Indigenous Philosophy

Challenges in Studying Indigenous Philosophies

• Growing interest in indigenous philosophy within contemporary academic philosophy.

• Indigenous philosophy refers to ideas of indigenous peoples on: - Nature of the world. - Human existence. - Ethics. - Ideal social and political structures. - Other topics of traditional academic philosophy.

• Unlike philosophies of ancient Greece, India, and China, indigenous philosophies: - Did not spread across vast territorial empires. - Did not have centers of formal learning that documented and developed philosophical ideas over long periods.

• The study of indigenous philosophies (ethnophilosophy) relies on different methods than typical academic philosophy. - Not usually recorded in texts. - Requires ethnographic and sociological research methods. - Identifying individuals who hold and transmit cultural knowledge. - Interviews and conversations. - Most philosophy has been passed down through oral traditions, similar to prehistoric thought.

• Additional challenges include: - Academic philosophy has traditionally dismissed indigenous thought as outside the realm of logos. - Long history of erasure makes academic discussion difficult. - Absence of past scholarship in the West. - Racist practices, such as forced education in other languages, hindered the retention of philosophical traditions. - Loss of customs due to loss of life and cultural heritage following colonization.

Indigenous African Philosophy

• Transition from mythos to logos may have first occurred in Africa due to the development of written language. - Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics developed during the fourth millennium BCE.

• Modern Western understanding is hampered by: - Lack of scholarship in English and other European languages. - Loss of collective cultural knowledge exacerbated by colonialism. - Deliberate destruction of historical records (e.g., burning of the Library of Alexandria).

• Research relies heavily on oral traditions and rediscovery/translation of written evidence.

• The philosophical legacy of ancient Egypt is discussed elsewhere; this section focuses on ethnophilosophy from other regions of Africa.

• European colonization: - Began with the seizure of Ceuta (present-day Morocco) by the Portuguese in 1415. - Scramble for Africa in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. - Limited European settlement prior to this period due to malaria, terrain, and strong coastal states.

• Discovery of quinine and development of mechanized vehicles/weaponry facilitated access to the interior.

• During the colonial era: - Young Africans were sent to European universities to study Western philosophers. - Resulted in a failure to preserve local knowledge and thought. - Later, some Western-educated Africans engaged directly with African philosophies.

Stefan Kaoz

• Congolese philosopher.

• In 1910, described the thought of the Bantu people related to moral values, knowledge, and God in "The Psychology of the Bantus."

• Bantu is a blanket term for hundreds of ethnic groups in Central and Southern Africa that speak Bantu languages and share cultural features.

• Kaoz argued that African thought systems had much to teach Western thought systems grounded in Christianity.

Plasseid Timpels

• Belgian missionary.

• Published "Bantu Philosophy" in 1945, gaining significant attention in the West.

• Rejected characterizing African philosophy as magic, animism, and ancestor worship.

• Explored the richness of Bantu thought pertaining to individuals, society, and the divine.

• Described Bantu peoples as believing in a vital force originating from God.

• Envisioned divine being as various forces (human, animal, mineral) comprising the universe that could impact the life force of an individual.

Later African Scholars

• John Vidy and Alexis Cagame.

• Indicated that Timpels was somewhat inventive in his descriptions.

• Engaged in a more authentic study of Bantu philosophy.

• Recorded and analyzed African proverbs, stories, art, and music to illuminate a shared worldview. - Example: Zulu term Ubuntu (humanity), with variations in other Bantu languages.

• Expressed through maxims like "I am because we are."

• Holds that human beings have a deep natural interdependence.

• Inspired a uniquely African approach to communitarian philosophy, which privileges the community over the individual.

Sophie Olúwọlé

• Nigerian philosopher.

• Practitioner and scholar of Yoruba philosophy.

• Translated the Odoo Ifa (oral history of the pantheon and divination system of Ifa, the religion of the Yoruba peoples).

• Proposed that Ọ̀rúnmìlà, the high priest in the Odoo Ifa, was a historical figure and the first Yoruba philosopher.

• Argued his claim to philosophy was equal to that of Socrates.

• Compared Socrates and Ọ̀rúnmìlà, finding similarities:

  • Both considered founders of philosophical traditions.

  • Neither wrote anything down during their lifetimes.

  • Both placed primacy on virtue and living in keeping with virtue.

  • Shared cosmological views, such as belief in reincarnation and predestination.

• Olúwọlé compiled quotes from each philosopher on specific topics.

  • Nature of truth. - Socrates: "But the highest truth is that which is eternal and unchangeable." - Ọ̀rúnmìlà: "Truth is what the great invisible god uses in organizing the world. Truth is the word that can never be corrupted"

  • Limits of human knowledge. - Socrates: "And I am called wise for my hearers always imagine that I myself possess the wisdom which I find wanting in others. But the truth is, oh men of Athens, that God only is wise. And so I go about the world, obedient, to the God." - Ọ̀rúnmìlà: "When they turned to me and said, Baba, we now accept that you are the only one who knows the end of everything, I retorted, I myself do not know these things. For instruction on this matter, you have to go to God through divination, for he alone is the possessor of that sort of wisdom."

  • Good and bad. - Socrates: "And are not all things either good or evil, or intermediate and indifferent?" - Ọ̀rúnmìlà: "Tribulation does not come without its good aspects. The positive and the negative constitute an inseparable pair."

  • Human nature. - Socrates: "No man voluntarily pursues evil, or that which he thinks to be evil. To prefer evil to good is not in human nature." - Ọ̀rúnmìlà: "No one who knows that the result of honesty is always positive would choose wickedness when s e is aware that it has a negative reward."

• Olúwọlé identifies one important distinction:

  • Socrates held a binary metaphysical theory of matter and ideas.

  • Ọ̀rúnmìlà taught that matter and ideas are inseparable.

• Socrates distinguished good and bad; Ọ̀rúnmìlà held they are an inseparable pair.

• Olúwọlé concludes that the strict binary of the Greeks leads to an either/or perspective on truth and debate, while the Yoruba maintain a complementary dualist view of reality.

Henry Odara Oruka

• Kenyan philosopher.

• Launched a field study in the 1970s to record the philosophical thoughts of sages in modern-day Kenya.

• Researchers interviewed individual thinkers from various ethnic groups.

• Questioned them about their views on central concepts in Western philosophy and issues related to applied ethics.

• Intended to demonstrate that philosophy is not unique to the literate world.

• Findings published in 1990, but no systematic attempt has been made to analyze them.

• African philosophy has emerged as a body of thought that stands on its own, rooted in concepts that complement and challenge the Western tradition.

Indigenous North American Philosophical Thought

• Work on Native American philosophy has expanded in recent years, with philosophers (many Native American themselves) engaging in collective research.

• Includes the development of academic societies and journals.

• Like many indigenous African peoples, Native American peoples did not rely on written documents but preserved knowledge through oral tradition.

• These oral traditions included rituals, ceremonies, songs, stories, and dance.

• Any attempt to define their philosophical thought is complicated. - Thousands of distinct societies have existed on the continent. - Each with their own ideas about creation, reality, the self, and other metaphysical issues.

• For every possible generalization, there are exceptions.

• Some generalizations that are true more often than not: - The creative process of the universe is akin to the thought process. - More than one being is responsible for creation, and these beings do not take on anthropomorphic forms.

• Characteristics common to indigenous North American metaphysical concepts: - Emphasis on balance, complementarity, and exchange between different entities. *Example: Dinesi breath as a fundamental force, with exchange between internal and external passing through all natural processes. *Example: Zuni understanding of twins (e.g., Evening Star and Morning Star) as complementary and mirrored.

• Concepts such as gender identity are understood as animated, nonbinary, and nondiscrete. - Gender may develop and change over time.

• These generalizations point to a metaphysics based on animate processes that are complementary, interactive, and integrated.

• Views of the self differ from the European tradition. - The Pueblo possess a sense of personal and community identity shaped by place and time, known as a transformative model of identity. - This social identity spirals outward and inward through expanding and retracting influences over a certain area of land.

• Extant petroglyphic spirals show the migration of a clan outward to the boundaries of its territory and the inward journey homeward.

• These journeys also reflect a temporal component coordinated with the cycles of the solstice calendar.

• Such metaphysical understandings are reflected in the tendency to build moral and ethical concepts on the idea that human beings are fundamentally social rather than individual (a "we," not an "I").

Mesoamerican Philosophy

• Mesoamerican peoples include an array of tribes and cultures speaking multiple languages.

• They developed sophisticated civilizations between 2000 BCE and the arrival of European colonialists in the 1500s CE.

• This area developed pictographic, hieroglyphic, and alphabetic phonetic forms of writing. - Allowed them to record thoughts and ideas, providing modern scholars access to some philosophical reflection.

• The writings of the Maya and the Aztec will be examined here.

• Though each civilization is examined as if it were uniform, they both encompassed many diverse tribes and cultures with a variety of languages, cultural practices, and religious beliefs.

Mayan Writings

• The Maya first settled in villages in the area that runs from Southern Mexico through Guatemala and Northern Belize around 1500 BCE.

• Between 750 and 1200 CE, large city-states arose and established a trading network.

• At the height of their civilization (approximately 250-900 CE): - Possessed a written language that was a combination of alphabetic phonetic and pictographic hieroglyphic language. - Used not only by the priesthood but also by the urban elite. - Appears on stone slabs, pottery, sculptures, and in books called Codices (written on paper made from tree bark). - Possessed advanced knowledge of mathematics and natural philosophy.

• Following the Spanish conquest: - Catholic priests burned almost all of the Maya codices and their scientific/technical manuals. - The Maya lost their written language.

• However, some writings in clay did survive, providing scholars a glimpse into Maya thought. - Implemented a numerical system using symbols that allowed for representation of very large numbers. - They may have been the first to use zero in mathematics. - Enabled them to gain insights into arithmetic and geometry that surpassed those of the Egyptians.

• Their knowledge of astronomy was so advanced that they could correctly predict the timing of solar eclipses.

• Unlike other early civilizations, the Maya had a highly sophisticated calendar and a unique conception of time.

Maya Calendar

• Developed a calendar that tracked many cycles simultaneously, including the solar year and the calendar round (a period of 52 years).

• The calendar played a central role in Maya rituals and sacred celebrations.

• Astronomical events, such as the position of Venus relative to the sun and moon, have been noted to align with the dates of historical battles.

• Some hypothesize that the Maya may have scheduled battles to coincide with these cycles.

• The Maya placed great importance on customs and rituals surrounding the solar calendar.

• Using these calendars, the Maya were able to record complex histories of their civilization.

Maya Concept of Time and Divinity

• Had a complex understanding of time. - Recognized an experiential or existential aspect (e.g., disinterest or concentration can elongate or shorten time).

• The experience of A was considered important because of its ability to bring a person into the present moment. - Increased awareness of the immediate effect of fundamental forces (e.g., the energy of the sun).

• Made them more capable of clear thinking, decision-making, and understanding.

• Although the Maya worshipped an array of gods, they believed in a single godlike force, the sun's force or energy, called kayin. - Understood in terms of the position of the sun relative to the planets and the moon during different periods of the calendar.

• The king served as a conduit through which this divine force passed to subjects.

• The Maya also believed that time is the expression of kayin.

• The ability of rulers and priests to predict natural events and thus seemingly control time served to secure the allegiance of their subjects and legitimized their rule.

Aztec Metaphysical Thought

• For the Aztecs, the fundamental and total character of the universe was captured by the concept of Teatl. - A godlike force or energy that is the basis for all reality.

• Considered a sacred source fueling all life, actions, desires, and the motion/power of inanimate objects.

• Aztec metaphysics adopted a view of the world that was pantheistic and modest. - Meaning that it viewed all reality as composed of a single kind of thing, and that thing was divine in nature.

• However, tiyatl is not an agent or moral force like the Abrahamic God. - Rather, a power or energy that is entirely amoral.

• Teatl is not a static substance but a process through which nature unfolds. - It changes continually and develops through time toward an endpoint or goal, a view that philosophers call teleological.

• For the Aztecs, time was not linear but cyclical. - Even though Teatl tends toward an endpoint and there is an end of humanity and Earth as we know it, this is part of a cycle from the point of view of the universe. - Like leaves falling from trees before winter.

• Teatl is both the matter from which everything in the universe is made and the force by which things are created, change, and move. - An all-encompassing, dynamic, and imminent force within nature.

• Teatl has three different shapes/aspects/manifestations, each with different characteristics, motions, powers, and goals. - These aspects have been assigned metaphorical positions related to weaving, aligning an important cultural practice with their conception of fundamental reality.

Aztec Epistemological Thought

• Epistemology refers to the study of knowledge. - Involving questions such as how we know what we know, what is the nature of true knowledge, and what are the limits to what humans can know.

• Aztec epistemology understood the concept of knowledge and truth as well-rootedness. - To say that someone knows or understands the truth is to say that they are well-grounded or stably founded in reality.

• The Aztecs understood truth, not in reference to some belief or proposition of reality, but as a property of one's character when one is well-grounded.

• Being well-grounded means understanding the ways reality presents itself and being capable of acting according to what reality dictates.

• Being well-rooted in reality allows one to grow and develop, following the metaphor of a plant that is able to thrive because of its well-rootedness in the soil. - This concept has both an epistemological aspect (relating to knowledge) and an ethical aspect (providing the means by which people may flourish).

• In Aztec culture, rooting oneself in the constantly changing and growing power of Teatl was considered necessary. - Existence on Earth was considered to be "slippery", meaning it is part of a process of cyclic change that is constantly evolving.

• The fundamental question for human beings is how does one maintain balance on the slippery Earth. - This question motivates the need to develop a character that allows one to remain well-rooted and to find stability and balance, given the shifting nature of Earth.