“We see, then, that by the fourth century before the Christian era, the Egyptians of pharaonic antiquity had given felicitous and refined thought to the primordial, quintessentially philosophical question: What is? Why Nwn rather than nothing? What are we to think of absolute being? These are questions at the very heart of philosophical reflection.” “It is clear, then, that philosophy, properly defined, was practiced in ancient Egypt. Texts like the above provide sufficient proof. If some commentators have misconstrued all significant Egyptians texts as religious documents, left to posterity by authors intent on explicating their religion, that is the commentators’ mistake. The fashion of discussing ancient Egypt only in terms of religion, never in terms of philosophy, is an aberration due entirely to the biases of past readers of Egyptian texts. African Egyptologists have a duty to combat this generalized tendency. The evidence indicates it is the result of prejudiced assumptions, no less dangerous for being implicit. The fact is that the ancient Egyptians reflected on being, life, death, etc. Let us no longer categorize their important writings narrowly as merely ‘sacred’ or ‘religious.’ Let us, henceforth, be sufficiently open-minded to understand these works differently.” “The type of highly abstract thinking produced by ancient Egyptian philosophers is not specific to the Nile valley. It is also found in the African interior. It is a prodigious body of thought. Today it survives in black Africa only in secret societies, which are veritable philosophical discussion groups for highly qualified initiates.” “What Is, according to the pharaonic text, comes into being on its own, suddenly, and from then on exists as such. What Is is the First to exist, the Elder older than the Ancient Gods, and accomplishes all it wishes to do, being alone. All subsequent modes of existence, in their varied forms, derive from What Is.” “This prodigious concept appears, word for word, in a philosophical initiatory text recorded among the Luba of Congo:” Theophile Obenga “African Philosophy: The Pharaonic Period: 2780-330BC” Page 69
Posted on: Wed, 10 Dec 2014 02:13:43 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015