,’ and it was used for centuries to teach culture and ways of living to schoolboys. In the 5th century BCE, the Greek philosopher Isocrates wrote that Greek thinkers such as Pythagoras frequently traveled to Egypt to study, and recent research now indicates that the Greek word philosophos<\/em>, which means ‘lover of wisdom,’ is derived from the Egyptian concept mer-rekh<\/em> which also means \u201clover of wisdom.\u201d Today a growing body of scholarship points to evidence showing that Egypt and other early African civilizations contributed to the development of Classical Greek philosophy in Europe, and many African philosophers continue to engage with the global philosophical community today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Contemporary Nigerian philosopher, Joseph I. Omoregbe, defines philosophy<\/em> as the attempt to understand the world’s phenomena, the purpose of human existence, the nature of the world, and the place of human beings in that world. Like many ancient and modern philosophers throughout the world, philosophers in Africa address perceptions of time, personhood, space and other subjects contemplated by philosophical communities worldwide. Yet Kenyan philosopher Henry Odera Oruka distinguishes African<\/em> philosophy from other geographic and cultural philosophical groups by describing four specific trends in modern African philosophy: ethnophilosophy, philosophical sagacity, nationalistic\u2013ideological philosophy, and professional philosophy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    African Philosophy as Ethnophilosophy and Philosophical Sagacity<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

    Ethnophilosophy<\/em> is a philosophical perspectives that considers the unique circumstances, historical developments, and social contexts experienced by different cultural groups throughout the world. Similar to the different perspectives emerging from philosophers in Europe, Asia and the Americas, African philosophy <\/em>is an ethnophilosophy shaped by the unique social and historical contexts experienced by people connected to Africa. Historical context plays an important role in African philosophy because history shapes the lens in which phenomena, purpose, people and place are situated. Nigerian born Philosopher K.C. Anyanwu defined African philosophy as “that which concerns itself with the way in which African people of the past and present make sense of their destiny and of the world in which they live.” In this way, African philosophy consists of shared ideas, values, categories, experiences and assumptions that are embedded in the language, practices, and beliefs of different African cultures or worldviews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The video below provides a brief introduction to the Akan philosophy (a type of ethnophilosophy in Ghana) of personhood<\/em> as an example of one ethnophilosophy in Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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