|
Complementary Reflection,
African Philosophy and General Issues in Philosophy |
RACISM,
PHILOSOPHY AND AFRICAN THOUGHT
Presented
by
Elogbo, James
M.
Enyimba, Maduka
Ezekwem, Ikenna. C.
Gureje, Eumice .O.
Isogon Kizito
Kalu, David .A.
Nduke,Emen .E.
Nwobum, Cordelia .U.
Ubani, Ozioma J.
2.3 Racism and
Hegelianism…. … … … By
Isogon Kizito
Cited works
3.1 Negative
impacts…. … … … … By Gureje, Eunice
3.2 Positive
impacts…. … … … … By Nduke, Emen
3.3 Colonisation…. … … … … By
Obi-Osang, Titilayo
Cited
works.
4.1 The role of
African philosophy in fighting racism…. By
Ubani Joel
4.2
Decolonisation…. … … … … …
4.3
4.4 The question of
African philosophy…. … … By Ezekwem, I
Cited works
CONCLUSION
5.1 Recommendations
and solutions…. … By
Nwobum, Cordelie
CHAPTER ONE:
By Emmanuel
Iniobong.
1.1
1.1 1.1 INTRODUCTION:
Racism as a concept has a derogatory nature and content such that it
spreads a bad odour because of its anti-humanistic tendencies in almost every
aspect of our interest and endeavours.
In
the consideration of this topic one would discover that to the westerner the
Africans do not have any rationality hence they cannot philosophise and make
good value judgement of a particular situation. To them, there is nothing like
an African philosophy and because of this assertion one would crystally see the
racial tendency and prejudice amongst the westerners towards the Africans. The
Africans have hitherto been discriminated in issues that are deemed technical
and systematic because of the alleged fact that they have no rationality. But
is it really the case that the Africans have no rationality and thus cannot
philosophise? Who does set the standards for rationality? This is a food for
thought for all.
Philosophy
is a cognitive cultural human activity. Everybody everywhere philosophises in
one way or the other from time to time, this is because rationality is one of
the characteristics of the psychosomatic nature of men. So for us to say that
philosophy stared with Thales of Miletus brings our understanding to disrepute
makes nonsense of our assertion and claims. Thus it is obvious that there is an
element of racism in the assertion that the African’s have no rationality and
philosophy. Apart from this, some very popular racist like Hegel, David Hume,
Kant etc have all had one degrading remarks made towards the Africans. Some
like Trevor-Roper have made the claim that there is nothing like African
History. Hegel equally dismissed Africa as a candidate of world history. From
all this it seems to me that the westerners are using their culture i.e. the
westerners think that their culture is superior to that of the Africans? When even Hegel in his dialectical turn of
mind affirms that the truth is in the whole? This is partiality in its entirety.
The
reports of the Europeans explorers, merchants, missionaries and
colonialists who visited Africa had an interpretation of Africa coloured by
their motives and sentiments. Because recent discoveries have proved them wrong.
Africa
indeed has suffered a lot as a result of racism and discrimination because our
culture and civilisation has been misrepresented and distorted. There is now a
new challenge to look into the African past in other to understand and explain
her present. Just like what the book of Ecclesiastics posit in chapter 1 verse
9 that there is nothing new under the sun. Most western philosophies are
confortable inherent in our Africa folklores, riddles wise-sayings etc though,
the Europeans would want an extra-faith Knowledge of European history and
social existence ever though Christianity came to Ethiopia first before Paul
took it to Macedonian, the African continent is now pejoratively notioned
“third world” as underdeveloped or on the –way- to- development. The Boer
racism policy in apartheid saw to the extermination of Hottentot tribes and
other killings in Africa readily comes to mind.
Today,
emphases have shifted even to the aspect of knowledge. The African have really
been discriminated intellectually and seen as people that do not have a soul
and rational faculty. And that is why the issue of African philosophy should be
taken very seriously because it has come to be discovered that the philosophies
of most westerners are things that the African have been aware of long-time
ago though it has been modified with
bombastic and jaw-breaking vocabulary like Immanuel Kant’s categorical
imperative for example. The Africans can start from somewhere articulates their
philosophies and document them. Though very impressively, this is already on
course as we have great renowned African philosophers like Hountondji, Bodunri,
Wiredu, Omoregbe etc. towing this line.
In
this work however, we want to, as our contributions to the sustenance of Africa
philosophy, project further this crusade that African philosophy is real and
has come to stay as we argue vividly from true philosophical perspective. Enough
of this racism to African philosophy and in attempt to achieve this we have
divided this work into five chapters where some concepts shall be clarified
like what is racism?, what is philosophy? And what is Africa thought? in
chapter one; then we shall look at racism and philosophy in chapter two, and in
chapter three, we shall talk about the impact of racism in Africa and in
chapter four we shall examine racism in African thought and finally in chapter
five we shall give a conclusions, recommendation and solutions.
1.2
1.2 1.2
WHAT IS
RACISM?
According
to Longman Dictionary of contemporary English, Racism is defined as unfair
treatment of people, or violence against them, because they belong to a
different race from your own; also it is the belief that different race of
people have different character and abilities and that the quanlities of your
own race are the best.
Also in the
Encyclopaedia Britannica vol. 16 racism is seen as the theory or idea that
there is a causal link between inherited physical traits and certain traits of
personality, intellect or culture and combined with it, the notion that some
races are inherently superior to others. The term racism has no necessary
relation to biological or anthropological definitions of race, a subdivision of
a species. Racist ideas are often indiscriminately extended to apply to such
non-biological and non-racial groupings as religious sects, nations, linguistic
groups, and ethnic or cultural groups. As one authority has noted, “racism is
quite different from a mere acceptance of scientific and objective study of
fact of race and the fact of the present inequality of human groups (Cosmas
52-3)
Definition Of Racial Terms
1.
1.
1.
Racial
And Ethnic Criteria: Race, in the sense relevant to racism, refers to human
group that defines itself or is defined by others as culturally different by
virtue of innate immutable physical characteristics. Thus under racism a race
is defined socially but on the basis of physical characteristics.
2.
2.
2.
Ethnocentrism
And Racism: Parallel to the problem of distinguishing between race and ethnic
group is the problem of distinguishing between racism and ethnocentrism. The
distinction is that in ethnocentrism, presumably, the alleged inferiority,
disabilities, and negative traits of the out-group are thought to be culturally
determined only, where as in racism there is a belief that the disabilities are
inborn.
3.
3.
3.
Discrimination
And Prejudice: The term racial discrimination denotes all forms of differential
behaviour based on race. The most notable from of racial discrimination is of
course, physical segregation by race, but there are more others, such as rules
of etiquette defining forms of address between racial superiors and inferiors
or choice of friends or spouses. Racial endogamy (that is, marrying within
one’s own racial group) is frequently required and almost always preferred in
racially stratified societies. Commensality rules (rules determining with whom
one may or may not eat) are also a very common manifestation.
1.3
1.3 1.3 WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY?
By Elogbo James
Although
people in the western world have philosophised for more than 2,500 years. The
exact nature of philosophy is still a matter of dispute. Philosophy originally
began as a curious mixture of scientific, Theological, magical “and ethical”
explanation of the common and uncommon features of the world. The concept of
philosophy like most other abstract concepts cannot be give a precise
definition that will command general acceptance. This is why the attempt to
define the concept philosophy has itself posed a philosophical problem and to
avoid the difficulties involved in defining philosophy some scholars may resort
to tracing the etymological root meaning of the concept. In these connection
the concept philosophy is derived from two Greek words namely “Philein” meaning
love, and “Sophia” meaning Wisdom. These two words conjoined together gives the
etymological meaning of Philosophy, which in the light of the forgoing would
imply the love of wisdom. And the philosopher therefore can be said to be one
that loves wisdom. But this definition is debatable. This is because the Greek
works “ Sophia” which is literally translated. Into English as “wisdom” had a
much wider application more than the Modern English word Sophia for Homer, for
example refers to the skills of a carpenter, while Herodotus used the verb
“Philosophies” in the context in which it meant the desire to find out. In
these connections it has been stated that philosophia connotes the love of
exercising one’s curiosity and intelligence I wish to state that the exercise
of one’s curiousity or intelligence is not merely an aesthetic disposition. Rather
it is an exercise that yields knowledge, which in some way is useful in the
solution of problems. Since the philosopher inspite of his specialised interest
within the ambit of the discipline of philosophy is to articulate knowledge
that leads to the optimisation of some human interest.
On
a general note, however, the concept philosophy has variously been defined. For
instance the concept philosophy, especially in contemporary usage, could be
interpreted simply as a discipline of study in an academic institution. Apart
from this interpretation, there is also the popular notion of the concept
philosophy, which means any general theory or idea dealing with important questions
about life. In another perspective, philosophy has been defined as a free
rational inquiry into the nature and meaning of reality. Philosophy has also
been defined as thought about thought. This definition is in line with the view
articulated by Fredrick Copleston which posits that philosophy is a
second-order discipline which is capable of being applied to a variety of first
order disciplines and activities.
Finally,
philosophy is the search for authentic nature pre-occupies himself with the
search for this authentic truth.
1.4 WHAT
IS AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY AND AFRICAN THOUGHT
The
status of African philosophy as a philosophical discipline has been a major
point of disagreement. This intellectual bias was instigated mostly by David
Hume and G.W. Hegel who took it for granted that the Negro-African was bereft
of philosophical reflection, and
this was supported by even some
Africans themselves who were sceptical about the existence of African
philosophy. Thus they will not readily say yes to the question: is there an
African philosophy?. Someone like Henri maurier, thinking about philosophy in a
formalised way, as defined by the west,
says that there is no such thing as African philosophy, and if it is, it has
not yet come.
For
some others, there is such a thing as African philosophy that stands as a
legitimate course of study. But even among
those schools, both African and European, who thinks there is such a
discipline called ‘ African philosophy’ opinion are strongly divided. The
preceding view explains the reason why many approaches have been underlined by
scholars and odera Oruka identifies four or three trends to include:
1.
1.
1.
Ethno-philosophy:
these claim that philosophy is cultural. So for there to be an African
philosophy, then it must be rooted in the culture and traditions of the Afrian
people.
2.
2.
2.
Philosophic
sagacity: this belong to the realm of philosophising that seriously holds the
view that philosophy resides in the breast of individuals therefore rejecting
the holistic approaches to African philosophy.
3.
3.
3.
Nationalist-idealistic
philosophy: this is the word view derived from the political reactions of the
Nouveau African intellectuals to the imperialistic domination of the African
people.
4.
4.
4.
Professional-
philosophy: these are philosophers of African origin who received requisite
training in western philosophy and are now looking at philosophy as a universal
discipline with no cultural boundary so to them philosophy whether African or
not must be universal not cultural.
In all, African
philosophy is the critical, rational, systemic and coherent view of the African
on his problem and how to solve them.
African
thought on the other hand is the pre-scientific thought which tend to construct
explanation of natural phenomena in terms of the activities of gods and spirit.
Wiredu distinguished African thought from African philosophy, which according
to him African thought has to do with the inquiries of the African into natural
phenomena, which he attributes to the gods or the spirits.
Nwala,
on the other hand defined (African) thought as the manner and process of
forming ideas, concepts and judgements and hence the process of arriving at
believe and holding opinion as to the truth or nature of anything (Nwala, 76).
CITED WORKS
J. Cosmas, Racial
Myths: In the Race question in Modern Science, Unesco
1995
Long man Dictionary
of contemporary English new Edition, London: 1995
1956
Nwala, T.U. Igbo
philosophy, Lagos; Lantern books,
CHAPTER TWO
Having defined racism and philosophy one will immediately see that
certain racial traits colour or characterise some philosophical thoughts
especially as it concerns the European and the Africans. Most western
philosophers of the likes of David Hume, Immanuel Kant, G.W.F Hegel and Karl
Marx have distinguished themselves in this respect. It is this racist perception
of African that has led western scholars to deny Africans intellectual ability
and to describe them as incapable of any good thing. Such pejorative terms as
savages, primitives, barbarians, backwardness etc have been used to qualify
African and anything African. This is indeed very wrong and should not be the
case.
It
is against this backdrop that we in this chapter will attempt a critical
examination of the altitudes of Hume and Kant towards the Black race. The point
will be made that their thoughts or philosophies are coloured by racism and
therefore should be held with reservation.
2.1
2.1
2.1
HUME
ON NATIONAL CHARACTER
In
his essay on National Character, David Hume exhibited his aversion and contempt
for the black man. Because of his belief that a person’s intellectual ability
or otherwise is a function of his or her nativity or racial descent, Hume, held
that the African (the black-man) is incapable of logical thinking and is
therefore intellectually unproductive, among other inadequacies.
David
Hume has absolutely no respect for the blackman. He believes very strongly in
the idea that Europe is the model of humanity, culture and is history itself. It
is this type of belief; that led Hume, in the aforementioned essays to declare
thus:
I
am apt to suspect the Negroes
to
be naturally inferior to the
whites.
There scarcely ever was
a civilised
notion of that
complexion;
nor even any individual
eminent
in action or speculation…(Wiredu, 198).
From
the above, it is clear that Hume attaches great importance to complexion (the
color of a person’s skin), and accords it a prominent role in the
determination of a person’s rationality or irrationality. Indeed, one
cannot but describe Hume as a racist whose racial prejudice has greatly
coloured his philosophical insight. Continuing in his remarks against the
blackman, Hume said, there is;
No
ingenious manufacturers amongst them,
on
arts, no sciences. On the other hand
the most rude and barbarous of the whites, …
have
still Something eminent about them…
such
a uniform and constant difference
could
not happen…if nature had not made
original
distinction betwist these breeds of men(Eze, 214).
Here
Hume falls into the same error of causality which he earlier refused in his
philosophy, by saying that there is a causal relation between a person’s skin
colour and his intellectual capacity. Thus, he identifies skin colour as the
uniform, constant difference between two races of men. This is categorically as
incorrect as it is conrtradictory.
It
should be recalled here that David Hume in attacking the idea of causality had
argued that we cannot legitimately justify our impressions or sensation. According
him “it is because an object lies contiguous and prior to another that we say
there is a necessary connection”. For
him “there is no causation or succession, all objects are co-existent”
(Njoku,112).
Furthermore
on the black race, Hume asserts that any African who is respected by his people
for his intellectual achievement, must be seen as a mere parrot who cannot say
anything coherently. In his words:
In
Jamaica, indeed they talk of one
negroe
as a man of parts and learning;
but
it is likely that he is admired for
slender
accomplishments, like a parrot who
speaks
a few words plainly. (Wiredu, 199)
This
attitude of Hume puts a question mark on his philosophical disposition and
leaves one wondering how genuine a philosopher he was since he lacks the philosophical
attitude of open-mindedness and tolerance. David Hume is therefore
fundamentally wrong as his argument is based on a weak logic. This is
applicable to Kant whom we now consider.
2.2 KANT ON THE VARIETIES OF DIFFERENT RACES OF MEN
In
his “varieties of the different races of men”’ Immamuel Kant like Hume ascribed
to skin colour (white or black) the evidence of rational and therefore human
capacity or the lack of it. For instance, Kant said of one negroe:
This
man was black from head
to toes and this is a clear proof
that
what he said was stupid (Eze, 215)
This
is undoubtedly another case of fallacious argument. One cannot, as Kant has
just done, in this quotation, dismiss a person’s statement or position as
stupid simply because of his skin colour without first analysing the content or
structure of his or her statement or position to ascertain its truth value. This
attitude indeed does not befit a philosopher.
Yet
on the basis of this skin colour criterion Kant went on to divide the human
race into five distinct groups, namely,
Stem
genus: very brunette
First
Race: very blond (northern Europe)
Second
Race: copper-red (America)
Third
race: Black (Senegambia)
Fourth
race: olive yellow (indians)-(Eze,
215).
This classification
can be likened to the five varieties of human species distinguished by Linnaeus
in which African is at the base. (Mbefo, 26-27).
In
justifying his statement and position on this issue Kant directly appealed to
Hume’s statement. Cited earlier and said:
So
fundamental is the difference between
the two races of men and it appears
to be as
Great in regard to mental capacities
as
in colour (Tsenay, 237).
Indeed,
Kant falls into the same racial prejudice and narrow-mindedness which
characterised Hume’s writing and exposes their lack of genuine philosophical
attitude of open-mindedness and presuppositionless. Philosophical attitude
according to Nwala demands a “curiosity to know, maintenance of critical
attitude to life, openness of mind on all issue and lack of dogmatic assertion
or stand, but an attitude of tolerance and readiness to examine everything
without prejudice or pre-conceived notion” (Nwala, 2).
These
qualities are evidently lacking in the works of Hume and Kant under
consideration. This is particularly most unfortunate, especially when it is
recalled that these are men whose works and various writings have influenced a
lot of changes in the world.
It
is worthy of note here that it is not only in philosophy that racial bigotry
and cultural arrogance has prompted a disfigured perspective of the African by
Europeans. In 1963 for instance, Trevor Roper, a British professor of history
denied that African had a history. Mbefo quotes him as saying:
Perhaps
in the future there will be
some
African history…but at present
there
is none: There is only the history of
The
Europeans in Africa. The rest
is darkness…
And
darkness is not a subject of history (Mbefo, 10)
These
are all one sided and ignorant presentations of Africa history and philosophy
(thought). Apart from cultural arrogance and racial reasons, other reasons for
European’s erroneous view of African society as static and incapable of
initiating change and as possessing unintelligible thought, include the lack of
writing tradition in traditional Africa at that time, and the desire to
facilitate their colonial government in Africa. And this has had grave effects
in the African peoples and Culture.
Conclusively,
it is therefore, racial prejudice to describe some set of human beings as
incapable of reasoning, as primitive and or as savages because of their descent
or simply because they are of different race or origin from one. There is
indeed no moral, rational or logical justification for such far-reaching
conclusion or thinking.
In
fact, in our opinion, it is the one who is prone to such racial delusion that
should be referred to as primitive, inhuman and therefore must not be taken
very seriously. Hence, we Africans should desist from worshipping these people
and from accepting hook-line and sinker their ideas and thought as Connons and
apodectic. This must however, not be done as a matter of prejudice, but as a
matter of fact, because it is the truth; otherwise we will be falling into the
same racial bigotry with them.
As
Wiredu rightly pointed out, the African indeed possess a high degree of
coherent thought. For instance, “ the west has a lot to learn from our moral
thoughts which are free from superstition. It is therefore the task of
contemporary African philosophers to expose these aspects of traditional
thoughts and thereby correct these misconceptions of African thought.
2.3 RACISM
AND HEGELIANISM
By Isogin
Kizito
Of
all the injuries inflicted by racism on people of colour, the most corrosive is
the wound within, the internalised racism that leads some victims at
unspeakable cost to their own cause of say, to embrace the values of their ‘oppressor. “ H. Lack Geiger ( Steinem
1992:118)
Racism described that entrenched social and political distinctions
between sexes, races or classes on the boris of assumed superiority of one race
or clan over the other. This is basically based on prejudice.
Hegel
writing in contradiction to Aristotle, who stated that of all the races, only
the Caucasian race (white European and the descendants) have this inherent
capacity for rationality. According to Hegel the African, Indians and other
races lacked the capacity for rationality. Thus they cannot be classified as
humans. At best they are to be treated as sub-humans. This racial prejudice was
later developed in Germany into the Aryan Calt. This Aryan cult held that the
Aryan race was superior to all races.
Unfortunately,
experience today cart Hegel in this mould of an irrational thinker for
not only has it been proved and established that rationality is a universal
human heritage, race which Hegel excludes from the brackets of rationality have
been shown to have established great civilisation and centre of learning, that
herpes certain European countries at the time of Hegel
CITED
WORKS
Eze, E.C.
“Modern Western Philosophy And African Colonialism” in Eze,
E.C
(ed), African Philosophy: An Anthology, Oxford,
Blackwell
Publishers Inc, 1998.
Mbefo,
L.N, The Reshaping of African Traditions, Enugu, Spritan Publisher,
1988.
Njoku,
F.O.C, The Empiricist’s And Causation In Law, Enugu, Snaap press
Ltd.
2003
Nwala,
T.U, Igbo Philosophy, Lagos Lantern books, 1985.
Tseney,S,
“Colonialism And The Colonised: Violence And Counter
Violence”
Eze, E.C(ed.), African Philosophy: An anthology,
Oxford,
Blackwell, Publishers 1998.
Omoregbe.
J. A, Simplified history of western philosophy vol.3, Lagos
Joja
education research and pub ltd. 1991
Sertima.
I. Ivan, Blacks in science? Ancient and modern, London
transaction
books1983
Steinem.G,
Revolution from within. Boston Little Brown and Co. 1992
Wiredu,K,
“How Not To Compare African Thought With Western Thought”
in
Eze, E.C African philosophy: An anthology, Ibid
CHAPTER THREE
IMPACT OF RACISM IN
AFRICAN
By Gurje Eunice O.
3.1 NEGATIVE
IMPACT OF RACISM IN AFRICA
Before
saying some of the negative impacts of racism, I would like to define or say
what Racism is all about.
Racism
according to W.E.B.D Bois, it is a vast family of human being generally of
common blood and language always of common history, traditions and impulses,
who are both voluntarily and involuntarily striving together for the
accomplishment of ordain more or less vividly conceive ideas of life.
Turning
to real history, there can be no doubt, first, as the wide spread, nay,
universal, prevalence of the race idea, the race spirit the race idea, and as
to its efficiency as the vastest and most ingenious invention for; human
progress.
Racism,
as we have seen, is only one element of a vaster whole; that way of the
systematised oppression of a people. The consequences of Racism on cultural
level, we witness the destruction of cultural values of ways of life. Language,
dress, technique are deralorises.
Enslavement, in the strictest sense of the native
population is the prime necessity, for this its system of reference have to be
broken. Expropriation, spoliation, raids objective murder, are matched by the
sacking of cultural patterns, social panorama is destructured; values are
flaunted, crushed, emptied.
Exploitation-torture, raids collective liquidations,
rational oppression take turns at different levels in order to make of the
native an object in the hands of the occupying nation, the feel we can not
exist without them.
Also
to Westerner, the believe that African cannot philosophic because of anti
humanistic tendencies.
We
must tirelessly look for the repercussions racism at all levels of sociability.
The apathy so universally noted among colonial people is but the logical
consequence of this operation.
3.2
3.2
3.2
THE
POSITIVE IMPACT OF RACISM TO AFRICAN THOUGHT
By Nduke Emen