|
Complementary Reflection, African Philosophy and General Issues in Philosophy |
by
Innocent I. Asouzu[2]
(Paper Deliverer at a symposium organised by Whelan Research
Institute Owerri, 2004)
Abstract:
The paper sheds light into the debilitating effect of
lack of awareness of the contemporary Africans concerning the ambivalence of
their situation and their inability to manage this ambivalence successfully.
The author uses complementary reflection to give insight into the type of
approach that is required towards addressing some major conflicts of interest
within the ambit of contemporary African societies.
Main Text:
For better understanding, I have divided the
contemporary African existential situation into two parts. The first I call the
African we know while I call the second the other Africa. The
Africa we know is the paradoxical African, the scrambled Africa which
reflects human inability to come to terms with human ambivalent existential
situation. The other Africa is the
forgotten African that is a symbol of success in failure. The other African
thus represents the successful Africa that hardly comes to mind when one thinks
of things African. This paper would not belabour the obvious but would go straight
to make suggestions on how the problem of the scrambled Africa can be
approached from a complementary perspective.
The
problem with the Africa we know has to do with mismanagement of
ambivalent human situation, most especially in a changed situation. I call a
situation ambivalent, where a person has the capacity to choose wrongly his
genuine interest believing it to be the wisest thing to do. In such ambivalent
situations, he actually chooses wrongly as we have it in most cases that create
very porous grounds for the scramble to continue. Our contemporary African
society is full of such ambivalences that invariably lead to errors of
judgement concerning what the ego actually desires and how to go about it. This
error can hold a person hostage unless he becomes aware of it. From this error
arises a paradox which subsists in the fact that those things that we condemn
and criticise are the very things we do. This is a precarious situation which
subsists in a paradoxical ignorance that can be formulated thus “those things
that the African says holds him hostage are the very things he does” again “those things that contribute to the
scramble for Africa are the very things the African insists on doing and in
some cases he even takes pleasure in doing them.” The case can still be
depicted figuratively thus: A person says that a stuff is poisonous but you see
this person patronising such stuff for his personal pleasure. Unless he is a
poisoner or something of sort, we would
hardly understand his action. If the stuff is poisonous and the person insists
in playing with it, we can say that he is ignorant. In the case of Africa we
know, there is a poison that threatens the African without his being aware of
it and this is one of the main reasons that the scramble continues.
Pointedly formulated, one can say that the
attitude of the contemporary African to the common good leaves much to be
desired. Almost at all strata of society, the African compromises the common
good and believes that by serving the ego first, in total neglect of the
totality, he can serve himself best. Here he acts in ignorance of a poison that
threatens his existence. This approach to issues, though contrary to commonsense,
has been raised almost to a canon of auto praxis and social praxis. In almost
every situation and in almost all events the average African seeks to serve his
or her interest first in total neglect of the common good. He thereby negates
the basic rule of common sense that consequent self-interest is
anti-self-interest. In trying to secure my interest first, I would not mind if
I should infringe on the rights of others many times over and thereby make
myself a victim of my own rights. An Igbo proverb captures the ignorance
associated with this approach to issues. It states that if a person holds his
opponent to the ground in a wrestling bout he is not free himself unless he
lets go his victim – onye ji madu na ana ji onweya. Any serious measures needed
to redress this scramble today must therefore take into consideration the
mechanisms needed for a consequent self-application of the ego towards its
liberation from its own laws in the event of which the African comes to realise
how to go about his ambivalent situations.
Since there is visibly a low-level
awareness concerning the centrality of the legitimising role of the common good
within the consciousness of the average contemporary African, Africans are the
ones largely holding themselves hostage and not only the aftermath of slavery
and colonialism as many erroneously suppose. In most
cases, the African is the person exposing himself to all the conditions
necessary for the scramble around his person. Although he facilitates this scramble,
he feels that he is a victim and still believes that it is the wisest thing to
do since he believes that he is doing himself a service through his egoistic
tendencies. This is the paradox.
One can say that, in many decisive cases,
we as African chose wrongly our ambivalent interests and thereby make ourselves
very vulnerable to those things we seek to avoid. The plunder and pillage of
Africa through outsiders can hardly take place should Africans take pains to
know that their survival and dignity are inextricably tied to a common human
destiny of which that of African is one. Those
individuals and groups are likelier to uphold their integrity and cohesion
survive adversity and excel, have more time for higher pursuits, who have a
higher level of development of their natural common sense for self-preservation. Since the instinct of self-preservation
is something that is fundamentally human, a human society is in the measure
developed as all its members strive to seek self-preservation in the process of
defining their interests in a harmonious complementary manner.
It is for this reason that
those nations are likelier to achieve success and greatness more than others do
where people have come to define their interests within the framework of the
common good. This instinct becomes a threat again when
it is localised and restricted only to groups of like-minds and closed common
interests.
To surmount the dangers associated with the realisation of the common good
within a closed circle of coalition of interests, it must be conceptualised as
an object of complementary harmonisation of people’s interests bearing in mind
that anything that exists serves a missing link of reality in view of the
totality that gives legitimacy to all units. Hence, any attempts at responding
inadequately to the demands of the law of self-preservation, portends great
danger for human beings no matter their level of achievements. This is why the
developed nations of our time, though great and admirable, become a threat to
world peace when they use their advantaged positions to seek their interests
outside the framework provided by the larger global family. Here all human beings must learn to act
on the universal imperative of collective survival and not survival of only
segments of the human species that collectively seek self-preservation in
isolation of the rest.
It is only under this redefinition of the common good within a
complementary framework that the vicious circle of scramble at the least
opening can be checked and be discontinued
Wherever and whenever people do not
appreciate this learning process, it easily leads to all forms of confrontation
and polarisation that often culminate in armed conflicts and survival of the
fittest. This is the tragedy of the intolerant, particularistic and exclusive
thinking of our world as it is epitomised in the case of the Africa we know or
the scrambled Africa. It is the situation where the ego is disengaged from the
legitimising foundation of its being. In this case, it seeks its legitimacy
only within the laws of its own subjectivity. When this happens, the self
becomes bogus, unpredictable and anti-self. It is for this reason that in the
case of the scrambled Africa, Africans are some of the most visible modern
conquerors of Africa and Africans but this time, the type that conquers himself
under the illusion of conquering others. This is why there is hardly any African
country today, which has not one sordid and sad tales to tell, many decades
after independence. Here, all the hypocritical, heartless exploiters deserve
the worst form of contempt wherever they may be found.
In this respects, traditional African societies, in
many vital issues, can be seen as more developed and advanced societies, than
our contemporary African societies. In many cases, this traditional society had
the capacity to choose her authentic interests unequivocally. This can hardly
be said of many contemporary African societies their enormous resources and
opportunities notwithstanding.
Just as things contemporary African, often
Africans know the best political and humanistic theories. The true liberation
of Africans and African Nations will start the moment Africans learn to match
words with deeds and the moment words start to have the meanings they express and intend. In this case, the
moment Africans start to practice all those ideals that are entrenched in such
words as Ujamaa, communalism, Ubuntu, complementarity, democracy, human rights, freedom, justice, liberty, universalism,
transparency, accountability, free and fair elections etc.
From here would ensure a higher-level
comprehensiveness with regard to the way the ego relates to its interests. It
is a form of transformation that seeks to realise an authentic form of the
experience of transcendent complementary unity of consciousness devoid of
ambivalence. One can then say that the first independence that many African
nations attained was of a socio-political type. The greatest struggle of the
contemporary African is the struggle towards this new form of
self-consciousness in all facets of encounter between the ego and the world, in
private life as well as in the wider world of interaction between the
individual and society.
The struggle to attain this higher form of
self-consciousness must be fought with more determination and tact than the one
needed to win political independence. This new struggle must culminate in a
complementary attitudinal change and must seek to make the experience of
transcendent complementary unity of consciousness a canon of praxis and auto
praxis. Here the mind learns to identify this experience as a necessary condition
for surmounting the challenges posed by the world.
It is this type of complementary experience that
unifies the traditional African and the traditional Igbo in particular, to the
world. It is the highest
form of actualisation of communal experience as shared experience. This experience helped the
traditional African address, relatively successful, most of the challenges
posed by his world.
In keeping with the demands of this transcendent
complementary unity of consciousness, the traditional Igbo, for example,
conceptualises human life as a struggle that must be embarked upon in a unified
complementary manner bearing in mind that no man is perfect; in this case,
human beings can surmount difficulties only in creative recourse to all the
opportunities the world has to offer. Guided by the dictates of this
experience, the mind focuses on the comprehensiveness of its ultimate end and
seeks to actualise this as a necessary condition for its self-determination and
self-actualisation. Thus, acting from this consciousness, a person always seeks
to choose those values that have always made human beings free and societies
great and seeks his personal authentication in universal complementary
harmonious framework. Here, he comes to the realisation that his interests are
inextricably tied to the totality of which he is a part.
It subsists in the ability to relate to past and
present events in view of the future referential totality that gives them their
ultimate meaning. In other words, the ego learns in the process of this form of
self-actualisation to identify its interests with the common good and to see
the common good as a necessary condition towards its own self-actualisation.
Where this change has taken place, personal autonomy
would be conceptualised beyond the dictates of socio-economic conditions as to
include pursuance of all values in view of a total and comprehensive liberation
of the ego from its own laws. Here, we are dealing with a form of self-emancipation
that invariably connotes emancipation of the whole and vice versa. Where this
process has been consummated, we can talk of complementary attitudinal change
which is a condition for the experience of the joy of being.
This transformation has become necessary because there
is every indication that in contrast to the traditional African idea of the
internal mechanics of leadership, the contemporary African leadership structure
is built around a corrupt form of the principle of complementarity. Here, a vile form of
we-feeling founded around the idea of nepotism surplants the idea of transcendent
complementary unity of consciousness that played a low-level legitimising role
within the ambit of traditional African life.
Furthermore, for this transformation to take place
there is need for a thorough overhaul of the meaning Africans attach to some
concepts. These include such commonplace but often misused ideas as morality, immorality, good, evil, common good, public property, work, employment, private interest, patriotism, justice,
injustice, freedom, violence, tribe, war, peace, welfare,
patience, endurance, poverty, wealth, democracy, election. Others include nepotism, money, title, embezzlement, bribery, corruption, tribalism, wastefulness, recklessness, insincerity,
negligence, 419, foreign, foreign intervention, migration, overseas,
imperialism, colonialism, neo-colonialism, race, racism, domination, capitalism, exploitation,
etc.
All these concepts must be seen as
inclusive and comprehensive to have any meaning. Besides, the form of
rationalisations and equivocations that have hitherto driven these concepts in
the minds of many average contemporary African must give way to a new form of
understanding. Here the mind must learn to view these concepts as deriving
their meaning from the same foundation of legitimacy as gives meaning to the
actions of all human beings in society. Without this comprehensive approach to
issues of daily living, the ideals entrenched in such modern socio-political
concepts like Ujamaa, communalism, authenticity and Ubuntu would ever remain a distant dream. This radical form of
attitudinal change can be considered the sum total of all the positive measures
the African needs to emancipate himself from both the internal and external
constraints that make it impossible for him to be aware that the scramble is
continuing and indeed with his full involvement, cooperation and ironically
with him at the same time as a victim.
Where the African misses this comprehensive
approach, misperceives and misanalyses his situation, he takes solace in the
thought that his problems are from the outside. This is the time such
catchphrases as neo-colonialism, imperialism and exploitation, outside interference etc. are misused as ideological escapist
weapons to pursue nefarious objectives inspired by egocentrism. In all these
situations, one of the most fundamental problems of Africa we know is being
misidentified. In most of these cases, the African mistakes self-imposed
hardship with external manipulation. Likewise, his inability to manage the
ambivalence of his situation successfully conceals from him who his true
conquerors and enemies are. This position is in consonance with the ontology of
traditional African philosophy of complementary direction, which sees all world
immanent realities as opportunities for a harmonised experience of the joy of
being.
All these cannot be achieved if the genuine
high regard, which the traditional African accorded the spiritual dimension of
the human person is not rediscovered and given due attention. This has suffered
a great blow in view of the type of pseudo-religiosity prevalent in most contemporary African
communities (Asouzu Effective Leadership 128-141). In the
Africa of our contemporary experience, religious syncretism and eclecticism
without clearly defined character, replaces the traditional African approach to
religion, which was characterised by clear-cut religious commitment. In the
traditional African milieu religion was a serious, transparent and honest
personal commitment between the ego, the community and those spiritual entities
that constituted the same transcendent complementary unity of consciousness
with the world. Here, genuine religiosity was integrated into authentic search
for meaning. It was a genuine absolute commitment devoid of hypocrisy. For the
traditional African religion was not a pass time affair neither was it a part
time preoccupation but a fulltime personal encounter with the divine. The
sooner contemporary Africans rediscover the legitimising role of authentic
religion the sooner also would they be in a position to have stronger footing
in the being that gives
legitimacy to their action. For this reason, there is
need for a thoroughgoing rehabilitation of the African psyche in a changed
contemporary situation. The objective of this change is to lead the mind to
chose correctly those things that auger well with its own interest. The type of
change needed in the face of the challenges facing Africans is a comprehensive
rehabilitation of the human person from the constraints of its situation.
Cultural
dynamism, practical existential scepticism and pessimism
One of the gravest consequences of misidentification
of the problem of the Africa we know is that it leads to what I call practical
existential scepticism and pessimism; a state from which the scrambled Africa
must be emancipated. This is a form of contemporary African delusive, negative
mindset state that often throws overboard tested wisdom of age and insists on doing things the
African way that is totally un-African, anti-African, anti-common sense and
anti-rational. This form of scepticism and pessimism is one of the necessary
conditions that facilitate the continuous scramble for Africa. It is recourse
to a false ego that makes Africa cheap and attractive for exploitation. It is a
breeding ground for rejection of what is African and the consequent
enthronement of what is believed to be the true need of the African. In this
way the scramble continues and here again the African is a key facilitator
without knowing it.
One the level of the ordinary African in the street,
this doubtfulness and pessimism finds expression in tendency of the mind not to
reach out beyond its cocoon and seek for excellence. Indeed, it is a state of
unconscious or internalised doubt concerning the self-worth of the human mind to
live beyond a world of miniature values. This is African the dwarf
mentality. In this case, many average contemporary Africans, through their
actions, do not believe in the universality of basic human values; as such they
must be content with a diminutive form of almost everything, except questionable
values, since they imagine these higher values unfit for the African; a
negative attitude to the world, sort of. Here, we are dealing with serious
cases of mass ignorance as it relates to the attitude of many average
contemporary Africans. It is this mindset that makes Africa vulnerable to
scramble.
This ignorant African is the forgetful
African who easily forgets that such basic things as eating nutritious food and
drinking healthy drinks in a clean and hygienic environment, alleviating
people’s suffering through adaptation to better insights, having more refined
forms of recreation and indulging in useful pastime are not ideas alien to
African culture. This ignorant African easily overlooks the contribution Africans
makes in the complementary evolution of ideas and human values. This is the
African, who believes that foreigners have all the credit in the fabrication
and development of products even the ones he has adapted for his use.
This African does not see any form of
resourcefulness and innovation in the way Africans adapt technologies to their
needs and integrate new ideas into the fabric of their modern culture. He sees things in black and white. All
good things come from foreign lands and Africa must gape with awe at all forms
of development and novelties. For this reason, those things, which are considered bad and
useless for the rest of the world must still be good and manageable for Africa.
This African is pleased when Africa is turned to a dumping ground for useless
commodities and merchandise in the belief that what is bad elsewhere is still
good and manageable in Africa. In Nigeria, to be precise, this is today
personified by the so-called “Belgium mentality” which is now fashionable.
Here, all used products from all over the world are collected, imported, tagged
“Belgium” and sold to Nigerians at exorbitantly high prices. The myth is that
they are better than new products manufactured especially in Nigeria. For this
reason, if a dishonest trader wishes to sell any useless old stuff, he seeks to
convince the buyer that it is “Belgium” and the magic is perfect. In this way
the scramble continues.
This African that is caught in this twisted
consciousness is not comprehensively self-conscious and does not believe that the best is good
for him; he would always manage and be grateful to be worthy to be considered
fit for the global dustbin. His attitude is understandable since his idea of
the good is not comprehensive enough. Besides, he does not see how he is an
integral part of all good things in the world that result from the mutual
complementarity of human resourcefulness. Since he imagines that good things
are for some people who are solely responsible for these, he must be contented
to be considered worthy of even the worst. He is doubtful, even in his own
capacity, to do things better, to change his situation for the best, to compete
with others internationally. He is hardly aware of the implications of his
extended natural rights that empower him to be a co-originator of all the
positive values of our world. He sees others as special creatures destined to
excel while he himself exists to gape with awe at the good that exists
independent of his being as a person. This is existential pessimism and
scepticism at work. This African easily embarks on all forms of self-rejection
and self-pity to prove his modernity; he seeks to catch
up but as a dwarf in a dwarfish way. Approaching with trepidation, he takes
solace in half measures and is contented.
We witness these negative tendencies daily
in the cases of those Africans whose dwarfish minds give them most baffling
ideas. Here, they stride in their dwarfish ways and start to reject their
Africanness and to seek refuge in a false ego. This is the case among the Igbo, where many today change their African
names to their foreign language equivalent. Here Ngozi in Igbo becomes
Blessing, Udo becomes Peace, and Onyinye becomes Gift etc. We are also aware of the new trend in
Africa today, especially in some well-to-do circles, where people find it even
prestigious to scorn at their own native languages and prefer foreign languages
as languages of communication even at home. Here, children are encouraged to speak foreign languages only
as sign of showing modernity. The tragedy is that these children often know
neither the foreign language well, nor do they understand, talk less of speaking
their native languages.
All these happen where people complain
bitterly of foreign domination. This is definitely not the way to cast off the
yoke of foreign domination. This tightening of the yoke is paradoxically
characteristic of the contemporary African sheepish and copycat mentality, and often wrongly, of all things western
in an age where they are complaining about the effects of colonialism and external manipulation (Asouzu, The Heuristic Principles). Wherever this form of mentality is in
place, the scramble would definitely continue.
With regard to the reactionary spirit, this mindset
sees human history in a one-dimensional form of antagonistic and irreconcilable
opposites. The contemporary reactionary mindset stays at the other pole of this illiterate
mindset and seeks a unique African version of almost everything. Here, one
wishes to prove that Africa is different in very indeterminate ways. Instead of
commitment to the excellences in the human spirit, this reactionary mindset
sees Africa as the stagnant museum piece of world history. These paradoxically
pursue the modern thesis of Africa the living dead. Wiredu with his
conceptual decolonisation is a typical example. For this reactionary mindset,
African values are entrenched in the carvings and artefacts stored in the
villages. For this mindset, if you wish to experience African, go to the
villages and forests; in fact dig deep for archaeological treasures and
surprises.
To forestall the scramble, one has to
confront these two positions head on in the process of a thorough going
complementary attitudinal change. In this case, one can say that most of the
values that we consider foreign have always formed the point of focus of
authentic African existence and living. This is why, even today, these will
continue to play a major role in our lives as human beings and as individuals
seeking higher forms of self-actualisation. Association of fundamental human
values with negative historical experiences easily leads to alienation. Where this happens, we would tend to
reject positive experiences as a part of our cultural heritage and insist only
on some of those obsolete and often overtaken relics of history as our cultural heritage. Those who argue
that Africa is the origin of Greek Philosophy, appear not only to be alluding
to the case of a disciple turning around to lord it over his master, but are
also saying that there is a symbiotic relationship in all forms of human
co-existence. Human relationship grows through mutual complementarity. This has
always characterised human experience in his relativity as a historical being.
Not to live in mutual complementarity would be a departure from human nature.
In most cases, the wise internalise those positive changes they find in history
and claim them as their own, doggedly and remorselessly too. Interestingly, we
tend to ascribe positive ideas to those who make claims to them most
energetically and consistently. Where they succeed in doing so, we learn to
associate them with such positive ideas. This is human and can bring much
needed freshness in human struggle for self-actualisation; the sooner Africans
learn this simple trick the better.
One observes how the so-called developed
and industrialised countries emphasise their right to novel ideas and when they
succeed in convincing everyone on how innovative they can be, we easily also
forget that all forms of human resourcefulness are as a result of mutual
cross-fertilisation and complementarity of ideas. Only very careful observers
are aware of the complementary genesis of those important ideas that influence
our world. A typical example is the principle complementarity. Many erroneously
believe that Niels Bohr was the first person to formulate the principle of
complementarity in total neglect of the fact that this principle has long
formed a basic important paradigm of Ancient Egyptian philosophy. Such claims
of “first discovery” are often as absurd as they are loathsome and indeed they
have much to do with diverse forms of unrepentant, acquisitive and exploitative
spirit that
underlies the claims that peoples discover peoples and nations are discover
nations. A person does not discover a principle because he applies it
effectively in one discipline, in this case in quantum physics. In the same way
colonialists do not discover nations because they happen to find themselves in
unknown territories. This form of we-and-them spirit is one of the necessary
ingredients that fan the amber of the scramble. It there should at all be
discovery it must be mutual and in the spirit of complementarity.
It is only in the true spirit of mutual complementarity,
by mutual adaptation and reformulation of ideas that human societies and
cultures take specific shapes. Insisting only on authentically African can
hardly do the African any good There is nothing wrong with a person adapting to
new ideas and values in a way that in the process of doing so they become an
integral part of his lifestyle. Human values are subject to the changes and
demands of circumstances. It is in such dialectical, complementary and
symbiotic process of adaptation and change that human culture grows, is
vitalised and revitalised. In this way, culture is the sum total of the
experiences of a people, irrespective of their sources of origin. Where this
happens, those positive changes we find in society today become integral parts
of our cultures and our personalities even if we resemble each other in some
matters some how.
Hence, some of those Africans who create the
impression that some of the universal values establishing human societies do
not apply to Africans, do so to detriment of Africans.
For this reason, the assumptions both of
the illiterate and the reactionary mindsets are grounded on an error of
oversimplification with regard to the universal applicability of basic human
values. Both mindsets seek an exclusive Africa that is different from the rest
of humanity. Where this happens, the tendency also is to associate Africa with
questionable values that have nothing to do with the nature of things.
In this way, we create and are committed to
an Africa with a diminutive and estranged version of almost everything. Thus,
there is African conception of time, mannerism, punctuality, accountability,
tolerance of corruption, respect for old age even
those of corrupt and errant leaders. Likewise, there is an African version of
running of schools, social institutions, attitude to work, market economics
etc. More recently also we have African consumption pattern which believes in feeding from the waste
products of the rest of the world. In the same way, we have the African
attitude to good brain. Here the good brains of African are not good enough for
African socio-economic development. It must be exported and drained. This is
the derided traditional Igbo butcher mentality. He slaughters the fattest
animals but feeds from the bones (ogbu erighi). Similarly, there is African
form of government. Here many insist that democracy, for example, must have an African version
based on family-centred African form of unitary government to be an instrument
of positive change and transformation in society.
Since this mindset is fallacious, we are
facing a case of delusion of unimaginable proportion and consequences. In some
cases, those who propound these ideas create loopholes with which to exploit
the system further. This is why a corrupt leader today who is an old man would
like to remain untouchable and he would like to be given all the honour due to
an old man even if he misuses his position to inflict unbearable hardship on
his people. We
know certainly how the traditional Africans handled some of such exploitative
old men who should know and have become a liability to their communities. Unoka
the slothful old man in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart was the butt of society
(Achebe, Things Fall Apart 12-13). Traditional
African societies were built on the contractual canon of mutual justice and
respect. What this means is that people who were not able to fulfil their part
of the contract were made to pay for it often in the most astonishing ways.
This is why nothing hindered this community to go to any extreme to see that
justice was done. Unjust old men were not spared the harshest treatments. This
is why such old men could be sold into slavery. It is in this connection that
one can understand Igwegbe when he observes that war “drums are talking drums
prepared with the skin of old men” (Igwegbe 58).
The readiness to assimilate what is good
and reject what is detrimental is what makes nations and human beings great and
therein subsists effective casting off the yoke. A way of life is not desirable
just because it is African and people must not discard a way of life just
because it is foreign.
Human culture upholds its dynamism, it can be improved upon and grow,
only within the framework of complementarity. Where we see the world in this
light, we would be in a position to appropriate any positive ideas wherever we
encounter them. If we do so, it is our natural right to do so and not a
privilege. Major positive and useful ideas that transform our lives are no
monopoly of any culture but universal human values that gather momentum out of
human efforts to come to terms with the constraints of their situation and in
the bid to survive adversity. In the relationship of ideas to each other, we
cannot, often tell where the point of demarcation between originality and
adaptation starts and ends. Anyone who rejects ideas just because they are
foreign is trying to reject his own shadows. The rule is applicable to all facets
of life.
In the ability to identify ourselves
positively with our ideas and to transform our environment, subsists all forms
of novelty and originality. Although a person cannot reinvent the wheel,
this person can turn it to a position where others can admire and talk about.
This is what makes peoples and nations great. The ingenuity of modernity and of
the digital age does not subsist in reinventing the wheel but in turning the
wheel and ornamenting it with objects as to radiate beauty in a way that harmonises
with the complementary unity of all missing links of reality. In this sense, human
culture is an ongoing process, which subsists in our ability not to reinvent
the wheel but in our dynamic ability to turn the wheel to the demands and
exigencies of our situation and in full consciousness that we are turning the
wheel in a manner that would bring positive changes in our lives and society.
This is also a very important dimension of cultural dynamism in a complementary
perspective.
Here we seek to use what we have in the
most insightful and resourceful manner to effect changes and recognise such
changes as an integral part of the totality of our being and are proud to take
credit for that. This is what adaptation and responsiveness to challenges
demand. This approach contrasts with the type of self-negation or alienation
arising from all forms of existential pessimism and scepticism. This is what
re-positioning one’s psyche in changed circumstances means.
This approach rejects recourse to old clichés
and all forms of overtaken life-style. It affirms the perfectibility and
augmentation of what one has in the light of new insights as a mark of
progress. This is what cultural revival and revitalisation means. It is at this
point that conservation and creation show their commitment to the principle of
complementarity. The reason for this is that what it takes to conserve is what
enters into creation and what enters into creation is based on what has been
conserved. In this way, the present historical situation of any given culture
is the sum total of a people’s present experience of which new and acquired
elements are joined inextricably to form a complementary harmonious whole.
From this background, we notice that no
human society has a monopoly over the good values of life. In the same way, no
human society can conceptualise itself in negative characteristics and still
uphold its legitimacy. Hence, such bad habits as lateness, disorderliness, shabbiness,
inconsistency, indolence, lack of initiative, wrangling, deceit, laziness,
dishonesty, 419 etc. are un-African and are vices that humanity has always
tried to battle and overcome. To see them as integral patterns of a culture is
to subjugate the mind to violent distortion. No human society can perform its
function well and progress which makes equivocations concerning the very
foundations of human existence.
What this means is that words and concepts have
meanings beyond their subjective usage. Our success in their usage depends on our
ability to harmonise what we have in mind with what things authentically stand
for. In the case of the concept democratic government, for example,
there is something it seeks to express beyond those meanings we attach to it
within given contexts. As something tailored towards human happiness, its
objective is not inherently evil. The failures of governments and social
institutions are due, largely, to human weakness. Hence, the argument that
democracy or any system of government cannot work in
Africa is fallacious because no system of government is intrinsically
constitutive of the nature of any human society. The same is the case when some
Africans wrongly imagine that only certain forms of human expertise are
congenial to their way of life. The failures of people, institutions and
governments have to do with the inability or unwillingness of human beings to
learn and implement those positive ideas that auger well with their interests.
Hence, neither democracy nor despotism is an absolute value in itself. We can say the same with
regard to theocracy, monarchy, one party system, military dictatorship and all those forms of government that may
become necessary as missing links of reality as given circumstances demand.
The tendency to negate relative historical
conditions as they play a role in the lives of human institutions is at the
root of those arguments that insist that certain forms of democracy are foreign to Africa. Here the tendency
also is to look upon the traditional African communitarian socio-political
set-up as an absolute point of reference for the technicalities
of governance and control. Even if this society at a certain point in time had
what it took to be successful within a given historical situation, it may not
be adequate to handle the demands of more complex set-up as we have it today.
When adaptation to change becomes adaptation to preconceived ideas, it acquires
an inherent moment of absoluteness, which renders it impracticable as a
paradigm of authentic existence. Unless the retrogressive veil falls, which
seeks to localise what is authentically African in negative tendencies,
contemporary African can hardly also have clear parameters for authenticity
existence and progress.
All positive values such as cleanliness,
basic hygiene, self-consciousness, orderliness, punctuality, reliability, high
sense of aesthetic, good taste for food, clothing, drinks
etc. are deeply entrenched in human nature and are inventions of no particular culture. They are tacit
canons of man’s quest towards contented living. The same is applicable with
regard to the sense of justice and fair play, ability towards sensible
managements of the challenges arising from the fear of the unknown, committed management of resources, dependability, respect for
law and order, respect for the dignity of the human person, regard for human
freedom etc. All these are aspects of our common
human heritage. Our attitude to these values may differ due to spatio-temporal
constraints but they are fundamentally entrenched in human consciousness as our response to the demands of the
natural law of self-preservation. In the case of punctuality, the absence
of a centralised and unified system of regulating time is largely accountable
for the so-called African time; and to convert a handicap to a norm, in
a changed situation, would amount to self-inflicted injury.
Strict adherence to the demands of those
values that characterise and sustain our humanity made the traditional African
society great and admirable. In the actualisation of the positive values of our humanity is
concretely localised the joy of being.
Therefore, contemporary African societies can be
modern and industrialised while retaining those positive values, found in
traditional African societies, that have always characterised and made human
societies noble and interesting. Africans cannot achieve this through a free
ride on the back of others. On the contrary, they must achieve this through
hard work, self-discipline, dedication and ability to learn, in the systematic
process of re-discovery and appreciation of the positive potentials of the
human spirit and in the ability to identify personally with these values as
things intrinsically human.
Here the positive attitude towards the
common good as the binding force of all positive ideas
becomes decisive and indeed the scramble discontinues the moment the common
good is made the pivot of complementary harmonious coexistence between
individuals and nations.
REFERENCES
Achebe, Chinua Things Fall Apart. African Writers Series 1. Heinemann, London, Ibadan, 1982.
Asouzu Innocent. Effective
Leadership and The Ambivalence of Human Interest. The
Nigerian Paradox in a Complementary Perspective.
Calabar University Press, 2003.
________________ “The Heuristic Principle of African
Ethics and the ontological-objectivist Dichotomy,” in:
West African Journal of Philosophical Studies. Vol. 1, No. 1, September
1998.
Igwegbe R. O. The Original History of Arondizuogu From
1635-1960.International Press Aba, 1962.
[1][1][1] Main substance of this essay is drawn from the book Innocent I. Asouzu, The Method and Principles of Complementary Reflection in and beyond African Philosophy, Calabar University Press, 2004, most especially pp. 251-265.
[1][1][2] Innocent I. Asouzu is a Professor of philosophy at the University of Calabar, Nigeria. see www.frasouzu.com