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Essay - Comparison and contrast of the four (4) trends identified by H Odera Oruka (2002)
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- University Of South Africa (Unisa)
Comparison and contrast of the four (4) trends identified by H Odera Oruka (2002)
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Essay: Oruka Four TrendsCompare and contrast any two (2) of the four (4) trends
identified by H Odera Oruka (2002).
The text of Oruka is titled “Four trends in postcolonial African philosophy.” Is the debate
concerning the very possibility and existence of African philosophy? This resulted in
classificatory of African philosophy, the classification being (1) ethnophilosophy (2) sage
philosophy (3) nationalist-ideological philosophers and (4) professional philosophy
Ethnophilosophy:
Ethnophilosophy is the recorded beliefs and practices found in African cultures. Viewed as
such, African philosophy then becomes a set of shared beliefs, a shared world-view – an
item of communal property rather than an activity for the individual. It is a philosophy
without philosophers. This view of philosophy attracted a lot of critics to African philosophy.
Sage philosophy:
Philosophic sagacity is a version of ethnophilosophy where the focus is more on
individuals, in which one records the beliefs of certain special members of the community.
The premise here is that, although most societies demand some degree of conformity of
belief and behaviour from their members, a certain few of those members are said to have
reached a particularly high level of knowledge and understanding of their cultures’
worldview. Such people are regarded as sages. In some cases, the sage goes beyond
mere knowledge and understanding, to reflection and questioning.
Nationalist-ideological philosophers:
Nationalist-ideological philosophy can be seen as a special case of philosophic sagacity, in
which not sages, but ideologues and their pronouncers are the subjects. Alternatively, we
might see it as a case of professional political philosophy. Most of the contributions to this
trend of African philosophical literature have so far been politicians or statesmen. For
instance, Kwame Nkrumah, Julius Nyerere, Kenneth Kaunda, Leopold Senghor, Jomo
Kenyatta, and many others, would fall under this category of philosophers. However, some
of their works are not in the strict sense, philosophical.
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