African philosophy

African philosophy is the philosophical discourse produced using indigenous African thought systems. African philosophers are found in the various academic fields of present philosophy, such as metaphysics, epistemology, moral philosophy, and political philosophy. It discusses substantive issues from an African perspective.
African philosophy before the 20th century was primarily conducted and transmitted orally as ideas by philosophers whose names have been lost to history. While early African intellectual history primarily focused on folklore, wise sayings, and religious ideas, it also included philosophical concepts, such as the Nguni Bantu concept of Ubuntu in moral philosophy. Ubuntu, often summarized by the phrase "I am because we are," emphasizes the interconnectedness of individuals within a community. It contrasts with Western individualism by prioritizing communal values and the well-being of the group over the individual, and is reminiscent of the wider phenomenon of African communalism found across the continent.
African philosophy includes but often differs from Africana philosophy in that African philosophy usually focuses on indigenous knowledge systems and philosophical traditions native to the African continent. In contrast, Africana philosophy addresses the philosophical concerns, experiences, and identities of Africans in the diaspora, particularly in regions outside Africa such as the Americas and the Caribbean.
One particular subject that several modern African philosophers have written about is on the subject of freedom and what it means to be free or to experience wholeness.
Philosophy in Africa has a rich and varied history, some of which has been lost over time. Some of the world's oldest philosophical texts have been produced in Ancient Egypt, written in Hieratic and on papyrus, 2200–1000 BCE. One of the earliest known African philosophers was Ptahhotep, an ancient Egyptian philosopher.
A philosophical tradition of Islamic scholarship emerged in medieval African kingdoms such as Mali, Ghana and Songhai. In the seventeenth century, a philosophical literature developed in Ethiopia in relation to theodicy, principle of ethics and psychology under the philosopher Zera Yacob, and that of his disciple Walda Heywat."
In the 21st century, research by Egyptologists has indicated that the word philosopher itself seems to stem from Egypt: "the founding Greek word philosophos, lover of wisdom, is itself a borrowing from and translation of the Egyptian concept mer-rekh which literally means 'lover of wisdom,' or knowledge."
In the early and mid-twentieth century, anti-colonial movements had a tremendous effect on the development of a distinct modern African political philosophy that had resonance on both the continent and in the African diaspora. One well-known example of the economic philosophical works emerging from this period was the African socialist philosophy of Ujamaa propounded in Tanzania and other parts of Southeast Africa. These African political and economic philosophical developments also had a notable impact on the anti-colonial movements of many non-African peoples around the world.

Definition

There is some debate in defining the ethnophilosophical parameters of African philosophy and identifying what differentiates it from other philosophical traditions. One of the implicit assumptions of ethnophilosophy is that a specific culture can have a philosophy that is not applicable and accessible to all peoples and cultures in the world. In A Discourse on African Philosophy: A New Perspective on Ubuntu and Transitional Justice in South Africa, Christian B. N. Gade argues that the ethnophilosophical approach to African philosophy as a static group property is highly problematic. His research on ubuntu presents an alternative collective discourse on African philosophy that takes differences, historical developments, and social contexts seriously. According to Edwin Etieyibo and Jonathon O. Chimakonam in their article “African Philosophy: Past, Present, and Future”, historical context plays an important role in African philosophy. History provides the framework in which we can inspect philosophical problems. In terms of African philosophy, one must look at the whole picture through the lens of African history. “There are no facts without history."
African philosophy can be formally defined as a critical thinking by Africans on their experiences of reality. 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.
Nigerian philosopher Joseph I. Omoregbe broadly defines a philosopher as one who attempts 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. This form of natural philosophy is identifiable in Africa even before individual African philosophers can be distinguished in the sources. Like Western philosophy, African philosophy contemplates the perceptions of time, personhood, space and other subjects.

History

There is a rich and written history of ancient African philosophy - for example from ancient Egypt, Ethiopia, and Mali. In general, the ancient Greeks acknowledged their Egyptian forebears, and in the fifth century BCE, the philosopher Isocrates declared that the earliest Greek thinkers traveled to Egypt to seek knowledge; one of them Pythagoras of Samos, who "was first to bring to the Greeks all philosophy". When it comes to the modern era and the 20th century, a new beginning is linked to the 1920s, when African individuals who had studied in the United States and Europe returned to Africa and reflected on the racial discrimination experienced abroad. Their arrival back in Africa instigated a feeling of onuma, which is an interpretation of "frustration." The onuma was felt in response to legacies of colonialism on a global scale. The renaissance of African philosophy in the 20th century is important because onuma inspired some who had traveled and returned to formulate a "systematic beginning" of philosophizing the African identity, the space of African people in history, and African contribution to humanity.

Criteria

According to some, two conflicting components are deemed integral to a work for it to be considered African philosophy. First, the piece must have a racial focus. This facet is valued by Traditionalist groups, who posit that African philosophy should be an expression of the world experienced by African individuals. African philosophy must be produced by African authors. In contrast, Universalist groups suggest that African philosophy should be analyses and critical engagement of and between individual African thinkers. A work is African philosophy based on a focal point of tradition. African philosophy must pull from African cultural backgrounds or thought processes, but it should be independent from racial considerations and use "African" only as a term of solidarity.

Methods

Communitarian method

The communitarian method of African philosophy emphasizes mutualism in thought. It is most commonly used by researchers following ubuntu. The common expression of ubuntu is that "a person is a person through a person." Leonhard Praeg, Mogobe Ramose, and Fainos Mangera implement the communitarian method.

Complementary method

The complementary method focuses on the prospect of a missing link. All variables are important in consideration of histories and identities, and no variable should be overlooked or under-considered. Additionally, all variables affect one another, so the relationship between them and their affects on other variables should be scrutinized. Mesembe Edet implements the complementary method.

Conversational method

The conversational method creates thought by assessing a relationship between oppositional works. The defender or proponent is named "nwa-swa," and the nwa swa is questioned and doubted by a disagreeing party, known as "nwa nju." The conversational method emphasizes the interconnectedness of networks within reality; the more accurate a thought should be, the more specific a location should be. This method is endorsed by the Conventional School of Psychology, and it is used by Victor Nweke and Msembe Edet.

Early philosophy by region

Pre-modern

North East Africa

In North East Africa, arguably central to the development of the ancient Egyptian philosophical tradition of Egypt and Sudan was the conception of ma'at, which roughly translated refers to 'justice', 'truth', or simply 'that which is right'. One of the earliest works of political philosophy was The Maxims of Ptahhotep, which were taught to Egyptian schoolboys for centuries.
Ancient Egypt have several philosophical texts that have been treated by scholars in recent years. In the 2018 podcast "Africana Philosophy", the philosophers Peter Adamson and Chike Jeffers devoted the first eight episodes to Egyptian philosophy. The American Philosophical Association has published a text on the classical text The Immortality of Writers, ca. 1200 BCE. The Blog of the APA article also covers The Dispute Between a Man and His Ba from the 19th century BCE; The Teaching of Ani, 13th century BCE, which gives advice to the ordinary man; The Satire of the Trades by Khety; and the text of Amennakht from Deir el-Medina, whose teaching states that "it is good to finish school, better than the smell of lotus blossoms in summer".
Ancient Egyptian and other African philosophers also made important contributions to Hellenistic philosophy and Christian philosophy. According to Busiris by the ancient Greek philosopher Isocrates, who was born before Plato, "all men agree the Egyptians are the healthiest and most long of life among men; and then for the soul they introduced philosophy's training ". In the Hellenistic tradition, the influential philosophical school of Neoplatonism was founded by the Egyptian philosopher Plotinus in the third century CE. The Church Father and philosopher Augustine of Hippo had a Christian mother, Saint Monica, who was an Amazigh, and Augustine defined himself as an African.