Problems in the Further Implementation of Sage Philosophy :: Philosophical Africa Essays

Problems in the Further Implementation of Sage Philosophy ABSTRACT: With the recent death of Prof. H. Odera Oruka, founder of the ‘sage philosophy’ school of research based at the University of Nairobi, there is a need to look at some now-problematic issues. I suggest that the original impetus for starting the sage philosophy project-the defense against Euro-American skeptics who thought Africans incapable of philosophizing-has been outgrown. The present need for studies of African sages is to benefit from their wisdom, both in Africa and around the world. I also suggest that the title ‘sage’ has to be problematized. While there were good reasons to focus earlier on rural elders as overlooked wise philosophers, the emphasis now should be on admiring philosophical thought wherever it may be found—in women, youth, and urban Africans as well. In such a way, philosophy will be further relevant to people’s lives, and further light will be shed and shared regarding the lived experience in Africa. Odera Oruka’s Own Criticism of Sage Philosophy Despite his pride in launching what many consider an important project in African philosophy, the writings of Odera Oruka himself express some doubts about the project. For example, in his essay "Philosophy in East Africa and the Future of Philosophical Research in Africa," he seems to refer to his own project as one of passing historical significance. There, after criticizing Tempels and other ethnophilosophers, he admits that he himself "indulge(s) in some kind of anthropological-cum-philosophical research." He said projects like his own sage philosophy and Sumner's researches into historical texts of Ethiopian philosophy were necessary at that historical point, but would soon give way to nationalist-ideological and professional-technical philosophy, trends he saw as more central to the future of African philosophy. In "Sage Philosophy Revisited," he states that "sage philosophy started as a reaction to a position which Europeans had adopted about Africa that Africans are not capab le of philosophy." So, does this imply that once Europeans change their perceptions of Africans, there will no longer be a need for professional philosophers to search out the ideas of wise rural sages? Even in this late essay, Odera Oruka continues to suggest that his work merely serves as a "base" for other forms of philosophy which will emerge in the future, but which he can't imagine right now. By "base" he seems to mean a collection of texts to which professional academic philosophers can turn, instead of always consulting European ones [Odera Oruka (1996, Ch.