THE IDEA OF TRUTH WITHIN THE CONTEXT
OF IBUANYIDANDA
BY
ODUMAYAK OKPO
DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY
P.M.B. 1017, UYO,
Email: odumayak2002@yahoo.com
Table of Contents
Page
Introduction
The concept of truth has changed
throughout human history. At one level or another, human beings since ancient
times have acknowledged that truth may vary depending on individual points of
view. Since Plato’s analogy of life as shadows on the wall of a cave over 3,000
years ago, scholars have grappled with the notion of truth.
In philosophy, truth deals with both
the meaning of the word “true” and the criteria by which we judge the truth or
falsity in statements. Philosophers have attempted to answer the question “What
is truth?” since the time of Plato.
This paper is an attempt to examine
the idea of truth within the context of Asouzu’s concept of Ibuanyidanda and more so, to see how Ibuanyidanda (Complementarity) addresses
the relativism of the empiricists in relation to truth.
The
Concept of Truth
Right from the time of Aristotle to
Aquinas and Kant to Chisholm, the common sense has been to locate truth in
judgements. Aristotle, in his Metaphysics
asserts: “To say of what is that it is not or of what is not that it is, is
false, while to say of what is that it is, or of what is not that it is not, is
true” (Quoted in Omoregbe 43). This implies that truth is conformity of the
mind with reality. Thomas Aquinas, in agreement with Aristotle, defines truth
as “conformity of the intellect with reality” (Omoregbe 40). And even the fact
of Kant’s “Copernican Revolution” could not allow him to see beyond the common
tendency of regarding truth as the mind’s correspondence with the object. Kant
also concurred to the notion of truth as the agreement of knowledge with its
object. Truth, for Kant, lies in judgement which the mind makes when it applies
the categories to phenomena (things as they appear to us) (Lamprecht 365 –
366). One can see the correspondence notion of truth in Kant also.
The concept of truth, for Chisholm,
is principally linked with the idea of “states of affairs”. In his expressions,
Our answer to the
question “What is truth” refers not only to the “states of affairs” but also to
“states of affairs that exist”, and “states of affairs that do not exist”. We
must say, for example, that among the entities that exist are Socrates’ being
mortal, there being horses, there being no unicorns; and we must say that among
the entities that do not exist are Socrates’ not being mortal, there being no
horses and there being unicorns (104).
The import of this is that truth is
connected with the idea of “state of affairs” and facts. This is only a
restatement of the traditional correspondence theory of truth. Truth, according
to the correspondence theory of truth, consists in the agreement of our thought
with reality. A belief is called “true” if it “agrees” with a fact (Randall and
Buchler 146).
The question that comes to mind is:
How is one to understand this agreement or correspondence? Hume’s empiricism
has demonstrated that there could never be corresponding complex ideas of
complex impressions. In this regards, a mere one–to–one agreement or correspondence
between knowledge and its object cannot yield truth. Such a traditional theory
of truth is a very limited one because it pretends that truth can only be
demonstrated empirically. Let us proceed to examine the concept of Ibuanyidanda.
The
Concept of Ibuanyidanda
According to Asouzu, the concept of Ibuanyidanda is drawn from the Igbo
language and has as its nearest English equivalent the idea that
“Complementarity”, in the sense of togetherness, is greatest (njiko ka), igwe bu ike (strength in togetherness) (Ibuanyidanda 11). The word Ibuanyidanda
is a combined word made up of three parts: Ibu
which mean “Load or task”; Anyi meaning
not insurmountable for, and Danda (a
species of ants).
This concept Ibuanyidanda draws its inspiration from the teachings of
traditional Igbo philosophers of the complementary system of thought. For the
traditional Igbo “danda” (ants) can surmount the most difficult challenges if
and only if they work in a harmonious complementary unified manner (Asouzu, Method and Principles 108). This implies
the idea of mutual dependence and interdependence in Complementarity.
Complementarity (Ibuanyidanda) is the
moment of reflection between the choices of isolation and teamwork.
In the light of this, Prof. Asouzu
posits that “when we say Ibuanyidanda,
we are making recourse to such an ontological state of mutual service in
Complementarity as the horizon of our reflection” (Ibuanyidanda 12). Thus, the
idea of truth in Ibuanyidanda
transcends our individual experiences to our collective contemplation.
Attempting to explain the methodical
principle and the imperative of Complementarity, Asouzu postulates the
metaphysical and practical variants of the principle. He calls the metaphysical
variant of the principle “the principle of progressive transformation”. While
the principle of integration indicates the general metaphysical implications of
the theory, the principle of progressive transformation addresses specifically
the relevance of the theory to human actions.
He went further to point out that
the principle of integration holds that “anything that exists serves a missing
link in reality”, whereas, the principle of progressive transformation
maintains that “all human actions are geared towards the joy of being”. For
Asouzu both principles allow us to formulate the imperative of Complementarity
which can be stated thus: “allow the limitations of being to be the cause of
your joy” (Ibuanyidanda 306).
Let us at this juncture examine the
notion of truth within the context of Ibuanyidanda
(Complementarity).
Truth
and Authenticity Criterion
The three major traditional theories
of truth have proposed to answer the question “What is Truth?” These theories
are the correspondence, coherence, and pragmatic theories of truth.
The correspondence, coherence, and
pragmatic theories of truth claim to offer what are in some sense criteria of
truth. They claim respectively that the criteria of truth are correspondence
with fact, coherence with other propositions of judgements, and success in
practice, that is, the leading to successful results, which may take the form
of successful predictions or be of a more obviously practical kind (Hamlyn
117). A belief is called “true”, according to the correspondence theory, if it
“corresponds” with fact. To the coherence theory of truth, the notion of
correspondence with fact is replaced by that of “consistency”, consistency
being a logical property concerning the associations of ideas with one another.
While, to the pragmatic theory of truth, it is what works in practice.
Truth and authenticity criterion,
according to Asouzu, is:
The measure by which we
can state if a thing confirms to the demands of the principle, method and
imperative of Complementarity as far as these are founded on the principle of
non-contradiction (Method and Principle
310).
The import of this is that truth and authenticity mirror the state of
the mind in search for comprehensiveness and universality. Put differently,
truth has to do with universality.
Consequently, within Asouzu’s
complementary reflection, truth and authenticity go beyond the realm of mere
epistemology and logic to relate to the universal and comprehensive unity of
being and consciousness in all areas of existence. It goes beyond all known
areas of our experiences as an ontological issue and is comprehensive at the
same time.
In complementary reflection, there
is a complicated relationship between ontological truth and truth as lived
experience. Here, one can see an element of correspondence theory of truth.
But, for something to be true, it has to supersede the mere claim concerning
the harmonization of our perception of it with the actual state of the thing in
question. This means that it is based on such a criterion that the mind
experiences complete harmony in all its operations such that the
epistemological, logical, ethical, aesthetic, psychological, and metaphysical
among others cohere with one another in a harmonious complementary manner.
It is obvious that Asouzu’s
complementary reflection went a step forward than the correspondence theory of
truth, in that it makes a distinction between truth as conformity of the mind
with a state of affair and truth as the ability of the mind to relate to
reality in the most comprehensive and universal manner. The latter, for him,
takes advantage over the former and defines its mode of its expression.
Hence, to Asouzu, the question is
not if something is true but in what sense something is true. The lesson from
this is that the issue of truth and objectivity is difficult to understand in
relation with the question of meaning. To this end, Asouzu declares that:
To understand or explain
what a thing represents entails understanding or explaining it within a wider
network of complementary missing links in view of the whole that gives them
their legitimacy (Method and Principle
312).
The import of this is that all issues
of truth and authenticity have some human elements necessarily associated with
them. In recognition of this fact, Asouzu went ahead to contend that:
We cannot wish these
elements away just because we wish to be logical or scientific. We must accept
them and learn to manage them as integral aspects of any explanation model that
seek to do justice to our humanity…. They are missing links of reality; and the
way we manage these missing links determine the level of truth and authenticity
we are capable of attaining (313 – 314).
What this means is that within a
Complementarity framework, the correspondence theory of truth has its
limitations. The question of truth and authenticity moves beyond mere statement
of facts to include what things mean in a comprehensive sense. Thus, the truth
and authenticity criterion “is the link between the relative and absolute in a
way that upholds the character of each in a complementary harmonious manner”,
opines Asouzu (Method and Principle 319).
Communicability
of Truth through Complementary Logic
Truth, within the framework of
complementary notion of truth, is essentially related with the harmony ensuring
from the logic of human interest and the ontological logic (Ibuanyidanda 72). Thus, all matters
dealing with truth can be articulated within the context of these two logics,
which offer the foundation for authentic existence.
Both logics, according to Asouzu,
complement each other in view of upholding their relevance. Hence, without the
logic of human interest, the ontological logic becomes ineffective and vice
versa (Ibuanyidanda 72). In view of
this, the challenge in all matter of truth would be how to reunite and merge
the logic of human interest with the ontological logic. This reconciliation is
one of the major tasks that new complementary ontology, of Asouzu, places
before itself.
On the word of Asouzu, this task has
often eluded many, because of the false belief that all truths are equal and
all truths are allowable. This is the dogma of relativism (Ibuanyidanda 74). In this regard, empiricism as the doctrine that
our senses are sufficient basis for knowing truth remains problematic in its
relativism.
The inductive method of arriving at
truth, as a type of logic of human interest can never be complete when taken alone.
To
this end, Asouzu submits:
This is why matters of
truth and validation are better handled within a more comprehensive framework,
should we be in a position to liberate the mind from all forms of impositions,
complication and compulsion (Ibuanyidanda
76).
The import of this is that the
problems of logic, and those of truth, have
much to do with ontological for as long that it can be understood by the
mind differently and remain complete and harmonized.
Conclusion
In this paper, attempt has been made
to examine the concept of truth in Asouzu’s Ibuanyidanda.
Unlike the traditional theories of truth, the idea of truth within the context
of Ibuanyidanda is comprehensive in
nature and not one-sided. Thus, the notion that truth is conformity of objects
to certain ideas or thoughts has its shortcomings within a complementary
framework.
Complementary reflection is a
resulting attempt to expose the shortcomings of all forms of one-sided attempt
at the presentation of reality. Asouzu approaches truth indirectly and
introduces ontological logic to the understanding of truth. In this regard, the
question of truth goes beyond mere statement of facts or “states of affairs” to
include what things mean in a complementary comprehensive sense that is
universal and holistic in nature.
Works
Cited
Asouzu, I.I., Ibuanyidanda:New Complementary Ontology.
Deutschland:Litverlag Fresnostr.,2007.
----------------The Method and Principles of Complementary
Reflection in and beyond African Philosophy. Calabar:
Chisholm, R.
M., Theory of Knowledge.
Hamlyn, D. W., The Theory of Knowledge.
Lamprecht,
S.P., Our Philosophical Traditions.
Omoregbe, J., Epistemology: A Systematic and Historical
Study.
Randall, J.H. and
Justus Buchler, Philosophy: An
Introduction.