ancient philosophy

ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY

INTRODUCTION

Philosophy as a discipline started from the west in the ancient Greek world during the periods between the 6^th century BC to 4^th century AD (600BC-400AD). Etymologically philosophy means lover(s) of wisdom. Philosophers starting from the on set of philosophy have been trying to identify the ultimate element(s); the ultimate underlying principle or element of reality according to the ancient cosmologists.

            Anaxagoras was a pluralist and just like his predecessors has his own metaphysical and epistemological reflection to prove his points with regards to philosophy. Anaxagoras was part of the pluralists who held and believed that reality is a composition of more than one “element or entity” that is, the elements that brought about “Being and Non-Being” are numerous.

Anaxagoras was the son of Hegesibulus and was born around 500 B.C at Clazomenae. He was from Asia Minor and also was the first philosopher to settle at Athens; he was the first pre-Socratic philosopher to teach in Athens though he left Athens when he was prosecuted for impiety. Among his disciples are Pericles and Euripides. He was Anaximenes’ disciple. Anaxagoras on his reflections subjected on rigorous thinking. He was the first western philosopher to rise above the level of matter and physical entities in his postulation to the level of immaterial and spiritual ‘being’. He was the first to postulate the existence of ‘Atom’ and distinguish between material and spiritual reality. He said that the then Greek philosophers do not have a correct notion of generation and destruction. According to him nothing is totally destructible or generated but things are commingled with and dissociated from the existents. To this extent, he suggested that they better could refer to that they call generation as commingling and destruction as dissociation.

            According to Anaxagoras, nothing new comes into existence and nothing totally ceases to exist because there is no absolute generation or destruction. Here, I am going to discuss Anaxagoras’ philosophical reflection under three thematic concerns:

1. The method and content of his philosophy.
2. Evaluation: the merits and demerits of his philosophy.
3. Conclusion.

THE METHOD AND CONTENT OF ANAXAGORAS’ PHILOSOPHY

Anaxagoras’ method of philosophy entails his rigorous, critical and systematic thinking about the philosophical positions of his predecessors and the cosmos in general.

ANAXAGORAS’ METAPHYSICS AND EPISTEMOLOGY

Anaxagoras’ philosophy is a composition or rather, consists of metaphysical and epistemological facts. It emphasises on the Elements responsible for ‘Being and Non-Being’. The metaphysical and epistemological reflections of Anaxagoras cannot be totally separated off because they are interwoven. Anaxagoras just like his predecessor Empedocus also tried to reconcile the opposed positions that Heraclitus and Parmenides propounded respectively. Empedocus’ solution to this problem of change and permanence interested Anaxagoras but did not satisfy him; so he went into a deeper reflection than Empedocus to say that the elements are not only four as Empedocus postulated but that they are innumerable. His style of reflection was not poetry but concise prose not mysticism but rigorous science.

In Anaxagoras’ metaphysical and epistemological reflections he said that the four elements; Air, Water, Fire and Earth postulated by Empedocus are combinations of several other innumerable particles. According to Anaxagoras, the particles are infinite and in the case of being infinite they are also indestructible. The combination of these particles results in things coming into existence. According to and with regards to Anaxagoras’ reflections, everything in existence is the combination of the particles of all things; there are particles of all things in everything therefore Anaxagoras claims that every substance contains a portion of every other substance.

Though things are the combination of every other particle, Anaxagoras clarified that one must dominate and that an existent is named after the particle that dominated in it. In other words a thing derives its name from the dominating particle of its constituents. “For instance, a paper is called a paper because the particle of paper dominated in it. If eventually the paper is burnt, it will turn to ash why? This is because the particle of ash is now dominating while the particle of paper dominated before.

The particles according to Anaxagoras are ‘infinitely divisible’, there can always be a smaller but there can never be a smallest. He said that matter is composed of infinite material particles with each having its own properties. From the metaphysics and epistemology of Anaxagoras, one can deduce that he tried to prove that nothing is new in existence. Everything that ever could exist already did exist. Nothing really comes into existence and also nothing really goes out of existence, they can only dominate in an element or be among the constitutive particles of an element. To this extent, Anaxagoras agreed with Parmenides on his position of permanence. In the terms of going out of existence, they don’t, rather they cease to dominate in an element. That doesn’t mean they are no longer there. This ceasing to dominate of a particle and another particle coming up to dominate entails change in the elements. So to this extent Anaxagoras agreed with Heraclitus in his position of change. There is no ultimate gap between reality and appearance; anything that can be perceived is real.

Anaxagoras also postulated that the particles combines and separates. The combination and the separating off of these particles bring about change in the particle dominating in an element. The combination of the particles and their separating off is caused by the revolution of the heavenly bodies, the sun, the moon, and the stars. According to Anaxagoras the principle responsible for a particle predominating is one and that he called NOUS; a Greek equivalence of mind, intelligence, consciousness or spirit. Anaxagoras’ theory of mind provides the first hint of mind-matter dualism.

According to Anaxagoras, the ‘Mind’ is distinct from other substances. It is the free source of all movement; it has the knowledge of all things in the past, in the present and in the future. It is the arranger and the cause of all things and it also brings order to all things that were to be, all things that were now and all things that will be. The ‘Mind’ is responsible for the revolution of the heavenly bodies that causes the combining and separating off of the particles. The ‘Mind’ has power over all things that have life both great and small; it has understanding of the whole of reality and it is the motivational force which brought about separation of everything out of the original mixture. Anaxagoras postulated that there is a portion of everything in everything except the mind; it is not an individual thing to be found in each object.

EVALUTIONS: MERITS OF ANAXAGORAS’ PHILOSOPHY

The merits of Anaxagoras’ philosophical reflections consists of his systematic method of clarifying the change and permanence positions of Heraclitus and Parmenides when he said there is no total coming to Being or going out of Being and this implies that things are not totally changed and when he said that a particle can cease to dominate though that doesn’t mean the particle is no longer in the constituting particles and this entails that things are not totally permanent.

            Another merit of Anaxagoras’ reflection is that after his postulation that some thing or rather a principle is responsible for the order in the cosmos and he still went on to name the principle which he said was the Nous (Mind).

            Yet another merit of Anaxagoras’ reflections is that his reflections was so rigorous that he rose from the level of matter to the level of an immaterial entity and that merited him the record of being the first western philosopher to rise above the level of matter in his reflections.

DEMERITS OF ANAXAGORAS’ PHILOSOPHY

In spite of the merits of Anaxagoras philosophical reflections above, I can still argue rationally that his reflections have some weaknesses. Anaxagoras’ was so careless in his choice and use of words that he used material qualification for the Nous (Mind) which is a non-material entity. This was when he used the words like purest, finest, and most powerful to qualify the Nous.

            Anaxagoras made a complication of his words when he said there is a particle of everything in everything except the mind. As a philosopher who knows the principles of logic, Anaxagoras supposed to know that when one means everything there should be no cause of exception. Anaxagoras did not explain critically why the Nous (Mind) is the only constituent of itself, why there are no other constitutive particles in it.

            Another demerit of Anaxagoras’ reflections is that there is a complication in his postulation; he said that the particles are infinitely divisible and he also said that everything ultimately is made up of indivisible units (atoms).

CONCLUSION

utilities and shortcomings of sociology

THE UTILITIES AND SHORTCOMINGS OF SOCIOLOGY IN CONTEMPORARY NIGERIA

BY

MUOGBO MICHAEL IZUCHUKWU

SS/PP/2368

TERM PAPER:

Critically discuss the utilities and shortcomings of Sociology in the contemporary Nigeria

Being a Term Paper submitted to the Department of Philosophy, Seminary of  Saints Peter and Paul, Bodija, Ibadan, in Affiliation with the University of Ibadan, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Award of the Bachelor of Arts Degree in Philosophy (B.A. HONS.).

COURSE

SOCIOLOGY

COURSE CODE

SS/SOC/101

LECTURER

DR. E.E. OKAFOR

DATE: JANUARY, 2013.

TERM PAPER: CRITICALLY DISCUSS THE UTILITIES AND SHORTCOMINGS OF SOCIOLOGY IN CONTEMPORARY NIGERIA.

INTRODUCTION

            The society is a group of people living together in a community and in some cases shares the same customs, traditions and laws. This includes the whole issue of human relationship and is without boundary or assignable limits. It encompasses all of humanity; all kinds of relationship man enter in the course to live a group life. Members of a society in most cases have one identity, a feeling which induces them to conform to mutual expectation.

Human society involves people entering into relationships with each other and that such relationships take many forms and to participate in society, human beings maintain an understanding of their relationships with others and of the institutions in which they participate.

Smaller scale relationships are connected to larger scale relationships and the totality of this is the society itself. Human beings have wants, needs and desires but the form these take is related to attachments to social groupings and participation in social institutions. The latter are patterns of human interaction which become instituted over time. People therefore recognize them and orientate their actions towards them.

According to Jean Jacque Rousseau in his book titled ‘social contract’, “there is a social contract between the people and the authorities in  which the people surrendered power, ambition, desire and other things to the authorities in exchange for peace, order, security, stability and other things that will enhance worth while living.

            When the authorities keep to their part of the contract, it will bring about social uplift and the society would reach its optimum level but when the authorities fail in their part of the contract it would bring about social degradation.

The origins of Sociology lie in the 19th century when, the BSA notes: “advances in science and technology encouraged people to believe there could be a rational explanation for everything and that scientific study could lead to the solving of all of the problems faced by human beings”.

With this sense of opportunity and optimism “Auguste Comte”, who gave the name ‘sociology’, confidently hoped and expected it would provide the highest and optimum level of scientific explanation in establishing laws of human behaviour in the society itself.

CONCEPTUAL CLARIFICATIONS

            Sociology etymologically means the scientific study of a society. This etymological meaning of sociology was gotten from the synthesis of a Latin word ‘socios’ which means society and a Greek word ‘logos’ which means study. When the two meanings are merged lexically, it gives sociology the etymological meaning to be the scientific study of a society or the science of a society. It is the systematic study of the development, structure, interaction, and collective behavior of organized groups of human beings in the society.

Sociology is conceptual; that is: “Ideas about the society are devised as concepts to describe and explain the workings and happenings of a society. In this way the forms of social organization and the results of social institutions which people create and reproduce in the course of everyday life become defined in sociological terms”.

            There are different definitions of sociology given by different scholars in Sociology: Emile Durkheim defined sociology as a scientific study of social facts. According to him, these social facts are the products of individuals, group interactions and relationships and that they are external to individuals and constrain the way individuals behave in the society. Max Weber defined sociology as a science that attempts interpretative understanding of social actions in order to establish cause and effects of relationships. Talcott Parsons defined sociology as the systematic study of human grouped structures and processes. According to him sociology focuses attention on aggregate behaviour as well as social groups. Anthony Giddens (“Sociology”, 1989) provides the following general definition: “Sociology is the study of human social life, groups and societies. It is a dazzling and compelling enterprise, having as its subject matter our own behaviour as social beings. In “The Complete A-Z Sociology Handbook” (1996) Tony Lawson and Joan Garrod - two writers with recent experience of being an AQA Chief Examiners - provided the following definition: “Sociology is the study of individuals in groups and social formations in a systematic way, which grew out of the search for understanding, associated with the industrial and scientific revolutions of the 18th and 19th centuries”.

            Utility in the economical setting is the amount of satisfaction one derives from the consumption of a commodity at a particular point in time. For the sake of the context of this work or article the commodity here is taken to be the useful services provided to the public for consumption for example electricity, water supply and many other things which necessarily must not be materialistic. According to the Oxford advanced learner’s dictionary 7^th Edition, utility means the quality of being useful, in other words it means the usefulness of a particular thing or concept.

            Shortcomings means deficiencies, failures, faults etc. this is the part where a particular concept, system or plan have failed or rather did not work out as expected. This synonymously can be taken to be the problems of a particular thing.

NIGERIA

Nigeria is a republic in western Africa, with a coast along the Atlantic Ocean on the Gulf of Guinea. Nigeria is by far the most populated of Africa’s countries, with more than one-seventh of the continent’s people. The people belong to many different ethnic groups. These groups give the country a rich culture, but they also pose major challenges to nation building. Ethnic strife has plagued Nigeria since it gained her independence in 1^st October, 1960.

CONTEMPORARY NIGERIA

Contemporary according to the Oxford advanced learner’s dictionary, international student’s edition, second meaning “belonging to the present time”. Contemporary Nigeria in this context means the present condition and situation of Nigeria.

The utilities and shortcomings of sociology in the contemporary Nigeria simply means the effectiveness and failure of sociology in the modern Nigerian societies. The utilities and shortcomings of sociology in the contemporary Nigeria are strongly influenced by the edifice that was established during the past times and the edification of the present society.

UTILITIES AND SHORTCOMINGS OF SOCIOLOGY IN CONTEMPORARY NIGERIA

“Sociology is the one social science which embraces the whole range of human activities and this makes it a very wide field of study. As a result, it offers many opportunities for specialisation and these are reflected in the work of sociologists”.

“Concepts are tested through “empirical research” that is, Researches involving the investigation of particular aspects of the society and the way people interact with each other in relationships. This provides a check as to whether sociological concepts and issues actually correspond to the way social life is conducted by people in the real sense of it”. Sociological research consists of the identification, development and testing of theories about human beings, their behaviours and their societies.

The traditional focuses of sociology have included social stratification, social class, culture, social mobility, religion, secularization, law, and deviance. As all spheres of human activity are affected by the interplay between social structure and individual agencies, sociology has gradually expanded its focus to further subjects, such as health, medical, military and penal institutions, the Internet, and the role of social activities in the development of scientific knowledge, just as a matter of fact a rise in scientism.

The range of social scientific methods has also expanded. Social researchers conclude based on varieties of qualitative and quantitative techniques. The linguistic and cultural turns of the mid-twentieth century, led to increasingly interpretative, hermeneutic, and philosophic approaches to the analysis of the society. Conversely, recent decades especially in Nigeria have seen the rise of new analytically, mathematically and computationally rigorous techniques, such as agent-based modelling and social network analysis.  Sociology should not be confused with various general social studies courses which bear little relationship to sociological theory or social science research methodologies.

UTILITIES OF SOCIOLOGY IN THE CONTEMPORARY NIGERIAN SOCIETY

UTILITY OF HUMANISM:

           “Humanism is a global outlook that maintains that human being has the right and responsibility to give meaning and shape to their live. The humanist in the stand point of some philosophers is informed that human being have no creator or maker but are born with power to shape and determine their destinies but it could work efficiently with the aid of a good social orientation. This is therefore not a naturalistic philosophy as opposed to super-naturalistic and other worldly ideologies”.

The utilities of sociology in this context is that since sociology deals with the society and human relationship, it helps in this conceptive aspect because when one relates with another, he get to know the ideas and opinions of other thereby not limited to only his own knowledge about the things of their society and how to make a better future for himself. Since human beings are free thinker, they are characteristically non-dogmatic and non-authoritarians.

A SOCIALLY ORGANISED WAY OF LIFE:

Socialization is a very important aspect of the human society because there is need to ensure that culture, norms and values are passed from one generation to another. The Nigerian society is socialized today because of the utilities brought about by sociology and the inability to do this may bring about social vices.

Nigerian society varies greatly between urban and rural areas, across ethnic and religious borders, and with levels of education. Still, most Nigerians share a strong attachment to the family and especially on children, to clearly differentiated roles for men and women, to a hierarchical social structure, and to the dominance of religion in shaping community values.

Social life in Nigeria has traditionally revolved around ceremonies: weddings, infants’ naming ceremonies, and public performances associated with cultural and religious activities. Young adult males living in cities enjoy going to cinemas, dance clubs, and bars for recreation. “Some Muslim women, for example among the Hausas, have their own social dressings and social institutions revolving around the ‘Bori’, a cult of spirit possession. Bori ceremonies provide women with a forum for interaction that is relatively free of male control, and offer explanations and remedies that help women cope with problems such as the death of their children or husbands”.

EDUCATIONAL UTILITIES:

For generations before the arrival of Europeans, Nigerians taught their children informally about their culture, tradition, work, survival skills, and social activities. With the aid of sociology, civilization came in and people received formal teachings about concepts. Some societies gave more formal instructions about the society and culture as part of young peoples’ rites of passage into adulthood. In Islamic communities, students studied the Qur’an (Koran) and read other religious texts written in Arabic. Many of the more able students pursued higher Islamic studies and became teachers, clerics, or legal scholars.

“Adult literacy is estimated to be 78 percent for men and 64 percent for women. An improvement resulting over the past years from the universal primary education and programs for adult literacy. Official data, however, estimate literacy only in English, thus discounting the significant level of literacy in Arabic among northern Muslims. A large number of Islamic schools are still in operation”.

LANGUAGE UTILITIES:

Most Nigerians speak more than one language including foreign languages. English, the country’s official language, is widely spoken, especially among educated people. Many native Nigerian languages have been identified, and some are threatened with extinction. The most common and dominant of the native languages are Igbo, Hausa, and Yoruba. Other major languages include Ibibio, Tiv, Efik, Edo, Ijaw, and Nupe. The most widely used languages have several distinct regional dialects, and in some regions, such as the Jos Plateau and surrounding middle belt, hundreds of small groups make for wide linguistic variations across short distances. The two main trade languages are pidgin, a distinct language in which English is combined with native languages, used commonly in the south; Igbo commonly in the east and Hausa, used mostly in the north.

THE UTILITY OF PERSONAL FREEDOM AND DEVELOPMENT:

            “The act of giving free rein to one’s thinking is a free thought. Can you reject all dogmas and ignore all orthodoxy? Can you jump the bar put by superstitions and faith without the aid of sociology? That is being a free thinker”.

To let your thoughts soar and to fly beyond customary convections and mores is to be in the realm of free thought and these are the gifts and utilities of sociology. For a thought to go beyond the borders of one’s own limits and beyond ancient and modern authorities is also the fruit of a good social community, precisely human socialization. The advantage of free thought is that it nurtures the inquiring mind in us, and sharpens our critical and creative acumen.

HUMAN ORIENTATION AND SOCIALIZATION:

               Sociology as a discipline has battled its way out to see that the causes of human behaviors are well examined because the societal development is under the influence of the individual developments of the people that made up the society.

Values are the things one regards to be good, desirable and better in comparison with other things. Objectively, value is a quality in a thing that makes it desirable. Subjectively, value is a deep conviction that something is good, right and important and therefore worth seeking and having. It is an orientation towards a thing external and essential to an individual.

There are many human and social values like: reason, intelligence, skepticism, naturalism, human right, justice, freedom, individual anatomy, equality, privacy, human solidarity etc. the human and social values are many to be mentioned and they are all the fruits, gifts and benefits of a well socialized community. The opposites of these values are regarded as bad concept and they would occur or suffice where sociology fails.

UTILITY OF SOCIAL FREEDOM:

          Jean Jacque Rousseau said that “man was born free, yet every where he is, is chain”. This chain Rousseau was talking about would be broken when sociology is properly utilized. All bondages must be destroyed that man may be free. On the mental level, freedom is essential to man to think about himself and be free from unreasonable dogmas.

The concept of freedom runs through all other sociological value so that in everything he does, a man must operate freely and autonomously, in other words sociology is on its optimum level.

In this Nigerian contest of social freedom, it includes freedom from primitive and oppressive tribal customs, traditions and values; Nigerians should be free from such customs like female genital mutilation, the subjection of women in the patriarchal families, the “Osu” caste system in Igbo land, the oppression of widows and other customary vices.

UTILITY OF HUMAN RIGHT AND SOCIAL JUSTICE:

          Just as other utilities of sociology, human right is one of the values of sociology; there cannot be peace without justice, now the concept of human right is rooted in justice. With the statements above, I can say that the structures and institutions that put limitations on the rights of individuals, groups and communities are preventing justice from being realized. In this contest, it is not only constitutional rights but also natural rights of man that he got from creation.

SHORTCOMINGS OF SOCIOLOGY

Nigeria is a country that has enough material and intellectual resources to make a good social life for her citizens but when the intellects and resources are misused or abused, it brings about a non social society. In spite of the merits of sociology in the contemporary Nigerian societies discussed above, I can still rationally argue that it still have some weaknesses in other words demerits. They are as follows:

RELIGIOUS CONFLICTS AND CRISIS:

            In the case of religious conflicts and crisis in the contemporary Nigerian society, it has been a big challenge facing sociology as a discipline. Many Nigerians due to the fruits a of these crisis like taking a particular religion to be superior to the other, Boko Haram crises and conflict of bombing the church, are really tired of worshipping God, a God they cannot see or touch no matter how hard they try. Because of the crisis, some Christians are disgusted with the fact that God, the almighty exists; is he there watching the Boko Haram group bomb his church with the believers inside it? The land devastated by diseases, conflicts and corruptions? There is a great need of sociology in the Nigerian societies to cure these social illnesses that were brought about by an ineffective social community and is affecting the socio-religious life of the people in the society.

SOCIAL INJUSTICE:

        The discrimination perpetrated against the minorities all over the country is equally built on the socio-political and economic structures of domination right from the Jihad and was exacerbated during the colonial era. All these result in the continuing violation of the basic human right of a large section of the Nigerian citizens using the instruments of the state and application of unjust polices. “Some values like political repression, marginalization, colonization, racism, sexism etc militates against peace and justice”.

“Another form of social oppression is the Shari’ a legal code being implemented in some region of the federation. The moment preference is given to a particular religion over another in a multi-religious society like Nigeria; you are giving grounds to injustice because it entails discrimination, it also means that the rights and freedom of the other religion is tampered with. It necessarily violates the principles of equality before the law, and it amounts to an imposition”. This is the exact of what the Shari’ a law has done because to some extents it bounds the limits of the natural rights of those that did not subscribe and conform to it.

SOCIAL EVIL AND NETWORK CRIMES:

Sociology brought about civilization and with civilization, people learnt and are socialized on how to commit crimes in an advanced way that they would not be caught. Examples of such crimes are: frauds like duping, internet crimes like hacking of people’s site, computers and accounts illegally. And also due to the civilization that was brought about by sociology, the internet was made accessible for those that have the accessories like a set of computer, mobile phones e.t.c. and because of this, our youth are visiting pornographic sites to watch nude movies thereby putting a question mark on the future of the youths and of the nation in general.

LACK OF SOCIO-ECONOMICAL AND ENVIROMENTAL MAINTENACE:        “The rural economy that supports most Nigerians is based on the productivity of the land, 33% of which is cultivated. Soil fertility varies considerably but is generally poor. The most fertile of the soils are the result of alluvial deposition of dead animals and fishes in river valleys. Many, however, are overused and eroded. Trees, which help prevent erosion, are often used for fuel, lumber, material for tools, fodder for animals, and herbal medicines. As a result, the landscape is becoming increasingly barren of trees, especially in densely populated areas and near larger cities”.

            Nevertheless, the country, due to lack of a well oriented socio-economic training, has to some extent abandoned farming as a means or source of income and as an export goods and have so much cringed and embraced the production of petroleum as their major means of revenue generation and also as the major export product.

CONCLUSION: This work began with the clarification of the concept of “Sociology” that aided this task. I also made a survey of the contemporary Nigerian society and tried to identify the utilities and shortcomings of sociology in it.

Sociology as a discipline identifies the examples of the variety of behaviours both of individuals and institutions because sociology as a discipline is concerned with studying and explaining of social behaviours and there causes.

            As discussed in the early paragraphs of this work, sociology has its strength and weaknesses; the strength of sociology is advantageous to us as the constituents of our various societies and the weaknesses are disadvantageous and are of bad influences to us. With regards to the previous statements, one can conclude that the strengthening sociology is essential for us living in the modern Nigerian society.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1.      Mending the cracked pot: Daily Graphics Nigeria Limited, Ibadan, 2003. Copyright Rev. Fr Innocent Jooji, Forwarded by: Archbishop J.O. Onaiyekan.

2.      Humanism in Nigeria: Bzack Press, Owerri, Imo state, 2006, Edited by Enyeribe Onuoha.

3.      Cultural Development And Nation Building: Adeyemi Press Limited, Ijebu-ife, 1986. Edited by S.O. Unoh.

4.      Development of Underdevelopment: conceptual issues in political Economy: Frontline Books, Ibadan, Nigeria, 2003. Akinyemi Onigbinde.

5.      An Afro-Christian Vision, Towards A More Humanized World: University Press of America, Inc, 1975.George Omaku Ehusani.

6.      Recall, A CHRONICLE OF NIGERIAN EVENTS: Hope Publications, University of Nigeria, Ibadan, 2002. Edited by Olusegun Oladipo and Isioma Kasim.

7.      NIGERIAN CULTURAL HERITAGE: IMICO, Publishing Company, Onitsha, 1990. By Professor E. Ikenga-metuh and Professor Olowo Ojoade.