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African Ethics: Human Being is Beautiful

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Stanley Anozie discusses Igbo Nigeria African ontology on the intrinsic being of a harmonious kind or / the beauty of life.

Image courtesy of interviewee. May 9, 2024

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This video video discusses an individual's exploration of African philosophy, particularly focusing on Igbo philosophy and the concept of personhood. The speaker expresses excitement about contributing to the understanding of African philosophy, highlighting the significance of cultural context in philosophical inquiry. They emphasize the necessity of engaging with different worldviews and the role of language as essential to comprehending a people's philosophy.

The notion of 'person' is central to their discussion, framed in the Igbo language as "M-M-A-D-U," which means "the beauty of life." The speaker argues that recognizing the interconnectedness of individuals within a community ("I am because we are") is crucial for understanding personal identity and ethics.

The speaker also explores the relationship between ontology (the study of being) and ethics, asserting that understanding what it means to be a person is vital for discussing moral conduct. They connect their research to themes of interculturality and epistemic decolonization, emphasizing the importance of recognizing the dignity and perspectives of others in a multicultural world. Overall, the speaker advocates for a deeper understanding of African philosophical traditions and their relevance to contemporary ethical discussions.

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The question about, you know, human right, a human being

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as beautiful in African philosophy is

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quite an interesting one.

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And it is my, you know, exciting journey to contribute

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to understanding African philosophy as much as possible.

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The evils of Nigeria, you consider them to be one

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of the tribes in Nigeria.

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So they, based on the current population analysis, is about,

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50 million people considering those

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Ebu men and women who reside outside of Nigeria

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as a geographical territory.

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So some people consider them in IBO language to be indeed

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or, you know, IBO people, as the case may be.

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And that is my focus of research.

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My context of research is on African tic philosophy.

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Some people have called that African philosophy.

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Uh, it will have different dimensions depend on

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where people are coming from.

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Especially for myself.

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I do think you can't really do philosophy without the

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context, which is the background

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where you are thinking from.

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I'm joking. I could,

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connect with what we're doing today.

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I am answering your questions from Boston, Massachusetts.

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So that becomes the contest of reflection.

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So also with philosophizing or thinking aloud

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or thinking about problems and concerns.

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Now the literature that really fascinated me in terms

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of my journey were works by, Panal

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Ibu, who was at the forefront of my philosophical journey,

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what he calls the aim of philosophy,

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the aim he used the IBO word, KPIM,

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to suggest that which is the substance of all things.

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What is it that is most important?

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What is at the foundation of everything?

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Another scholar that caught my attention was Chen Chair.

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These things fall apart even though it's a fictional

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narrative, but it encapsulated the concept

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of African historical condition

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that affected whether you think about it from the

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philosophical or theological, economic,

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spiritual journey here within the context of the world.

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So these are the basic books that cut my attention

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and motivated my research, my work coming within the contest

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of humanistic philosophy as well as what Europeans consider

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to be continental philosophy.

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Uh, first of all, you know,

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when I'm thinking about African philosophy

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or African tic philosophy,

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I'm thinking about interpretation.

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I'm thinking about discuss philosophy.

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I'm thinking about engaging in the dialect, dialectics

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of conversation with people from other, you know,

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world co world views

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or cultural world, whether they're European scholars,

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whether they're Asian scholars,

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whether they're even African scholars

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who may not be at home with the philosophical

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Traditions of their own people.

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So this is the context of my work.

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I do argue that you can't really talk about metaphysics

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or ethics of a people without understanding

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what is going on within that culture.

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And this is where hermetics becomes important,

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especially within the gamian, hence Gu Gama tradition,

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which is about fusion of horizons, fusion

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of perspectives, and, recognizing our biases

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or prejudices as the case may be,

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and then be able to stay on with the positive biases

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that are important in understanding the other person.

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The idea of the notion of the person as the beauty

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of life emanates from going to the language of the people.

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You know, someone like Ingo talks about the importance

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of language in understanding the other as the memory

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of the people or the reserve of the research

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or the wealth of the people.

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And so this is important if one is to understand the

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IBO philosophy in the context African philosophy,

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the concept of what it means to be a person is important.

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And so in IBO language, the person is said

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to be du

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M-M-A-D-U-M-M-A-D-U, meaning

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the beauty of life.

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And it's important here to suggest that if human beings are

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the beauty of life, it is important to see

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that we can get a lot more done within the African

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philosophical tradition in terms of seeing who we are.

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When you know who you are,

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then it will help you determine the purpose

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of one's existence and how to go about accomplishing that.

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Another thing that is important there in relation to model

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as the beauty of life is this idea that ma

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the other person is a peace and parcel of you.

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Your being in the world is a being in the we form, so

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to say the belongingness of a community.

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I am because we are, because we are,

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therefore I am that kind of narrative.

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And I do think that is important in understanding

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what it means to be a person, ontologically, as well as

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what it means to be a person from the ethics point of view

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of, relationship.

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When you, in philosophy, when we use the concept

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of ontology, some people also use it as metaphysics.

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You're talking about the science of being, what a theme is,

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what it is as against what it is not to know

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what a theme is, is about the ontology, the beingness

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to be what Athe is.

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And Aristotle, you know, in terms

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of Greek philosophy was very,

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prominent in making this distinction.

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What Athene is is important in understanding what it is

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as against what it is not.

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And he also said something like this as a being is so what?

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That being act. So understanding ontology, what question

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is central to understanding ethics, how the being has

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to conduct itself.

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And so that becomes the high question.

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And so if you were to relate this in terms of the purpose

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of lytics, cross pollination of ideas, what

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or how the Europeans look at ontology and ethics

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and apply it to Ebo, the lytics of African philosophy

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of person, the model becomes an ontological question.

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What does it mean to be a person?

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And then how that person interconnects with the beingness

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of other people, which will now, get into the idea

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of interpersonal relationship, interpersonal engagement,

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encountering the other, the quality of that encounter,

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which is at the heart of what ethics is all about.

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My current research is kind of connected with this idea of,

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African philosophy, African ethics, as well

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as this idea of belongingness.

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Uh, but centrally I'm connecting with the question

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of interculturality as epistemic decolonization through,

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appropriate nude.

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You know, what does it mean to have a,

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to live in a multicultural world

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or what you may call interculturality?

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It means that we have to recognize the dignity of the other,

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the philosophical perspective

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or horizons of the other in order to be able

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to get along without that,

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living in the world becomes really a challenge.

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And so that is the dimension of my current research.

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