Philosophic sagacity and intercultural philosophy : beyond Henry Odera Oruka

TitlePhilosophic sagacity and intercultural philosophy : beyond Henry Odera Oruka
Publication TypeBook
Year of Publication2016
AuthorsP.M. Mosima
Series titleAfrican studies collection
Issue62
Pagination - 187
Date Published2016///
PublisherAfrican Studies Centre Leiden (ASCL)
Place PublishedLeiden
Publication Languageeng
KeywordsAfrica, Henri Odera Oruka (1944-1995), philosophy
Abstract

In this work, I attempt to contribute to the future of African and intercultural philosophy. This is undertaken by a comparative appraisal of the late lamented Kenyan philosopher Henry Odera Oruka's (1944-1995) philosophic sagacity, and intercultural philosophy as conceived by Dutch intercultural philosopher Wim van Binsbergen. Oruka (1990a) identifies four main trends in contemporary African philosophy: ethnophilosophy, professional philosophy, nationalist-ideological philosophy, and philosophic sagacity or sage philosophy. He later added hermeneutic and artistic/literary trends (Oruka 1991). I review the debate on the existence, nature, and identity of African philosophy and posit the relevance of intercultural philosophy to contemporary African philosophy. I examine the major issues around ethnophilosophy with a reading of Tempels and Kagame and the main criticisms, especially those of Oruka, in a bid to posit his rationale for endorsing philosophic sagacity. I focus on Oruka's philosophic sagacity and the methodology used in investigating it. I attempt to answer two main questions: what is sage philosophy and how does one distinguish it from the other forms of philosophy that are available in Africa? African sage philosophy or philosophic sagacity commonly refers to the body of thought produced by persons considered wise by their communities. Oruka categorizes these wise persons into two groups: folk sages and philosophic sages. Folk sages are well versed in the popular wisdom, culture, and beliefs of their people. They are essentially conformists with the communal set-up. They are folk sages because they do not transcend the celebrated folk wisdom of their people. They remain at the first order of sage philosophy: popular wisdom. Philosophic sages are those that seek rational foundation and critically evaluate commonly held cultural beliefs. They are able to transcend the communal beliefs of their societies by taking a critical and rational distance. When interviewed by a professional philosopher, they are able to provide balanced answers on various themes, such as the nature of the Supreme Being, the nature of death, the nature of time, the concept of the person, the meaning of freedom and equality, the nature of education, and so on. This triggers Oruka to compare them to Western philosophers in spite of the fact that some of them are unable to read or write. He dismisses ethnophilosophy as a collective mode of philosophizing and endorses the individual sage as the valid mode of philosophizing. This, according to Oruka, is standard African traditional wisdom, which obtains in the African context. I also employ post-modernist (post-structuralist) and other criticisms of Oruka's philosophic sagacity and show how post-modernist ideas (deconstruction of single identity, Western hegemony, and bounded culture) are used as a bridge to my proposal of intercultural philosophy. I identify globalization as one of the most important socio-political and cultural developments in our contemporary world that needs philosophical scrutiny. I examine Oruka's philosophic sagacity and the orientations of several African philosophers to see if they can stand the test of time. This permits me to invite African/intercultural philosophers to think beyond local to global sagacity. I attempt to go beyond their positions by exploding their contentious conception of culture and examining whether intercultural communication is possible or not. This is achieved through a discussion of intercultural philosophers such as Ram Adhar Mall and Wim van Binsbergen. Finally, I identify the main challenges for the contemporary African/intercultural philosopher. The challenges are enormous, but we need to create an intercultural framework in a bid to go beyond borders. I propose an intercultural hermeneutic, one that is couched in counter-hegemonic discourses and that will allow us to cross borders, as the globalization process requires us to do.

IR handle/ Full text URLhttp://hdl.handle.net/1887/38878
Citation Key8064