Related questions;
Ø Provide justifications for
the teaching of the course African epistemology.
Ø Justify the discipline of
African epistemology.
(YOUR INTRODUCTION)
AFRICAN EPISTEMOLOGY
Like African
metaphysics, African epistemology is deeply rooted in African tradition.
Originally, the tradition of a people is the effect of their experience; and
since philosophy is a reflection on human experience, it follows that African
tradition, which entails African religions, root culture, oral literature,
traditional arts, fables, proverbs, idioms, rituals, music, dance, folklores
and myths, are the content of African epistemology.
As earlier
said, African epistemology is metaphysically and spiritually inclined. The
tradition in African philosophy relates more with the spiritual and
supernatural elements in nature which give emotional and aesthetic satisfaction
to the average African person. Thus, the ideal life as exemplified by African
epistemology is to co-exist as one with nature. In doing this, great emphasis is
placed on spirituality and an understanding of the world via a spiritual source
because African epistemology regards the experiential world and the
non-experiential world as causally related.
African
epistemology also enforces beliefs in a basic assumption about reality. It
expresses the fact that reality is beyond the empirical world of space and
time; that everything which exists is charged with life forces or spirits i.e.
all beings possess a spiritual backing. It also presents the hierarchical order
of life forces, which is, God, divinities, ancestors, spirits, man, animals,
plants and minerals. The superior forces have a direct influence on the lower
ones, which can only influence the higher forces indirectly via spiritual works
or otherwise.
JUSTIFYING AFRICAN
EPISTEMOLOGY
African culture can
be defined from many angles. By African culture we mean folklore, history,
etiquette and many other things. The truth is that African epistemology which
entails African culture is simply composed of these things and is a complicated
unit that can be divided into several categories. It would have been so
wonderful to dive into the world of African wonders and artefacts and start a
long journey for information and discovery.
Unfortunately, our society seems to ignore
that priceless inheritance we received from ancestors to contribute and give to
our posterities. To start with, there are so many languages, so many cultures
in Africa alone. There are hundreds of nations with specific mentalities and
national priorities. Hence, information on various cultures in Africa is
necessary for appreciating our race.
Nonetheless,
culture investigation takes centuries to build and discover all the secrets.
Thus, it is necessary to create an epistemic platform where African ideas and
theoretical creations can be documented, harnessed and fully developed, in a
manner akin to the west, but with our own specifications. This is one of the
major agendas (amongst others) which African epistemology as a discipline is
set out to do. Nobody will dare to deny the fact that every culture makes a
special contribution to the development of the world. But no matter how
attractive any of these cultures seem, it is vitally important to know our own
African culture, a culture of your family and your nation is our heritage and
epistemic responsibility. We are to bring up pride, respects and love for our
culture in our world, and we can only do this by giving it an epistemic
backing.
Knowledge as the business of epistemology has an
intrinsic tendency of becoming more grounded and expanded as a result of post
discoveries. But, the oral method of transmitting and preserving African
tradition has definitely slowed down its epistemological advancement. For a
theory of knowledge to grow, there must be adequately documented material from
antiquity which posterity can systematically augment on. But, the oral nature
of African tradition presupposes that a lot of vital information about the
African experience would have been lost via the death of so many unknown
African philosophers. This has obviously affected the speedy growth of African
epistemology. Therefore, when African epistemology as a course of study is
integrated into the academic curriculum, it would automatically evolve within a
framework whereby information on the African worldview would be adequately documented and harnessed.
(YOUR CRITICISMS AND CONCLUSION)
