Bacon and Descartes Epistemology and African Epistemic thought System E-Book

Maduka Enyimba

• Herausgeber: BookRix
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Beschreibung

There is a need for African Scholars to concentrate their efforts and thoughts in doing African philosophy by propagating and projecting the various shades of African thought. We believe that attention ought to be shifted from emphasizing western philosophy to emphasizing African philosophy both in teaching and in writing. This is because the existence of African philosophy is no longer a thing of question.  It is an established fact.

At most, what should be done is, at every given time any western philosopher and his/her ideas are being taught or discussed with the students or among professional philosophers effort should be geared towards showing its relevance to, significance for, or implication for African thought and vise versa. By so doing we believe that we will be moving away gradually and systematically from the crisis of relevance which faces Africans in almost every sphere of life, especially in the academics, to a situation of relevance and self-discovery. This will also foster considerably the contemporary movement towards decolonizing African thought.

It is in keeping with this that this concise book "Bacon and Descartes Epistemology and African Epistemic Thought System" came into being. It is an exercise in comparative philosophy as it compares Bacon and Descartes' Epistemological postulations and that of the Africans in order to see where there is a confluence (similarity) and where there is a disparity (difference) and of course the significance of Bacon and Descartes Epistemology in African thought.

There is a need for African Scholars to concentrate their efforts and thoughts in doing African philosophy by propagating and projecting the various shades of African thought. We believe that attention ought to be shifted from emphasizing western philosophy to emphasizing African philosophy both in teaching and in writing. This is because the existence of African philosophy is no longer a thing of question.  It is an established fact.

At most, what should be done is, at every given time any western philosopher and his/her ideas are being taught or discussed with the students or among professional philosophers effort should be geared towards showing its relevance to, significance for, or implication for African thought and vise versa. By so doing we believe that we will be moving away gradually and systematically from the crisis of relevance which faces Africans in almost every sphere of life, especially in the academics, to a situation of relevance and self-discovery. This will also foster considerably the contemporary movement towards decolonizing African thought.

It is in keeping with this that this concise book "Bacon and Descartes Epistemology and African Epistemic Thought System" came into being. It is an exercise in comparative philosophy as it compares Bacon and Descartes' Epistemological postulations and that of the Africans in order to see where there is a confluence (similarity) and where there is a disparity (difference) and of course the significance of Bacon and Descartes Epistemology in African thought.

Leseprobe

Maduka Enyimba

Bacon and Descartes Epistemology and African Epistemic thought System

DEDICATION To All my tutors and mentors for their impartations and influences To Al my associates and contemporaries for their critical comments And To All my students past and present for their inspiring questions and interactions BookRix GmbH & Co. KG81371 Munich

CHAPTER 0NE: INTRODUCTION

There is a need for African Scholars to concentrate their efforts and thoughts in doing African philosophy by propagating and projecting the various shades of African thought. We believe that attention ought to be shifted from emphasizing western philosophy to emphasizing African philosophy both in teaching and in writing. This is because the existence of African philosophy is no longer a thing of question.  It is an established fact.

At most, what should be done is, at every given time any western philosopher and his/her ideas are being taught or discussed with the students or among professional philosophers effort should be geared towards showing its relevance to, significance for, or implication for African thought and vise versa. By so doing we believe that we will be moving away gradually and systematically from the crisis of relevance that faces Africans in almost every sphere of life, especially in academics, to a situation of relevance and self-discovery. This will also foster considerably the contemporary movement towards decolonizing African thought.

It is in keeping with this that this concise book "Bacon and Descartes Epistemology and African Epistemic Thought System" came into being. It is an exercise in comparative philosophy as it compares Bacon and Descartes' Epistemological postulations and that of the Africans in order to see where there is a confluence (similarity) and where there is a disparity (difference) and of course the significance of Bacon and Descartes Epistemology in African thought.

It is shown that Fortes and Dieterlen, were correct to have stated that the mental processes of the Africans are not different from ours" (39). However, it was discovered and shown that there is a sense in which the African mode of knowing differs from the western model of knowing and hence peculiar in itself (from it). For instance, in western epistemology, we have compartmentalized schools of thought such as empiricism and rationalism among others, which hold sense experience and reason as the only source of genuine knowledge respectively. But in the African mode of knowing, the Africans combine sense experience, reason, and all other relevant criteria including the self into the knowing process. This is a holistic epistemic situation.

Thus, this work will serve as a veritable handbook for students and instructors in African studies generally and particularly in epistemology, African epistemology, comparative African philosophy, and modern philosophy.

One of the issues which have generated great controversy in the modern period of philosophy is the question of whom among Francis Bacon and Rene Descartes should best be described as the father of modern philosophy. We are concerned here with the epistemological thoughts of Francis Bacon and Rene Descartes in relation to the renaissance period and their relevance to the African Mode of Knowing. While Bacon proceeds empirically and experimentally using induction, Descartes proceeds rationally through intuition using logico-mathematical deduction.

It should be noted, however, that the two philosophers set out to reformulate or rather lay a new foundation for philosophy generally and epistemology in particular. They were also believed to have been influenced by the renaissance period after the period of the church fathers. Hence, our attempt here has been to put in proper perspective the epistemological views of these philosophers, with the aim of showing how the renaissance era (period) influenced their thoughts, and ultimately the implications of these thoughts for African epistemology.

We are in agreement with Bacon in his rejection of enumerative induction and with Descartes in his methodic doubt. But we propose that induction (Empiricism) and deduction (rationalism) must complement each other since each on its own may not provide us with adequate knowledge. This is where the African epistemological l thought system becomes of relevance not only to Bacon and Descartes but to a large extend western epistemology. 

Thus, we proceed by first describing the general outlook of the renaissance period. Some of the questions we attempt to answer include; what is the renaissance period? What are the characteristics of the period and what is the place of Bacon and Descartes's epistemological ideas in this period?  The book is partitioned into five parts. A brief biography of Francis Bacon and Rene Descartes, and a conceptual clarification of the meaning of the term - African thought was undertaken in the first part of the book.

Part two focuses on Bacon's philosophy and the renaissance. Here we considered Bacon’s epistemology, his inductive method, and his postulations on idols of the mind. Part three looks at Descartes's philosophy and the renaissance. It discusses Descartes's epistemology, Proof of the existence of the self, proof of the existence of God, and the external world based on his methodic doubt.

The fourth part deals with Cartesian and Baconian Epistemology and the African Epistemological Thought system. Here, we examine the implications of Bacon's and Descartes' epistemological thoughts for African epistemic thought and of course the relevance of African epistemic thought for the west. Finally, in part five by way of conclusion and recommendation; we make a critique of Bacon's and Descartes’ epistemological postulations and attempt a reconciliation of the ideas of both scholars.

The Renaissance Period

Philosophy became submerged into religion to such an extent that there was virtually no difference between the two disciplines during the medieval period. This period which witnessed the influence and dominance of the scholastics (church fathers) in almost all the spheres of human endeavor used philosophy as a tool to justify the existence and doctrines of the church. Hence, "art, literature, politics and even science had the imprint of theology" (Ogah, 1).

However, between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, there was a decline and increase in the authorities of the church and science respectively. Thus, restoring philosophy to its pride of place and leaving religion as a matter of faith and not reason. This ushered in the renaissance period.

The renaissance era was said to have started with the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and the subsequent spread of Greek refugees all over Europe. It marked the period of transition of mankind from medieval to modem times.

The inventions of gunpowder and printing in the early renaissance period did away with feudalism which characterized the medieval period and opened the way to self-education. Individualism and self-esteem emerged while the feudal system collapsed. There was also improvement in ship technology and maps which enable Columbus, Vasco de Gama, and Hegelians to explore new areas thereby disseminating thoughts and critical spirit. "The renaissance was above all the age of compromise" (Randall, 1976) between science and philosophy.

During the period called the renaissance, spanning roughly the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries there was a revival of classical learning and many of the philosophies of antiquity once again became available. For instance according to Enoch Stumph:

Although the Middle Ages had known Plato through the new Platonism and especially Augustine. Plato was now being read for himself without particular reference to theology... (204).