Did Philosophy Originate in Greece? An Africanist Response

Abstract

The article aims to subvert the Eurocentric taken-for-granted assumption that philosophy originated in Greece. It shows, first, that long before Greek philosophers such as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle gained prominence, Chinese philosopher Confucius was already an established sage who was dispensing pearls of wisdom on virtue, moral excellence, righteousness, human nature, humane consideration, perfecting oneself, and benevolence. In fact Socrates was only ten years old when Confucius died. Second, the assumption in question fails to account for the historical fact that the Kemetic culture and civilization in present-day Egypt predates Greek civilisation. Indeed Plato visited Egypt around 390 BC to learn about Kemetic culture and civilization. Finally, the paper touches on research on Sage Philosophy in Kenya. The sages were old members of their respective communities who had no prior contact with or exposure to Western formal education and yet they were found to be philosophically rigorous and logical in their engagement and reasoning. All these considerations taken into account, the paper’s central view is that philosophy is a bastard, hybrid, grafted, multilinear, and polyglot discipline that cannot be reduced to a single origin.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n23p1302