African Philosophy in Ethiopia
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Cultural Heritage and Contemporary Change Series II. Africa, Volume 15 General Editor George F. McLean African Philosophy in Ethiopia Ethiopian Philosophical Studies II with A Memorial of Claude Sumner Edited by Bekele Gutema Charles C. Verharen The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy Copyright © 2013 by The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy Box 261 Cardinal Station Washington, D.C. 20064 All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Philosophy in Ethiopia: African philosophy today, I : Ethiopian philosophical studies II / edited by Bekele Gutema, Charles C. Verharen Pages cm. -- (Cultural heritage and contemporary change. Series II, Africa ; volume 15) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Philosophy--Ethiopia. 2. Philosophy, African. 3. Education, Higher-- Ethiopia--Philosophy. 4. Education, Higher--Africa. 5. Philosophy--Study and teaching--Ethiopia. 6. Oromo (African people)--Religion. I. Bekele Gutema. II. Verharen, Charles C., 1941- ISBN 978-1-56518-279-0 (pbk.) B5407.P45 2012 2012035323 199’.63--dc23 CIP [Philosophy in Africa Now: African Philosophy in Ethiopia ISBN 978-1-4675-3157-3 First published in 2012 Copyright© 2012 All rights reserved Philosophy in Africa Now: African Philosophy in Ethiopia Addis Ababa: Addis Ababa University Philosophical Studies All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher. ] TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements v Foreword: In Memory: The Significance of Claude Sumner SJ’s vii Contribution to Africa Philosophy Gail M. Presbey and George F. McLean Introduction 1 Bekele Gutema and Charles C. Verharen Section I: Philosophy of University Education in Ethiopia Chapter I. Philosophy and the Future of African Universities: 9 Ethics and Imagination Charles C. Verharen Chapter II. Some Thoughts on the African University 17 Bekele Gutema Chapter III. The Challenge and Responsibility of Universal 29 Otherness in African Philosophy Daniel Smith (†) Section II: Philosophy and Culture Chapter IV. Harnessing Myth to Rationality 37 Messay Kebede Chapter V. The Riddles of Number Nine among 53 the Guji- Oromo Culture Taddesse Berisso Chapter VI. Sage Philosophy, Rationality and Science: 69 The Case of Ethiopia Charles C. Verharen Section III: Political Philosophy Chatpter VII. The Spirit of Rousseau and Boorana Political 95 Traditions: An Exercise in Understanding Taddesse Lencho iv Table of Contents Section IV: Philosophy and Religion Chapter VIII. Encounter of Oromo with Evangelical Christianity: 117 A Look at the Meaning of Conversion Ezekiel Gebissa Section V: Philosophy and Women Chapter IX. Should Women Love Wisdom? Evaluating 139 the Ethiopian Wisdom Tradition Gail M. Presbey Section VI: Sage Philosophy Chapter X. The Concept of Peace in the Oromo Gadaa System: 159 Its Mechanisms and Moral Dimension Tenna Dewo Chapter XI. Comparing Oromo and Ancient Egyptian Philosophy 185 Charles C. Verharen Chapter XII. Moral economy: An Original Economic Form 203 for the African Condition Teodros Kiros List of Contributors 211 Index 213 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The idea of publishing this volume was conceived when Dr. Bekele Gutema of the Department of Philosophy of Addis Ababa University and Professor Charles C. Verharen of Howard University organized a Conference here in Addis Ababa. The Conference took place on June 23, 2010 at the German Cultural Institute (Goethe-Institut). This volume includes the conference papers as well as other papers selected for their expression of current thinking in Ethiopian philosophy. We would like to thank the following copyright owners for permission to publish the materials. The Journal of Oromo Studies gave us permission to republish Charles Verharen’s “Comparing Oromo and Egyptian Philosophy” and Tenna Dewo’s “The Concept of Peace in the Oromo Gadaa System: Its Mechanisms and Moral Dimension”. The Journal of Ethiopian Studies gave us permission to reprint Tadesse Berisso’s “The Riddles of the Number Nine in Guji –Oromo Culture.” Rodopi allowed us to re-print Messay Kebede’s “Harnessing Myth to Rationality” from his book, Africa’s Quest for a Philosophy of Decolonization. We were also given permission to reprint Gail Presbey’s article titled, “Should Women Love Wisdom: Evaluating the Ethiopian Wisdom Tradition” by the Indiana University Press from its journal, Research in African Literature (Summer 1999: 30, 2). Finally Taylor and Francis allowed us to reprint Teodros Kiros’ article, “Moral Economy: an Original Condition for the African Condition” that appeared in Volume 27: 3 of Socialism and Democracy. We are grateful to all the copyright owners for allowing us to reproduce these articles. We would also like to thank our anonymous reviewers for reviewing all essays not previously reviewed by journal or academic press referees. We wish to thank Howard University for providing funds for the Conference and publication of the volume. We also thank the Department of Philosophy, Addis Ababa University for assistance in organizing the Conference. The German Cultural Institute provided us with the venue of the Conference for which we are grateful. Dr. Mamo Hebo of the Department of Social Anthropology, Addis Ababa University did invaluable work in editing and laying out the book, for which he deserves our sincere thanks. We have not been able to name everybody that had a role in this book. We would like to thank all who have cooperated with us in preparing this book for publication one way or the other. The responsibility for the mistakes lies with us, the editors. Finally, we are honored to dedicate this volume of Ethiopian Philosophical Studies to the late Professor Claude Sumner, S.J. and his life of dedication to African philosophy in Ethiopia. FOREWORD IN MEMORY THE SIGNIFICANCE OF CLAUDE SUMNER SJ’s CONTRIBUTION TO AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY GAIL M. PRESBEY and GEORGE F. McLEAN On 24 June of this year (2012), Professor Claude Sumner S.J., prolific author and scholar of Ethiopian philosophy, folk-tales, proverbs and songs, who taught at Addis Ababa University for almost fifty years, died at age 92 after several years of convalescing at the Maison des Jésuités in Saint- Jérôme, and later at Richelieu in Montreal, Québec. He had been a Jesuit for 72 years, belonging to the Eastern Africa Province. He was buried on 30 June after a funeral mass at the Chapel of Notre Dame de Richelieu. Given the extent of his contribution to African philosophy and African Studies in general, I would like to review his achievements and contributions. Professor Sumner was born on 10 July 1919 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. In the 1930s he attended the Jesuit institution, Le College Saint-Boniface in Manitoba. He graduated 1939 with his B.A. from Manitoba University. He went on to collect many degrees: in 1945, an L.Ph., Le Facultes de Theologie et de Philosophie, Montreal; in 1949, an M.A. in English Literature, University of Montreal; in 1952, an L.Th., Les Facultes de Theologie et de Philosophie, Montreal; and in 1952 a Ph.D, in Linguistics, University of Montreal. In the midst of these studies he taught as a Lecturer in English Literature at Brebeuf College, University of Montreal, from 1945-48. Once he completed his Ph.D., he went to Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia in 1953, where he remained for the rest of his career, retiring in 2001. He was a devoted and hard-working scholar. A short biography written about him and published in 2002 listed him as having published at the time 33 books and 184 articles. One of his earliest books, published first in Montreal in 1951, with a second edition in Addis Ababa in 1957, was a linguistic study called Étude expérimentale de l’Amharique Modern / Experimental Study of Modern Amharic (after the pronounciation of Abraha Francis). Other books in French include Sagesse éthiopienne / Ethiopian Wisdom, with Editions Recherches sur les Civilisation, Paris, 1983, as well as Aux sources ethiopiennes de la philosophie africaine : la philosophie de l’homme (Kinshasa, Faculté de théologie catholique, 1988). The latter book was also published in English in Stuttgart by F. Steiner Verlag Wiesbaden, 1986. Not only did he publish in linguistics and philosophy, but he also viii Gail M. Presbey and George F. McLean published his own poetry as well as theological reflections, in French, with publishers from Montreal. He also helped to spread Ethiopian literature across the African continent, with a book of plays, La couleur de mon chant : quatre drames éthiopiens, Petros, Le revê du roi, Le silence des cordes, Oda/ The color of my song, four Ethiopian dramas, Petros, The Dream of the King, The Silence of the strings, Oda being published in Yaoundé, Cameroon, in 1977. His collection Classical Ethiopian Philosophy (published by Adey in California in 1994, with a five volume set published by Commercial Printing Press in Addis Ababa), filled as it was with texts originally in Ge’ez, translated into English, debunked the stereotypes of Africa as a land without a history of written philosophical texts. Sumner’s argument was that these neglected texts had not been appreciated for their philosophical content as well as their originality. These books were his most highly cited works. Imagine the excitement in the world of African Studies, when these texts became available due to Professor Sumner’s translations, commentaries and publications. Professor H. Odera Oruka of the University of Nairobi wrote an article entitled “Claude Sumner as an African Philosopher” which highlighted Sumner’s many contributions to the field (1997, pp. 155-63). Odera Oruka explained that he first met Professor Sumner at a meeting of the World Congress of Philosophy in Bulgaria in 1973, and was much impressed. Odera Oruka highlights the important conference Professor Sumner hosted in Addis Ababa in 1976, with twenty- five of the leading figures in the field including Paulin Hountondji, Cheikh Anta Diop, Ali Mazrui and E.A.