PHILOSOPHY
Although a definition of philosophy is still being awaited, philosophy is seen as an attempt to arrive at reasoned answers to important questions.[1] Base on this solitary definition of philosophy, an important point could be made with respect to the questions and answers that characterize philosophy. “Philosophical questions are not questions to which yes or no answers can be given readily. In this sense there can be no decisive or definitive answer to any philosophical question whether in metaphysics, epistemology, logic, mathematics, science, ethics, aesthetics, or religion.”[2] Hence, any discussion on the question on the existent or reality of African philosophy must necessarily take into consideration the nature of philosophy and the kind of question it raises. Definitely, if philosophy is to be identified with empirical science or with logical or linguistic analysis, then only two branches of philosophy would stand recognized, viz logic and epistemology. “The questions to be asked now are the following: Is a philosophy not good philosophy unless it is, or at least consist of, logic and epistemology? Are metaphysical and ethical issues and discussions not philosophical issues and discussions? Finally must a worldview be scientific in order to be a philosophical worldview?”[3]
According to Bertrand Russell,
The conception of a life and the world which we call “philosophical” are a product of two factors: one inherits religion and ethical conceptions; the other, the sort of investigation which may be called “scientific” using this word in a broader sense.[4]
He then noticed that “individual philosophers have differed widely in regard to the proportions on which these two factors entered into their systems,” but maintained that the existence of both in some extent, characterize philosophy. Up till now, Russell regarded philosophy as something intermediate between theology and science which appeals to human reason rather than authority. The interesting conclusion from Russell’s equivocation is his difficulty in giving a precise definition to philosophy. He, in fact, ended up by saying that philosophy is neither science nor theology. For him, there is a no-man’s land, between theology and science which is exposed to attack from both sides; this no-man’s land is philosophy. To show that philosophy is not science, Russell emphasized the point that ‘almost all questions of most interest to speculative minds are such as science cannot answer because only science tells us what we can know, but what we can know is little, and if we forget how much we cannot know, we become insensitive to many things of very great importance.’ “Although he came from the tradition of analytical philosophy, I believe that in saying this much Russell was aware of the importance of non-scientific questions in the minds of thinkers of all nations which philosophy tries to answer.”[5]
Obviously, I am tempted to hold with thinkers that unlike science and mathematics, no problem ever gets solved in philosophy. Granted, Kant is right in asserting that philosophy asks questions which reason cannot answer. It is precisely because of this that Prof Joad describes a philosopher as an impossible possessor of impossible knowledge. Thus philosophers are of different temperaments, and their approaches to philosophical issues are usually not the same. What appears to be agreeable to many philosophers is critical discussion of philosophical issues backed by reasoned arguments. “But there is no argument on the matter of philosophy. Hence there are philosophers who either try to make sense out of nonsense or nonsense out of sense by reasoned arguments. When a philosopher who sits on his chair eight hours a day goes on to argue that tables and chairs may not exist after all, it looks to me such a philosopher is trying to make nonsense out of sense.”[6]
From the above we like to establish that philosophy as first described above is not empirical science or analytical philosophy pure and simple. The general situation in philosophy now is that we do not know what to consider as a serious philosophical topic. In whatever way we look at it, we cannot but agree with Waissmann philosophy is more than clarification of thoughts. Neither is it the correct use of language nor of any other of these damned things. “Philosophy is many things and there is no formula to cover them all.”[7]
According to Collingwood Philosophy, comprises a scale of forms each of which is a scale of dogmatic philosophy. And we can only set forth upon the road to philosophy by the road of dogmaticism. Even the ultimate aim of arriving at a complete theory of knowledge or explanation of the world is the ideal limit of dogmatic philosophies. Thus, “every person who is actually absorbed in any given form of experience is by this very absorption committed to the opinion that no other form is valid, that his form is the only one adequate to the comprehension of reality. This is true of different philosophical schools.”[8] “This is probably why we can safely say, in the manner of Keynesian economists, that if philosophers were laid end to end, they probably would not reach a conclusion.”[9]
As we can see, the questions raised in philosophy are, for the most part, metaphysical questions which by their philosophical natures are unanswerable. Yet people continue to ask metaphysical questions because the issues raised in them are perhaps the issues that touch on human curiosity to get answers to questions that reason cannot answer. The importance of metaphysics is shown by Fichte who declared that “the primary task of philosophy is to answer the question: what is man’s destiny, his purpose in this universe?”[10] If this is anything to go by, then, Africa cannot be denied of philosophy, given her traditional cultural beliefs.
IFA, KNOWLEDGE, AND PROBABILITY IN AFRICAN TRADTINAL MEDICINE: PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE
A great deal of African Philosophy has its roots in cultural beliefs, some of which are not worth courting. Some of these beliefs may be regarded as outmoded in the twentieth century world and so ought to be forgotten. Others may be seen as so fundamental to African heritage and values that they need to be preserved, revised, or improved. There may be yet others so controversial as to demand a more critical examination, analysis, or refinement here and there in other to make them consistent with our modern beliefs. In these cases it is either that the particular cultural beliefs at stake contradict our present beliefs, so that a rejection of earlier beliefs becomes inevitable in the light of our modern experience, or they are not inconsistent with our present beliefs, but nonetheless require some further analyses by which some possible refinements or conceptual modification might be achieved.[11]
Surely, in every culture, there exists a strong desire to know about the future, that is, to be able to make reliable predictions. In the Western cultures, scientific development has increased hope for reliable predictions. But Western has a method, and scientific theories can be read in textbooks. If in African culture there exists a method or means by which reliable predictions can be made, we shall call it scientific. But prediction in this sense shall not be restricted to those governed solely by Western scientific theories. There are other cultures which have tried, and quite successfully too, to determine future events by some other means than those open to empirical investigations. This, of course, may lead one to suggest that while the former could be regarded as “open” science, the later latter could be regarded as “occult” or “restricted” science. In making this distinction we may be suggesting that science is not, without remainder, empirical, just as it is often argued that logic is not purely formal.[12] When a particular view of science is not open to empirical investigations, some empirical scientists call it all sorts of names: metaphysical nonsense, mysticism, occultism, fetishism, spiritualism, and magic (black or white). But if our contention that not everything under the sun that is called science is empirical without remainder is tenable, then, the calling of non-empirical science with all sort of pejorative names as indicated above is without any conclusive justification. [13]
In fact, the writings and discussion Professor Abimbola, M. Akin Makinde in exposing African thoughts and culture, and the works of Zahan on Bambaras and Thomas on Dolas have also afforded us an opportunity of forming some ideas of the theory of knowledge among peoples who possess neither writing nor machines. Eberhadt reports of three degrees of knowledge among the Bantus: superficial knowledge, that of the bush or the “third world”; the intuition form of knowledge of the second or intermediary world; and the weighty or profound knowledge of the first world. Zahan has also stated that the Bambaras possess a systematic view of the world which endeavours to provide an explanation for both the macrocosm and the microcosm by devising, without writing, a number of graphic signs of which some scholars have identified 266. Thus arithmetic and numbers are used to define numerically the constitution of matter and of the world in general, all of these giving rise to a synthesized overall picture of the cosmos and the principal natural phenomena[14]
In the field of biology, the Bambaras know the principal organs, some of which are regarded, as they were in ancient Greece, as the seat of the moral and intellectual faculties. The will is taken to be in the kidneys, the power of judgment in the liver, fear in the bladder, and courage in the heart. They also have an explanation for speech that implies the interaction of seventeen organs, with the ritual number of human teeth as forty-four which have an effect of enlightening the spoken word. Therefore, all the devices for polishing the teeth, toothbrushes, chewing-sticks, and toothpicks are all means of speech conditioning.[15]
In Africa, and particularly among the Yoruba, the most potent source of having insight into the future is the Ifa oracle. But Western civilization led to the neglect of Ifa, thus creating an intellectual stupor against its conscious development. In Yoruba society Ifa is commonly used by experts to foretell what is likely to happen, given that certain conditions remain as they are. This means that while Ifa can predict what is likely to happen if certain conditions remain unchanged, it also can prevent an event from occurring, granted that certain other conditions are either prevented or eliminated in the manner suggested by the Ifa oracle. In this case Ifa serves a dual purpose. It foretells by warning, and provides solutions to anticipated events or problems. In many cases, Ifa appeared to have worked. That may serve as its own justification.[16]
Quite apart from their familiarity with what some scholars call native botany and knowledge of plant poisons and antidotes, as well as dosage, the African traditional doctors are quite familiar with the principal organs of the human body.[17] Each organ of the body has its part to play in the human biological system. For example, the Yoruba note that the emi (soul) is seen as a living or vital force of the human body. Abimbola has argued that the physical counterpart of emi as a living or vital force of the body is the human heart. [18] This belief is probably due to the important role the heart plays in the human body. But from oral evidence, my father, a traditional healer of great repute, suggested to me that the emi (soul) as a living or vital force in the human body has its physical counterpart not only in the human heart but also in the human blood. For this reason the heart and blood are seen as inseparable companions in the service of the soul (emi), the thing that gives life to the body. Any question as to which of these two is important than the other as the physical counterpart and agent of the soul would be like the chicken and egg question. Surely a heart without supply of blood is no heart, blood without the heart as its pumping machine is useless. That is to say, a heart without blood is lifeless; blood without heart is idle and useless. Therefore, special recognition given to the importance of both the heart and the blood in the human body, where both are regarded as agents of the in the physical plane, has a great influence on the African theory and practice of traditional medicine, in which blood in particular is regarded as the ultimate beneficiary of all medications. The importance of the blood as representing the soul in the physical plane is suggested by the saying: the life of a man is in his bloodstream.[19]
The practice of medicine is closely tied up with the practice of religion in Africa, and this is due to a number of reasons. In the first place…..religion in Africa covers every facet of life and helps man to cope with all its vicissitudes. It is therefore natural that matters pertaining to health, not only with regard to its restoration after sickness but also its general preservation, be not left out of religious considerations. Quite apart from the purely organic causes of illness which are recognized and accepted, there are also traditional explanations attached to them. These are mainly metaphysical explanations such as punishment meted out by offended ancestors, the result of witchcraft or sorcery, fore-ordained destiny, or the consequence of anti-social behaviour behaviours of the sufferer[20]
It is generally believed that nothing can be well with men in society if good relations are not maintained between them and their fellow human beings and between them and the powers that control the universe. Broken relationships may result in sickness or even death of an individual. Widespread of misfortunes such as droughts, epidemics, and locust raids may also be attributed to broken relationships and only when good relations are restored will things return to normal. The prevention and cure of these misfortunes include the taking of herbs and roots as well as ritual cleansing and offering of sacrifices. In the treatment of illness also, both the organic and spiritual aspects are of the disease are taken into consideration. This is essentially based on the belief in Africa, that man is a compound of material and immaterial substances, which the maintenance of a balance the spiritual and the material in man a condition for sound health. [21]
The practice of medicine is considered as a gift of the Creator and is dispensed through the agency of the divinities. All herbalists acknowledge God as the Healer, and the expression usually used during consultation with a priest in time of illness is that the disease can be cured if God permits it. This is reflective in the Akan saying “When God gives you sickness he also provides the cure.” When devotees are sick they go to their priests who are not only ministers of the deities but also herbalists who know the remedies of particular deities. Sometime, it is believed, the deities reveal new cures for particular baffling illnesses to the priests. The Yoruba and Ibo, for example, have special deities, Osanyin and Ogwu respectively, who are recognized as the guardians of medicine. These deities are believed to call people to become herbalists and doctors and all healing takes place under their guardship.[22]
From Abimbola’s writings, oral evidence, and Makinde’s analysis of Ifa as a repository of knowledge, an epistemological basis for African traditional medicine becomes readily available among the Yoruba of Nigeria. We hope to show that African traditional medical assertions occur already in an epistemologically constituted universe. It is important to bring up that:
Ifa has been called by some people one of the angels of God. It is a Deity, identified with orunmila, the owner or possessor of wisdom and knowledge. Through Ifa, orunmila brought wisdom and knowledge into the world. Such knowledge consists of several branches: science of nature (physics), animals (biology/zoology), plants (botany), medical plants (herbalism), oral incantations (ofo, and ase/afose), and all the sciences associated with healing diseases (medicine)[23]
The knowledge of healing derive from Ifa is known as complete cure (iwosan).[24] Such cure is possible because Ifa knows the origins of disease and their various names by which they are called. It also knows the leaves, herbs, roots, and animal substances associated with the cure of all diseases. In the opinion of an internationally known Ifa priest, Ifa is the controller of language, culture, philosophy, and religions among the Yoruba. In short, its adherents believe Ifa knows the causes of things and events, the names and nature of things, as well as their origins and chemical compositions.[25] Thus Ifa is like Laplace’s omniscient intelligence, or the Magus of Bombastus Paracelsus, the wise man to whom nature has taught her secrets. The Magus has a command of the forces of nature, and knows the signs which reveal her powers.[26] It is from the immense reservoir of Ifa’s knowledge that various branches of knowledge emerge, including knowledge of traditional medicine. This is the knowledge of the nature and use of animal and plant substances, incantations, and authority or power of words for medicinal purposes (both preventive/protective and curative medicine) as a way of prolonging lives in the face of illness, diseases, and evil forces on earth.[27]
In this connection we shall single out the role of Ifa in Yoruba thought. It is believed that the most prominent and certainly dominant aspect of Yoruba culture is associated with the Ifa literary corpus. Although Ifa is not a philosophy, it has in it a great stock of ideas that generate various philosophical issues, including metaphysics, ethics, epistemology, and science, of which the most developed is traditional medical science. It is from learning of Ifa that we come to understand the Yoruba concept of a person and of immortality. Of particular interest is the Yoruba concept of ori and its relation to human destiny. We give a philosophical analysis of the concept of ori in modern time so as to reveal the necessity for its conceptual modification in order to disclose its relation to, and consistency with, other concepts such as human destiny, human personality, freedom, and responsibility.[28]
Ifa, which is known as the repository of knowledge or infinite source of knowledge (imo aimo tan), is in possession of knowledge consisting of several branches: science of nature (physics), animals (biology), plants (botany), oral incantations (ofo), divination (prediction), medical plants (herbalism), and all the sciences associated with healing diseases (medicine).[29] It is generally known that the issue of Ifa divination presents a prima facie difficulty for empirical scientists and scientifically-minded Philosophers of the Western world, especially as Ifa divination is used for prediction as well as diagnosis in African traditional healing. While an African may find the Ifa workable, a person from a Western culture may dismiss it as a mere superstition insofar as he has no antecedent experience by which his belief in Ifa divination could be sustained. This shows how experience can shape a people’s belief in a particular culture.[30]
It is very important to point out here that an Ifa priest needs a long period of training in order to acquire hi knowledge. Hence, just as not anybody can be a theoretical physicist or a surgeon, not just anybody can be an Ifa priest. An Ifa priest require an even longer period of training to go through the manipulation of the all the 256 odus----the major 16 and the minor 240. In order to become an Ifa priest, one has to study properly the literature of the odu, one by one, with a minimum of 16 versus or stories in each odu. Although, one is required to master 4,096(16x256) odu before one graduates as an Ifa priest. In the Yoruba culture the period of training for the Ifa priesthood may be from the time one is child to the time one becomes an adult. This is very common in cases where the priesthood is to be inherited from one’s parents. In other cases where it is not inherited form one’s parents, young men and women, serve a long period of training and apprenticeship under reputable Ifa priests. We rarely see Ifa priests who are less than thirty years old. Their average age is between forty and fifty. It appears, then, that the Ifa oracular power is not easy to acquire. This situation seems to me comparable to Plato’s recommendations concerning the period between the study of philosophy or dialectics and its application by a philosopher king. Apart from the preliminary studies in the earlier years, Plato gave between the age of thirty and fifty years for the study of philosophy and the acquisition of the necessary experience and practice to become a philosopher king.[31] This possible comparison between the Yoruba Ifa priesthood and the period of training it require, and Plato’s views about philosophy or dialectics and philosopher kings, is likely to suggest to us the important role of Ifa in Yoruba epistemology. I say this because of the role Plato’s notion of dialectics and the philosopher king play in the ladder of his theory of knowledge. [32]
At present, the concept of Ifa is receiving some critical analysis, and being given philosophical and probabilistic treatment, particularly at the University of Ife. From the point of view of epistemology it may very well supply us with some ways of knowing, whether or not its general method is open to empirical investigation. After all, there are both empirical and no-empirical (rationalist) ways of knowing. The kind of epistemology we admit depends our philosophical temperament. But with respect to science (not the so-called exact sciences like logic and mathematics), we can at least suggest that the kind of knowledge philosophers usually talk about reflect probability rather than certainty. Therefore we shall confine ourselves to the fact that the whole of Ifa literary corpus can be given a probabilistic interpretation. What is more, it can be developed into science. I believe that philosophers can provide the theoretical background on which a probabilistic interpretation of Ifa oracles can be worked out. We shall call this the African science of the future.[33] For the above reasons we can assume that the Ifa oracle bears a resemblance to Laplace’s omniscient intelligence which will be in possession of causal laws that would allow for the prediction of the whole future of the world from the knowledge of the present state.[34] For the time being, the question as to whether or not the existence of such an omniscient intelligence is possible is not important. The only way in which anything can be proved to be non-existent is to prove that its existence is impossible under natural laws. But unless we can assume that these natural laws not only obtain in, but, in fact, rule the entire universe we cannot that even the god of Homer or the Yoruba gods of iron (Ogun) and thunder (Sango) are impossible everywhere. In the same way the non-existence of an omniscient intelligence cannot be proved. It is sufficient to allow that every culture has either intuitive or pragmatic reasons for believing in these things. With this little digression we shall count ourselves as being a safe position to compare Ifa with Laplace’s hypothetical omniscient intelligence.[35]
Ifa, like omniscient intelligence, would be in possession of causal laws that would enable those who thoroughly understand its operations to make predictions about the world, given the background of its present state.[36] Just as trained scientists would only have to consult with this intelligence for their predictions, so also would the trained Ifa priest have to consult with the same intelligence, known as Ifa, for their own predictions. The only difference between the scientist and the Ifa priest would either be question of terminology or the difference in their methods of consultation and investigation. But above all, the essential difference would be seen only in the openness of the one and the secret nature of the other. To argue that the methods derive from the latter are not displayed openly in scientific textbooks does not mean that they cannot be so in the future. In the very near future, the methodology of Ifa oracular system may turn out to be an important discovery. The only thing that needs to be said is that if the hypothesis of an omniscient intelligence were true, then such knowledge that could be in possession of scientists and Ifa priests may seem wonderful to have, may well be the kind of knowledge the magician Paracelsus has in mind in his Sagacious Philosophy (Philosophia sagaz) where “magus” is in command of the forces of nature. The “magus,” according to Bombastus Paracelsus, is the wise man to whom nature has taught her secrets. He knows the signs which reveal her powers.[37] In fact, possession of such knowledge, which may be the real thing behind the theories of scientists as well as the manipulations of the Ifa priests, may also make it rather difficult for us to know the real difference between scientific predictions and the predictions of the Ifa priest on the one hand, and either science or magic on the other.[38]
However, because of the critical nature of Place’s society and culture, his speculation about an ideal of perfect knowledge that could be gained through consultation with an omniscient intelligence was reduced, at its best, to mere probability. This is to say that in the absence of postulated ideal, such as omniscient intelligence or perfect knowledge, as finite beings we must content ourselves with “partial knowledge, mingle with doubts, and producing ignorance.[39] The measure of such knowledge according to William Stanley Jevons is the Laplacian Theory of Probability. Since the idea of perfect knowledge is attributed to an omniscient intelligence out of critical consideration may not be available to both scientists and Ifa priest (because it is only an ideal to be approximated), both the scientist and the Ifa priest would have to content themselves with probability. This is to say that, if properly analyzed, the difference between the scientist’s predictions and those of the Ifa priest or Babalawo may not be one in kind, but in the methodology and efficacy of each. And to the extent to which our Babalawos never claim that their predictions about events are known with certainty, so Ifa oracles claim no more than science claims about our knowledge of the world, that is, probability.[40] In support of our claim that the difference between the scientists’ predictions and those of the Babalawos may not be in kind but in methodology, we shall examine an interesting philosophical point about predictions in general. Let us imagine that a scientist in the Western culture makes 100 predictions about some state of affairs over the years, and ninety of them came out true. Now, let us imagine that a Babalawo (or soothsayer), after consulting the Ifa oracle, makes 100 predictions about the same state of affairs over the same period, and ninety of this predictions also came true. Irrespective of which of these ninety predictions come out true from either side, and also irrespective of methodology, there arises an interesting philosophical question. Which of these two do we accept as the better prediction? Do we accept the scientist’s or the Babalawo’s as the better predictions or do we simply accept one set of predictions and ignore or reject the other when both sets of predictions are ninety percent successful? Do we dismiss one as mysterious or magical and so not worthy of serious attention? Any attempt to do this would be philosophically untenable, and could be dismissed as arising from mere prejudice cultural divergences [sic], different philosophical temperaments, and differences in the way individual cultures look at the world and solve their own problems. Perhaps the predictive power of Ifa divination might be acceptable to the Western world of empirical science if its methodological principles were clearly defined and theories on which its predictions are based are well explained in textbooks. In the absence of this, Ifa divination may appear as superstition, but a superstition which, nonetheless, often turns out to work quite effectively like a non-superstitious science. After all, there are varieties of reasons for accepting or rejecting theories—even scientific theories.[41]
It is a happy thing to note that the World Health Organization has come to recognize the value of traditional medicine and practice in Africa. Given the escalating cost of medical care in the developed countries of the world and its infiltration to Africa and other less developed countries such as India and China, there now exist an awareness of the urgent need to develop systems of traditional medicine and medical practice as a way of bringing medical services nearer to the majority of people in the rural areas where most people rely on traditional healing. But … some Western-trained doctors appear to have stood against the encouragement and development of traditional medicine for reasons best known to them. Neither do African governments show any seriousness of purpose in their often proclaimed desire to develop indigenous system of institutions as done in India and China.[42] Perhaps the greatest problem of Africa is seen in the attitude of her philosophers and medical doctors, as well as those in the other intellectual disciplines, are that of language. To this important issue I will address myself latter on, particularly to the relation between language and culture and the influence of both philosophy and modern science. The purpose of such discussion will be to show how the adoption of foreign languages has affected African cultural system. Such adoption has also led to a general feeling of inferiority in many intellectual endeavors since philosophers, medical doctors, scientists, and intellectuals from other disciplines are forced by language to depict their concept of reality in the language of foreign cultures as opposed to their own cultures. This I take to be one of the most important causes of skepticism against African philosophy and traditional medicine by some contemporary African philosophers and medical doctors trained essentially Western philosophical and medical traditions.[43]
One innovation in the present work is the introduction of some historical phases in study of African philosophy. Although it has been argued by some scholars that Greek philosophy was influenced by African thought, the only great figure known in African philosophy is St. Augustine(354-430 A.D.) whose philosophical writings are well known.[44] A history of African philosophy could then be traced to Pythagoras’s contact with Egypt around 570 B.C., although nothing was written by Africans from that time until St. Augustine. From all indications, nothing much was recorded on African philosophy before and after Christ. The situation was no better during the Middle Ages. Not even was much known in writing about African philosophy far beyond the Middle Ages. The first phase, therefore, was very uneventful, and absence of great figures to be identified with their philosophical works, as was the case in the history of Western philosophy, actually led to some of the problems concerning African philosophy today.[45]
It was not until the first half of the twentieth century that some colonial scholars, mainly Christian missionaries, anthropologists, ethnographers came on the scene. Apart from their claim that African philosophy represent the group or collective thought of a people, having taken the Western standard to judge the African system of thought, most of them came out with the conclusion that African cultures and traditional thoughts were pre-scientific and pre-logical, using the term “pre-logical” to describe a kind of thought that is not free from inner contradiction. Others think that Africans live in a religious universe, so that all the activities and thoughts of the Africans can be expressed and understood from the point of view of religion. These, of course, include philosophical and scientific activities. With the emergence of Western-trained philosophers in Africa, the views of the colonial and post colonial-scholars were subjected to criticism, especially their conceptions of African philosophy as a group philosophy. This conception, which was subjected, has been described by African contemporary philosophers as ethnophilosophy.[46]
Ifa is said to know the diseases in the world, the times by which they are called, and the power (ase) of each of these diseases. The treatment of is the application of what the disease is forbidden to take, at whose sight the disease must disappear. Thus Ifa is regarded among the Yoruba as the path-finder (atoka) of medicine and healing, and the source of our knowledge of herbal and metaphysical medicine (divination and oral incantations), the kind usually referred to in the West as magical science.[47]
Osanyin, the father of traditional healers (onisegun) was Ifa’s slave to whom he taught herbalism (egbogi), the use of natural herbs, leaves, and roots for medicinal purposes. The totality of traditional or native medicine in Yoruba-land is Ifa divination, oral incantations, and herbal medicine. While traditional healers specialize in either of these aspects of medicine as Ifa priest/babalawo (diviner) or onisegun (herbalist), some combine both. Since Ifa knows the nature of all illness and diseases, and the medicinal plants or animal substances that could bring complete cure, a medical herbalist (onisegun) may still consult Ifa in order to get the appropriate remedy. He does this by learning Ifa or by consulting with an Ifa priest (babalawo) whose specialty is Ifa divination. An Ifa priest may also acquire a knowledge herbal medicine if he has a flare for it. However, a combination of knowledge of Ifa and herbal medicine does help a traditional healer in effecting complete and permanent cure of some illness, whether organic or functional including those beyond the competence of modern physicians.[48]
What is meant by knowledge of medicine and good medical practice in the Yoruba traditional setting is to know the root of diseases or illness (gbongbo orun) as well as the most effective remedies by the use particular herbs, leaves, roots, and animal substances as they are revealed to Osanyin by Ifa. Herbalism may thus be combined with Ifa divination and oral incantations. Hence whenever a patient is give an effective treatment to such extent that the illness never recurs (such as mental disorder or malignant disease) the Yoruba say that the patient has been treated from the very root of the illness or disease (wa egbo daku fun alaisan or wa arun t’egbo t’egbo)[49] .
One remarkable feature in Yoruba traditional medicine is the healer’s peculiar understanding of the nature of things, and understanding derived from orunmila’s knowledge the names and nature of things. Thus, while traditional healer, a medical herbalist, knows the correct medical plant needed to treat headache, and prepares the drug either in the form of a potion or powder, he could go further to make his treatment more effective by consulting with Ifa. The Ifa priest using his knowledge of names and nature of things gained form Ifa, may make a symbol of treatment on iyerosun, a light, yellowish, powdered substance extracted form irosun tree, call the headache by its original name, disclose its nature and secret and where it got its power to trouble human beings. The power of the babalawo or onisegun derives from his understanding of the nature and secret of headaches. Considering the headache as an example, Ifa knows its weakness and the things which, when given to the patient, kill the headache. The complete cure of headache is therefore the application of what it is forbidden to take (usually in the form of medicine) cause the headache to vanish from the affected person. In other circumstances the headache may not respond to treatment if it is handled by a quack traditional healer who has no knowledge of the secret or power of headache and the appropriate medicine for its treatment. The same pattern of knowledge of the nature and secrets of things is used by all good reputable traditional healers, the babalawo (diviners) and onisegun (herbalist) or diviner-herbalist who are well trained in their fields.[50]
The ancestors are also involved in the practice of medicine. They are believed to send cures to their relatives suffering from serious illnesses, and it is common to hear a mourner at a funeral asking the dead person to send a cure for his or her ailment, or asking him to convey the request to some other ancestor to send medicine. The early ancestors who practiced or taught medicine are often called upon; this is done not only to honour them but also to invoke their blessings and guidance, especially on the herbalist or doctor administering the medicine. “Thus, in Ile-Ife, the sacred city of the Yoruba” writes E.B. Idowu, “Elesije, the first doctor and ancestral genius of medicine, is always invoked.”[51] Such invocations are believed to make the medicines more efficacious. [52]
Besides the deities and ancestors there are some other supernatural agents which are closely connected with the practice of medicine. Among the Akan of Ghana, one often hears that a herbalist was taught medicine by the Mmoatia or dwarfs who took him to their camp and imparted some special knowledge to him. The spirits of nature are another group of supernatural agents whose assistance is sought in the practice of medicine. A herbalist usually performs a ritual to the spirit of the tree before he plucks a leaf or scrapes the bark for his medicine[53]
Although the practice of medicine is of religious nature, there is also scientific aspect to it. A vast knowledge of plants and roots and their medicinal properties has been acquired through close observation of nature and practical experience. Some medicines were discovered by watching animals treat each other with certain herbs or plants. One of the most potent ant-snakebite medicines in Ghana was obtained by a hunter who watched two snakes fight till the stronger overpowered the weaker and then pluck a leaf and put it into the other’s mouth to revive it. The hunter took some of the leaves home and began to use it in treating snakebite. Observation of pregnant goats about to deliver their kids showed that they chewed the bark of atoa tree. It was found that the bark had the property of checking bleeding after delivery, and this medicine is used by some herbalists to stop excessive bleeding after childbirth.[54]
Nevertheless, the spiritual or metaphysical dimension of medicine is important, for it gives rise to the performance of rituals which are believed to aid treatment and healing. Idowu describes it in these words: “The point in the ritual is simply that unconsecrated medicine has no meaning for Africans. That is why divine ancestral sanctions are considered necessary before and during the preparation and application of medicine. This is also the reason why, in cases of serious ailments European medicine without augmentation with traditional remedy appears to Africans by and large as inadequate. It is a common knowledge that relatives of patients who are admitted to hospital ‘smuggle’ in for them medicine obtained from traditional doctors. And it not only frequently happens that African doctors trained in the European methods advise relatives of patients in hospital, ‘This is not a case for this place, or, ‘This case, as I see it, cannot be treated successfully in this hospital: why don’t you take the patient home and try “the native way”. This they say either because they genuinely believe in the efficacy of “the native way” for certain forms of sickness, or because they believe that the patient would respond psychologically more easily to “the native way” and so assist his own recovery. Everywhere and anywhere in the world, one cannot ignore the fact of faith in the practice and application of medicine”[55]
Thus, whatever explanation may be given to illness and whatever treatment may be applied, the important factor surrounding it all is the sharing of common beliefs and attitudes which engenders faith in the patient and makes the practitioner effective in his practice. The crucial fact about traditional medicine is that it is not “queer collection of superstitions and errors,” but that which deals with the whole man, in both his physical and spiritual dimensions[56]
There are clear indications now that knowledge is highly valued in traditional African societies for its practical results and implications for life. There is an Ewe maxim that says: “The freedom that comes from ignorance enslaves the one who entertains it.”[57] This means that knowledge is freedom or, put differently, that true freedom comes knowledge. Given the importance of the freedom of thought, it is understandable why knowledge, as a source of freedom, is highly valued.[58] In traditional African societies observation or experience is regarded as the primary source of knowledge. According to a Swahili maxim: “Experience is the mother of knowledge” and an Akan maxim: “all things depend upon experience”[59]
The Ewe name for knowledge is nunya—literary, “thing observed”. In African thought, this type of knowledge—experience-based or empirical knowledge—is the most highly valued because of its relevance to life situations or human problems. Knowledge based on experience….is essential and therefore highly valued in the agricultural economy the traditional African societies. So too is the knowledge of the medicinal properties of herbs and other plants, in a society that depends on these natural sources of healing. [60]
There is little evidence, however, that the African emphasis on the empirical outlook on knowledge led to any profound and extensive interest in the theoretical science. The African people have always been acute observers of the workings of nature. Through their observations they may well have collected a store of interesting facts about the natural world, but those observed facts were generally not given any elaborate theoretical explanations, for Africans’ interest is in the practical knowledge that they might use for their own benefit. Thus, their observations never seem to have led to the creation of scientific outlook or a deeper understanding of nature.[61]
Science begins in sustained observations into natural phenomena followed by attempts to provide causal explanations for those phenomena. Understanding causality is crucial to the pursuit of science. Causality in African traditional culture, however, has been understood in terms of supernatural or mystical power, that is, power that originates with supernatural agents. Because Africans have resorted too quickly to supernatural causality, they have ignored or belittled the possibility that there are natural, observable causes of phenomena or events. Thus, science has been mixed with religion, so that what could have become scientific knowledge open to everyone, became a sort of secret knowledge, specialized knowledge, open only to priests, spiritual healers, and others who are traditionally acknowledge as the custodians of the secret and truths of nature.[62] The pursuit of theoretical knowledge of the natural world- what science is about- seems to presuppose an intense desire for knowledge for its own sake, not for the sake of any immediate particular result. It appears that our African cultures have had little interest in knowledge for its own sake; they appear rather to have been concerned substantially about knowledge that has immediate practical application or relevance.[63]
Paranormal or extrasensory cognition is another mode of knowing recognized in African cultures. In African communities it is commonly believed that some individuals are born with extrasensory abilities with which they can communicate with the supernatural beings or acquire knowledge in ways different from normal. This type of knowledge is not acquired through experience and observation; nor is it acquired through the pure activity of the human mind. It is acquired, instead, through such psychical activities as divination and spirit mediumship. This type knowledge can only be subjectively experienced, because it results from the communicative activities between two minds (spirits) or between a mind and a future event.[64]
Diviners and mediums are popular in African communities, and people assiduously seek knowledge from them for their own personal well-being. Diviners to predict future events or acts either in the life of an individual or in that of a community; spirit mediums relate specific details about the past, present, or future of an individual. People in African communities are ever anxious to obtain information about the causes, nature, and treatment of disease, the possible outcome of marriage to a particular person, and, in general, all their important personal endeavors, their fortunes and life prospects. Thus, knowledge, whatever its source, is highly valued in African cultures for utilitarian or pragmatic reasons. [65]
Because knowledge is valued, the need to search for it is reflected in maxims such as : “Knowledge is like a garden; if it is not cultivated, it cannot be harvested.” The likening of knowledge to a garden is instructive. It means that to Africans knowledge is innate; we do not simply possess it at birth. Rather, just as cultivating a garden requires a great deal of effort, acquiring knowledge requires a great deal of effort. The individual must take an active role in the acquisition of knowledge. It means also that knowledge, like a garden, must be nurtured if it is to grow and reach a level at which it can be fully utilized. The maxim thus urges that our compendium of knowledge be improved and enhanced.[66]
Human knowledge is likened, in another maxim, to a tree with a huge trunk. “Knowledge is like a baobab tree; no one person can embrace it with both arms. The implication here is that human knowledge is limitless, in the sense that it grows continuously, and there is therefore always more knowledge to be acquired. The maxim shows us that in African traditional cultures acquiring knowledge is important, even though the scientific inquiries needed to form the basis of the improvement of human knowledge are not pursued in traditional cultures of Africa[67]
CONCLUSION
The most essential feature of philosophy, according to Waissmann, is vision. “From Plato to Moore, and Wittgenstein, every great philosopher was led by a sense of vision… Plato’s philosophy has all the profundity you can think of, but it is not open to refutation. Russell, one of the admirers of Plato, calls this philosophy of vision, in much the same way Waissmann does. African traditional thought also holds position quite similar to Plato’s of those mentioned above. While some African’s look up to experience as the main source of knowing, others look up to something other than experience; for example, insight; intuition, and the like. Yet others are imbued with downright skepticisms. In African thought some ways of knowing, like experience and intuition, correspond to those in Western philosophy. Many Africans hold a view similar to Epicurus, a Western philosopher, in which case these thinkers are not likely to believe in life after death. By and large, these kinds of thinkers are those who would put greater trust on the evidence of their sense than on some transcendental entities. Some on the other hand, do believe in the world of vision.[68]
To the Africans the world, like Plato’s empirical world, is a mere appearance or in Kant’s terminology, a phenomenal, as opposed to the noumenal, world. This may explain the fundamental relationship between an African and his belief in the life, the reverence for the Deity and his usually generous attitude to people. Surely some look at the world as a place to enjoy while believing that after death they return to dust or atoms. These people do not believe that soul is separated from the body, if there is a soul at all. Others conceive of the world as an appearance, a mere temporary domicile where one has to undergo or tolerate all the difficulties which are, to them, merely temporary.
Now, if this kind of African traditional thought is unphilosophical, so must be Plato’s. And if Plato’s thought is seen as a profoundly philosophical, surely the African thought is profoundly philosophical. Both exhibit some sort of visionary power which, in the words of Waismann, is the one single aspect and the most essential feature of philosophy. Our example from both Russell and Waismann on Plato seems to show that there is more to philosophy than empiricism or logical analysis of language.
I hope this piece is in a way convincing that “African Philosophy” is embed in the life lived by the African in his normal day to day life in his socio-cultural beliefs as well as in religion. If a philosopher is not influenced by any ulterior motif while evaluating the cultural beliefs of African cannot but ascribe philosophy to it.
[1] William P. Alston and Richard B. Brandt, Problems of Philosophy, Allyn and Bacon, 1967, Introduction.
[2] M. Akin Makinde, African Philosophy, Culture, and Traditional Medicine, Ohio University Center for International Studies, Monographs in a International Studies, African Series Number 53, Athens, Ohio 1988, p.23
[7] Friedrich Waismann, “How I See Philosophy”, in Ayer, Logical Positivism, p. 375. Quoted in M. Akin Makinde, African Philosophy, Culture, and Traditional Medicine, Ohio University Center for International Studies, Monographs in a International Studies, African Series Number 53, Athens, Ohio 1988
[10] John Gottlieb Fichte, quoted in Theodor Oizerman, Problem of the History of Philosophy, Robert Daglish (trans), Progressive Publishers, New York, 1973, p.225.
[11] M. Akin Makinde, Op. Cit. p.5
[12] M. Akin Makinde, “Formal logic and the Paradox of Excluded Middle”, International Logic Review, No.15, June 1977, pp.40-52.
[13] M. Akin Makinde, Op. Cit., p.6
[14] Huard, Western Medicine, pp.211-212, quoted in M. Akin Makinde, African Philosophy, Culture, and Traditional Medicine, Ohio University Center for International Studies, Monographs in a International Studies, African Series Number 53, Athens, Ohio 1988, p.87.
[15] Huard, Western Medicine, p.113, Ibid.
[17] Huard, Western Medicine, p.213-215, quoted in M. Akin Makinde, African Philosophy, Culture, and Traditional Medicine, Ohio University Center for International Studies, Monographs in a International Studies, African Series Number 53, Athens, Ohio 1988,
[18] Abimbola, La Notion, p.77.
[20] Kofi Asare Opoku, West African Traditional Religion, FEP International Private Limited, Accra, 1978, p.148-149
[21] Ibod, p.149.
[22] Ibid.
[23]M. Akin Makinde, Culture and Philosophical Dimensions of Neuro-Medical Sciences, a paper delivered at the 1982 Joint Conference of Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria, the African Psychiatric Association and the World Federation for Mental Health, held at the University of Ife, 20-23 September 1982. Published in Nigeria Journal of Psychiatry, September 1987, pp85-100
[24] Abimbola, Ifa as a Body of Knowledge and as a Academic Discipline, in Legos Notes and Records, pp.30-34.
[25] Adewale Thompson, African Beliefs: Science of Superstition?,pp.267-268, quoted in M. Akin Makinde, African Philosophy, Culture, and Traditional Medicine, Ohio University Center for International Studies, Monographs in a International Studies, African Series Number 53, Athens, Ohio 1988.
[26] Bombastus Paracelsus, astrologer, alchemist and miracle worker, treats in detail the concept of “magus” under his discussion on the “Fundamentals of Magic Medicine,” in his book Sagacious Philosophy (Philosophia Sagax) as discussed in H.M. Patcher, Paracelsus: Magic into Science, pp.78ff
[27] M. Akin Makinde, African Philosophy, Culture, and Traditional Medicine, Op. Cit. p88
[28] M. Akin Makinde: “A philosophical Analysis of the Yoruba Concept of Ori and Human Destiny,” International Studies in Philosophy, Vol. XVII, No.1, 1985, pp53-69.
[29] M. Akin Makinde, “Ifa as a Repository of Knowledge,” a paper presented at the XVIIth World Congress of Philosophy Montreal, August 21-27,1983. Also in ODU: A Journal of West African Studies, No.23, 1983, pp.116-121.
[30] M. Akin Makinde, African Philosophy, Culture, and Traditional Medicine, Ohio University Center for International Studies, Monographs in a International Studies, African Series Number 53, Athens, Ohio 1988, p.6ss
[31] Plato, The Republic, translated by Paul Shorey in Plato’s Collected Dialogues, edited by Edith Hamilton and H. Cairns, New York: Bollingen Foundation, 1964.
[36] Pierre Simon Laplace, Introduction to his Theory of Probability, translated from the first French edition (1812) under the title Theorie Analytique des Probabilities. Laplace’s Omniscient Intelligence is often quoted by philosophers of science. A popular exposition is contained in Laplace’s later work, Essaai Philosophique (1814) which has been published in English under the title A Philosophical Essay on Probabilities, New York, Dover Publications, 1952
[37] H. M. Patcher, Paracelsus: Magic into Science, New York, Collier Books, 1961,pp.78ff. From Paracelsus’ discussion it appears that the Scientist is “magus” and vice-versa. Bombastus Paracelsus was a famous astrologer, alchemist and miracle worker. The notion of “Sagacious Philosophy” has since been widely used, to describe some aspects of African Philosophy. See H. Odera Oruka, “Sagacity in African Philosophy”, International Philosophical Quarterly, December 1983, and P. O. Bodunrin, The Question of African Philosophy,” Philosophy, Vol. 56, 1981,pp.161-78.
[38] M. William Stanley Jevons, The Principle of Science: A Treatise on Logic and Scientific Method, New York, Dover, 1958, p.197
[45]M. Akin Makinde, African Philosophy, Culture, and Traditional Medicine, Op. Cit, p11.
[46] Paulin Hountondji, African Philosophy: Myth and Reality, Bloomington University Press, 1983, p.30
[47] M. Akin Makinde, Op. Cit., p.88
[48] Ibid., p.88-89
[50] Ibid.
[51] E.B. Idowu, African Traditional Religion: A Definition, SCM, London, 1973, p.200
[52] Kofi Asare Opoku, West African Traditional Religion, FEP International Private Limited, Accra, 1978, p.149-150
[53] Ibid., p.150
[54] Ibid.
[55] E.B. Idowu, Op. Cit., p.201
[56] Kofi Asare Opoku,Op.Cit. p.151
[57] Kwame Gyekye, African Cultural Values: An Introduction, Sankofa Publication Company, Accra, Ghana, 1996, p.137.
[58] Ibid.
[59] Ibid, p.138.
[60] Ibid.
[61] Ibid.
[62] Ibid, p, 138-139
[63] Ibid, p.139
[64] Ibid, p. 139-140
[65] Ibid, p. 140
[66] Ibid.
[67] Ibid.
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_____________, African Philosophy, Culture, and Traditional Medicine, Ohio University Center for International Studies, Monographs in a International Studies, African Series Number 53, Athens, Ohio 1988, p.23
_____________ Culture and Philosophical Dimensions of Neuro-Medical Sciences, in Nigeria Journal of Psychiatry, September 1987
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Patcher, H. M., Paracelsus: Magic into Science, New York, Collier Books, 1961,
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