102
3 African Ecophilosophy: An Overview
African traditional religion is the indigenous religion of Africans whose origin is
lost in antiquity. However, it is believed to have been practised by African fore bearers who handed it down from one generation to another. Awolalu has described this
religion as “the indigenous religion of the Africans. It is the religion that has been
handed down from generation to generation by the fore bearers of the present generation of Africans. It is not a fossil religion (a thing of the past) but a religion that
Africans today have made theirs by living it and practicing it” (Awolalu 1976).
It is a religion founded on African soil, and inextricably interwoven with the
culture of the people, expressed in beliefs and practices, myths and folktales, songs
and dances, liturgies, rituals, proverbs, pithy sayings and names, “sacred spaces and
objects; a religion which is slowly but constantly updated by each generation in the
light of new experiences through the dialectical process of continuities and discontinuities” (Ekwunife 1990).
According to the African worldview, currently living human and nonhuman
beings, the living dead, the yet unborn, and the natural world are interconnected
(Behrens 2012). This is the basis of ecophilosophy. Drengson argues that just as the
aim of traditional philosophy is Sophia (wisdom), the aim of ecophilosophy is ecosophy or ecological wisdom. He goes on to point out that ecophilosophy’s purpose is
to explore a diversity of human-nature interrelationships so as to foster “deeper and
more harmonious relationships between place, self, community and the natural
world” (Drengson). Arne Naess defined ecosophy as follows:
… a philosophy of ecological harmony or equilibrium. A philosophy as a kind of sofia (or)
wisdom, is openly normative, it contains both norms, rules, postulates, value priority
announcements and hypotheses concerning the state of affairs in our universe. Wisdom is
policy wisdom, prescription, not only scientific description and prediction. The details of an
ecosophy will show many variations due to significant differences concerning not only the
‘facts’ of pollution, resources, population, etc. but also value priorities (Naess 1994, p. 124).
For many African communities, it would be wrong to over-consume resources
and leave future generations with fewer means of survival. Thus for these societies,
the current generation has moral obligations towards future generations as they are
morally considerable (Naess 1994, p. 124; Arnold 2011, pp. 1–15).
According to indigenous African thought, the present generation is under obligation to the past (the living dead) and future generations. In Africa, people have direct
and indirect obligations to future generations. In the first place, the land belongs
communally to past, present and future generations. Individuals may privately possess livestock and movable possessions (Van Rooy 1997). The current generation
ought to be grateful to, and follow the example of, past generations with regard to
leaving behind a healthy land. This indicates an indirect moral obligation towards
future generations. According to Kevin Gary Behrens, “It is likely that this
backward- looking notion of duties to posterity is one of the most significant contributions African thought can make to our conception of moral obligations to the
future” (Behrens 2012, p. 187).
N. F. Unuigbe
3 African Ecophilosophy: An Overview
African traditional religion is the indigenous religion of Africans whose origin is
lost in antiquity. However, it is believed to have been practised by African fore bearers who handed it down from one generation to another. Awolalu has described this
religion as “the indigenous religion of the Africans. It is the religion that has been
handed down from generation to generation by the fore bearers of the present generation of Africans. It is not a fossil religion (a thing of the past) but a religion that
Africans today have made theirs by living it and practicing it” (Awolalu 1976).
It is a religion founded on African soil, and inextricably interwoven with the
culture of the people, expressed in beliefs and practices, myths and folktales, songs
and dances, liturgies, rituals, proverbs, pithy sayings and names, “sacred spaces and
objects; a religion which is slowly but constantly updated by each generation in the
light of new experiences through the dialectical process of continuities and discontinuities” (Ekwunife 1990).
According to the African worldview, currently living human and nonhuman
beings, the living dead, the yet unborn, and the natural world are interconnected
(Behrens 2012). This is the basis of ecophilosophy. Drengson argues that just as the
aim of traditional philosophy is Sophia (wisdom), the aim of ecophilosophy is ecosophy or ecological wisdom. He goes on to point out that ecophilosophy’s purpose is
to explore a diversity of human-nature interrelationships so as to foster “deeper and
more harmonious relationships between place, self, community and the natural
world” (Drengson). Arne Naess defined ecosophy as follows:
… a philosophy of ecological harmony or equilibrium. A philosophy as a kind of sofia (or)
wisdom, is openly normative, it contains both norms, rules, postulates, value priority
announcements and hypotheses concerning the state of affairs in our universe. Wisdom is
policy wisdom, prescription, not only scientific description and prediction. The details of an
ecosophy will show many variations due to significant differences concerning not only the
‘facts’ of pollution, resources, population, etc. but also value priorities (Naess 1994, p. 124).
For many African communities, it would be wrong to over-consume resources
and leave future generations with fewer means of survival. Thus for these societies,
the current generation has moral obligations towards future generations as they are
morally considerable (Naess 1994, p. 124; Arnold 2011, pp. 1–15).
According to indigenous African thought, the present generation is under obligation to the past (the living dead) and future generations. In Africa, people have direct
and indirect obligations to future generations. In the first place, the land belongs
communally to past, present and future generations. Individuals may privately possess livestock and movable possessions (Van Rooy 1997). The current generation
ought to be grateful to, and follow the example of, past generations with regard to
leaving behind a healthy land. This indicates an indirect moral obligation towards
future generations. According to Kevin Gary Behrens, “It is likely that this
backward- looking notion of duties to posterity is one of the most significant contributions African thought can make to our conception of moral obligations to the
future” (Behrens 2012, p. 187).
N. F. Unuigbe