MATRIC NUMBER: SS/PP/2368
NAME: MUOGBO MICHAEL I.
COURSE: INTRODUCTION TO AFRICAN
PHILOSOPHY
LECTURER: RONALD O. BADRU.
TERM PAPER: EXAMINE WHAT YOU
UNDERSTAND BY AFRICAN EPISTEMOLOGY.
INTRODUCTION
Philosophy
as a discipline is not limited only to the westerners who claims to be
specialists of the discipline; as the etymology of it implies no man is a hater
of wisdom and no matter the strangeness of the discipline, there is no ”organized group of people” without a
philosophy.
Epistemology is that branch of
philosophy that deals with the theories of knowledge and belief, the relevance,
sources, extent, nature and justifications of the human knowledge. The term
“Epistemology” etymologically was a word derived from the synthesis of two
Greek words: Episteme and Logos, Episteme means knowledge and
Logos means theory; therefore the two Greek words joined together gives
epistemology the meaning: theory of knowledge, which is etymological.
Having seen the meaning of
epistemology given in the description on the above paragraph, and acknowledging
that Africa has a philosophy regarding the argument in the first paragraph, I
will focus this essay on the concept of epistemology
as a significant force in the development of African thoughts, ideas and knowledge. I shall now attempt to examine,
define and see what epistemology is all about in the African setting and to
assert the existence of an African epistemology, disregarding the problems
facing it.
CONCEPTUAL CLARIFICATION
The existence and possibilities of
an African philosophy is not a superstition. The idea of an African
epistemology touches directly on the question of African knowledge. The
transformation of western ideas and their philosophical debates to the African
setting would be as useless and irrelevant because it has nothing to do with
the African origin, and it does not address the problematic of Africa.
African philosophy is therefore the
critical and systematic reflection on the problematic bothering the minds of
Africans about the African continent. The collections, compilations and
combination of all the African thoughts, ideas, knowledge and mode gave rise to
what is today identified to be the African
epistemology and it deals with the nature, extent, value, reliability and
essence of African knowledge. African epistemology gives modality to all
African values, thoughts, ideas and reasoning. Some scholars argue that there
is no African epistemology while others aver that there is actually an African
epistemology. Part of this argument encompasses the nature, sources and origin
of African epistemology.
Some questions are tagged to this definition of
African epistemology because western philosophers have argued, whether or not
there is knowledge with African origin. Such questions are: is there anything
like African philosophy? If at all there is, what is it? Do Africans know
anything? What do they know? How the African person did come to know? I will
like to take this argument deductively and subject it on the epistemology,
sources and types as it is seen, experienced and practiced by the Igbo people of Nigeria in Africa.
IGBO EPISTEMOLOGY
Epistemology
as the Igbo people of Nigeria conceives it and with extension to African ideas
and thoughts, is not a misinterpretation of opinions but it is indeed knowledge;
it is not imaginary, mythical or superstitious, it is justifiable. The Igbo’s
held a strong belief on the possibility and attainment of knowledge. The
possibility of knowledge for the Igbos connotes that there are many degrees,
level or extent to which one can know or to which knowledge can be attained.
In the Igbo context of epistemology,
some words are used to show and identify the nuances of knowledge in all its
forms. Such words are: “mmuta”,”nka”, “amamife” etc. the possibility is asserted that the application of
these words differs, since they connote and imply the different degrees and
levels of knowledge. Mmuta is an
acquired knowledge, Nka, implies
knowledge gained from reason, it must not necessarily be common sense
knowledge. Amamife is the combination
of many and different knowledge, in other words it implies “wisdom” and it is
mostly associated with sense experience and acquired knowledge.
The act of knowing for the Igbo
person connotes “awareness, experience, witness, grasping, learning and familiarity.
TYPES AND SOURCES OF IGBO
EPISTEMOLOGY.
Knowledge
can be attained through different means and from many sources and knowledge in
the Igbo epistemological setting, varies with the sources through which it is
attained. Some notable sources of knowledge in the Igbo land are listed below:
·
[1]DIVINATION KNOWLEDGE:
This type of knowledge is associated with and gotten from “Dibia afa”, Native
doctors, “Dibia mpkorogwu na mkpa afifia”, Herbalists, “Eze mmuo” Chief priests
of different traditional shrines, who are more or less a soothsayer and a
diviner.
The knowledge gotten from these
sources are referred to be extra- ordinary, mystical, extra- sensory and
metaphysical in nature because it is believed that these knowledge is not
dependent on experience, reasoning, perception etc but on the interaction with
the metaphysical. It transcends the mere physical realm and common sense.
The abilities of the diviners to
transcend the mere physical world and manipulate it positively or negatively
can be innate, inherited or acquired. For example if a chief priest dies, his
son is expected to continue from where his father stopped. In this contemporary
time, this knowledge is not only possessed or rather limited to the
traditionalists but also by strong religious men and women.
·
PERCEPTUAL
KNOWLEDGE: The Igbos gives great essence to the primacy of
experience because to know implies being a witness and being able to
communicate what you have witnessed to another person. Primacy and essence is
mostly given to the first hand witness, just as they will say in an Igbo adage,
“asii na-asii, bu asi” which means “they said that they say is not true”.
This type of knowledge is mostly
associated with first hand information and personal knowledge. This knowledge
has nothing to do with rationalism but it is basically formed under the
principle of empirical facts, the value and truthfulness of it is not
experimentally tested, even when it is known that some of such knowledge is not
reliable.
·
EXPERIENCE/
ORAL TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE: This knowledge is believed by some
people to be superstitious. It is associated with sense and personal experiences;
it is regarded to be an extra- sensory and perceptual knowledge because it is
believed that it is a way of passing across messages or marking future events,
things that are yet to happen, by supreme beings like the gods, ancestors etc.
this knowledge can also be passed from ancestors to their successors.
Example: If somebody is repeatedly
sneezing, it signifies that the person’s name is being called somewhere, and if
a dog is repeatedly barking or a cock crowing unusually, it means a spirit is
around etc.
· SAGE:
This knowledge is tantamount to wisdom and it is associated mostly with old age
and experienced ones. This is expressed in an adage, as the Igbos will say “Ife
okenye no ala afu, nwata rigoro elu ogaghi afu ya”, what the old man saw while
sitting, a child will not see even if he climbs a height. The Igbos believed
that the elders are more knowledgeable because have encountered many
experiences of life.
EVALUATION AND CONCLUSION
There are certain problems that are
related to the existence of epistemology in Africa but disregarding the
problems, the most important thing is to believe and acknowledge that
epistemology in Africa is not imaginary or superstitious but it is valuable and
indeed a reality of true and reliable knowledge.
Africa epistemology is the
constituent of Africa ideas, thoughts and value though some sources in which
this knowledge is obtained is a subject to a question of reliability; as to
whether or not these knowledge are reliable. Disregarding this question,
Africans are able to stand united to say that they have a philosophy which
implies they also have epistemological value. There is no marked distinction
between man and his subject of knowledge.
The epistemological problems in
Africa call for justification of the truth values of African knowledge.
[1]
Four decades of philosophy,
issues and perspectives: edited by M.F Asiegbu and J.C Agakoba. Hope
publications, Ibadan Nigeria; 2008.
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