Obenga, Theophile (2004). African Philosophy : The Pharaonic Period, 2780 – 330 BC. Publisher: PER ANKH. ISBN:2-911928-08-3
Day 1
Rough Transcript:
When the author writes about “African Philosophy”, he is referring to contemplation of topics such as truth as justice, social order, inner balance, the cosmos, and the ultimate destiny of humanity, that has taken place on the African continent over the course of the last 5000 years. Obenga mentions the different centers of thought on the continent over the millenia(Egypt, Carthage, Cyrene, Hippo, Timbuktu, Gao, Dejenne) but makes it clear that his focus is on the Pharonic period of ancient Egypt which he sees as a distinctly African culture, that makes its presence felt to this day in the culture and personality of the black African. He cites Flavius Josephus in emphasizing the impact that Ancient Egyptian thought had on Greek thinkers like Pherecydes, Pythogras, and Thales… especially in how they saw the cosmos and divine matters. He recommends a study of the different traditionally African cultures to gain a better understanding of Ancient Egypt and vice versa to gain an understanding of the origin of these cultures.
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Day 2
Transcript The Pyramids were venues for religious rites and tomb temples dedicated to kings that were defied after their death. A text now know as the pyramid texts was found in the tomb of King Unas and a few of his successors. The text is a mythological description the origin of the universe and the universe before its creation. The author writes:…
Day 3
Transcript:
What makes the Ancient Egyptian account of creation relatively unique to many of the accounts that came later on is the concept of Nwn. Nwn was not a creator God, nor void, nor chaos. But a watery abyss which already contained everything that would later be included in creation. In this account matter existed before creation as “water”. This “water” would later gain consciousness and come into being as the different forms of creation. The author contrasts this with other creation myths, like Platos in which the being responsible for creation existed prior to the world he would go on to create. In ancient Sumer, Enki ,creator of life, brings order to a chaotic world that was already formed. The origin of the world that he brings order to is left unexplained. The author goes on to talk about the Bible, the Laws of Manu, and the Popol Vuh. The creators in all of these myths are independent and separate from their creation. In the Ancient Egyptian myth the author states, “idea emerges, endowed with power, from matter.” According to the author, 2000 years later the stoics would offer a spermatic explanation that echoed the watery nature of the ancient egyptian “idea”. The eternal nature of matter is very similar to contemporary explanations for creation in which matter always existed in some form.
Day 4
Transcript: Obenga reitterates that the idea of matter before creation and predating the demiurge is uniquely Ancient Egyptian in the world of creation myths. A universe that existed before the current universe FROM which and WITHIN which all of creation, space, time, life and death are projected was ahead of its time. (Old kingdom 2780 – 2260). According to Plato’s explanation 2000 years later God does not explicitl create the matter which he would go on to shape. Chaos already existed but the activity of God was absent from chaos. God is seen as responsible for the reconfiguration of preexisting elements from a chaotic state to a harmonius one. Aristotle would later express a view closer to that of the Old Kingdom by stating that the uborn constitution existed before the birth of the world. According to Saint Augustine(453 – 430 BC) God creates matter from nothing at the same time that he is creating his works..these views differ greatly from the Ancient Egyptian one in which God emerges as the creator, itself uncreated, from the preexisting primal matter. The author states that the leap from unbaked bricks and wood to Pyramids over the course of 500 years is a reflection of the impact that their world view had on their behavor.
Day 5
Transcript: Obenga states that the concept of Nwn, that primal sea of water from which and within which all of creation, and creator emerge is one that links the myths of pharonic Egypt to the rest of black Africa. The author mentions the Malian dogon, the Barbara and Akan of west Africa, and Bantu speaking people of Central, East, and South Africa as groups of people whose mythological relationship with water is similar to that of pharonic Egypt. Easterly origins and water as the venue of primal creation are the recurring themes that tie the different myths together. Obenga posits that these myths served as a way of understanding the African environment in which water plays a recurring vital and vitalizing role in the lives of the different agrarian peoples. A world of continuous creation in which rituals are a way of keeping pace with the cosmos. Obenga writes, “into the heavy constraints of existence in the real world, Nwn infuses historical meaning and human intelligence, here and now.
Day 6
Transcript: Obenga states that The primal egg is another symbol that acts as a thread in the cosmogonies of black African cultures starting with pharonic Egypt where it is said to contain the breath of life at the dawn of the earth. The Bambara of Mali make use of this symbolism in their initiation rituals which serve the purpose of integrating human beings into the cosmos. In the Fali culture of Northern Cameroon homes are built as physical representations of a mythology in which the first home represents the egg from which the earth/other homes emerge to become the home for humanity. In this culture Obenga writes, “the house, is a self-contained reflection of the of the life of the universe” Among the Abure of ivory coast there is legend of a time when a special egg served to tell time…Being full at sunrise and drained of its yolk at midday. This egg was said to give indications of when to start the day,stop for lunch, and stop work. Obenga writes that in addition to its ties to the cosmos the egg is a symbol of completeness, perfection, and wholeness…purity, youth, and life…the world about to be born from it.
Day 8
Obenga continues his analysis of the impact that the works of early pharonic Egypt had on those of the early greek philosophers. He posits that the concepts that were being discussed in Miletus at around 700BC about the origins of creation had a lot of similarities to those found in works like the Pyramid texts which date to as early as 2000 years earlier. Obenga states that Thales’ ideas about a world created out of water or Anaximanders Indeterminate Infinite (creation out of matter that is like no substance known by man) evoke concepts that are found throughout the Egyptian literature. Obenga mentions Classical physics as having had a major impact on our perception of a world devoid of spirit. In the Ancient Egyptian world view he writes, “there is no opposition beteween matter and spirit…Life is immanent in matter.” Obenga gives Water as an example of a substance(matter)…that is equipped with a “spiritual” germinating force. Through this line of reasoning Obenga advocates for reconsidering the labeling of Ancient Egyptian philosophy as religion…heseesthe the “gods” of ancient Egypt as ways of understanding the living world.
