Writing the history of philosophy in Africa: where to begin?

Abstract

Although the study of the history of European philosophy has a long tradition beginning with Plato's descriptions of the teachings of various thinkers in his dialogues, the study of the history of African philosophy, particularly that of sub-Saharan Africa, is a rather young discipline. The history of African philosophy offers a number of interesting challenges, such as the question of how the purely text-based European tradition is to deal with Africa's oral philosophical heritage. Furthermore, the question of where to start the history of world philosophy has to be interrogated seriously. Does the history of philosophy start in Egypt and thus pre-date ancient Greek philosophy? And if so, what is the importance of ancient Egyptian thought to philosophy in Africa? The article introduces three Egyptian manuscripts from the period of the Middle Kingdom: The Teachings of the Vizier Ptahhotep, The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant, and The Dialogue of a Man with His Soul. The discussion of the texts from a philosophical perspective is followed by a closer examination of some common objections to the existence of philosophy in ancient Egypt. The paper concludes by considering the importance of the question of the origin of philosophy for the concept of philosophy as such.