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A Critique of African Concepts of Knowledge Ovett Kodilinye Nwosimiri

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A Critique of African Concepts of Knowledge Ovett Kodilinye Nwosimiri SCHOOL OF RELIGION, PHILOSOPHY AND CLASSICS Epistemology in African Philosophy: A Critique of African Concepts of Knowledge Ovett Kodilinye Nwosimiri Submitted in Fulfillment of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the School of Religion, Philosophy and Classics. College of Humanities, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg Campus November 2019 Epistemology in African Philosophy: A Critique of African Concepts of Knowledge O K Nwosimiri Supervisor: Prof. Bernard Matolino Declaration I declare that 1. The research reported in this thesis, except where otherwise indicated, is my original research. 2. This thesis has not been submitted for any degree or examination at any other university. 3. This thesis does not contain other persons’ data, pictures, graphs or other information, unless specifically acknowledged as being sourced from other persons. 4. This thesis does not contain other persons' writing, unless specifically acknowledged as being sourced from other researchers. Where other written sources have been quoted, then: a. Their words have been re-written but the general information attributed to them has been referenced b. Where their exact words have been used, then their writing has been placed in italics and inside quotation marks, and referenced. 5. This thesis does not contain text, graphics or tables copied and pasted from the Internet, unless specifically acknowledged, and the source being detailed in the thesis and in the References sections. Ovett Kodilinye Nwosimiri (Student No.: 213574124) Signature Prof. Bernard Matolino (Supervisor) Signature iii DEDICATION To the memory of my dad and brother Chief Felix O Nwosimiri (Ogbuefi Omeokachie) And Victor Nwosimiri iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am especially grateful to God. I am grateful to my mum, Mary Nwosimiri, for her prayers. And to my brothers and sisters, Boniface, Agatha, Juliet, Leontina, Linda, Romeo, Jennifer, for your support, encouragement and generosity; and also, for being my inspiration and my reason for persevering from the beginning to the end. I am very thankful to my supervisor Prof. Bernard Matolino for his generosity and support during this time. Thank you for your professional guidance and constructive suggestions. I am very grateful to Nondalelo Majola for her support, generosity and encouragement during this time, and for letting me share bits of my ideas with you as well as my joys and frustrations; and also, for being my inspiration. I am also grateful to my little angel, Lia, for being my inspiration and my reason for persevering to the end. Special thanks to Dr Heidi Matisson, Dr Jacek Brzozowski and Dr. Beatrice Okyere-Manu for sharing with me your invaluable wealth of knowledge, input, experience and learning. To my friends Regis Wilson, Dr Anthony Oyowe, Anthony Odili, Dr Francis Sokfa, Julius Onuoha, James David, Gabi Darong, Pius Ushie and Mutshidzi Maraganedzha, I thank you all for letting me share my frustrations and joys with you as well as bits of my ideas. I also acknowledge many others whose names are not mentioned. Thank you. v Abstract The question of the existence of African epistemology cannot be addressed without the acknowledgement and acceptance of African philosophy. This is of paramount importance as African epistemology originates from the discourse of African philosophy. Didier N. Khaphagawani and Jeanette G. Malherbe explain that to affirm the existence of an African philosophy suggest the existence of an African epistemology. To them, African epistemology can be regarded as a subset of African philosophy. African epistemology, like African philosophy, deals with issues about Africa. African epistemology engages with the nature and concept of knowledge, and the limit of human knowledge. African epistemology includes the African conception of the nature of knowledge, the ways in which knowledge could be gained, the ways in which one can justify an epistemic claim or validate a knowledge claim, and the role that knowledge plays in human existence. The protagonists of African epistemology, like Placide Tempels, Léopold Sédar Senghor, Innocent C. Onyewuenyi, Christopher Anyanwu and others based their argument for a distinctive or unique African epistemology on the premise or proposition all races is gifted with a unique nature and ways of knowing things. Based on the above, one of the conclusions that can be drawn is that the protagonists of African epistemology believe that things like knowledge, language, religion, emotions, perception, and some other ideas make African epistemology distinct and unique. Given the above, it will be of interest to inquire if African epistemology is entirely distinct and unique. Thus, this dissertation is a critique of African epistemology. My aim in this dissertation is to argue that given our ‘common humanity’ (the ideas we share) and our interaction (languages) with each other irrespective of where we come from, African epistemology is not as distinct or unique as the protagonists of African epistemology claim. Keywords: Epistemology, African Epistemology, Unique African Epistemology, Knowledge and Justification, Common humanity, Divination, Internalism and Externalism. vi Table of Content Declaration ..................................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS............................................................................................................. v Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... vi Table of Content ............................................................................................................................ vii Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... x Chapter One .................................................................................................................................... 1 1. The Nature of African Epistemology ....................................................................................... 1 1.1. Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 1 1.2. Epistemology ..................................................................................................................... 3 1.3. Western Epistemology ...................................................................................................... 5 1.3.1. Ancient Philosophy ................................................................................................... 5 1.3.2. Modern Philosophy .................................................................................................. 7 1.3.3. Contemporary Epistemology ................................................................................. 12 1.3.3.1. The Justified True Belief and Gettier Problems ............................................ 12 1.3.3.2. Two Analysis of Knowledge ............................................................................ 18 1.4. African Epistemology ..................................................................................................... 21 1.4.1. The Nature of African Epistemology ..................................................................... 21 1.5. The Problem of African Epistemology ........................................................................... 28 1.6. Conclusion....................................................................................................................... 32 Chapter Two .................................................................................................................................. 33 2. Source of knowledge .............................................................................................................. 33 2.1. Introduction .................................................................................................................... 33 2.2. Forms of Knowledge in African Epistemology: Introduction ....................................... 34 2.2.1. Old Age Knowledge ................................................................................................ 34 2.2.2. Perceptual Knowledge ............................................................................................ 36 2.2.3. Common-sense knowledge ..................................................................................... 38 2.2.4. Mystical Knowledge ............................................................................................... 40 2.2.5. Wholistic or Holistic Knowledge ............................................................................ 43 2.3. The Challenge of a Unique Forms of Knowledge: My Contention ............................... 47 2.4. Conclusion....................................................................................................................... 55 Chapter Three ............................................................................................................................... 57 3. (Ifá) Divination as a Paranormal Cognition .......................................................................... 57 3.1. Introduction .................................................................................................................... 57 3.2. The idea of Divination: Nature ......................................................................................
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