Table Of ContentUnary Complementarity
Two Patron Saints of
B
5310
Classical Philosophy
0486
2014
kr
>hie Bosede Oluwole
S o c ra te s O rU n m ila
and
l
Two Patron Saints of
Classical Philosophy
Third Edition
Sophie B. Oluwole
All rights reserved.
© 2017 Sophie B. Oluwolb
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any
retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior
written permission of the publisher.
ISBN. 978-978-929-525-8
Crafted by Xcel Multimedia
Xcel House. GRA Zone
Ogba Ijaiye Housing Estate,
Ogba, Lagos, Nigeria
Ark Publishers
Plot 533, WEMPCO Road,Lagos, Nigeria.
08035874876. 08033753630
lll> llll III III
245566990392
------------DEDICATION------------
To all who prefer FACT to Fiction
Table of Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 101
PREFACE 105
INTRODUCTION 121
CHAPTER ONE
Three Characterizations of Socrates 131
CHAPTERTWO
Three Characterizations of Qrunmila 143
CHAPTERTHREE
What They Said They Said 153
CHAPTER FOUR
Some Existing Canons of Distinguishing Between
Western and African Philosophy 183
CHAPTER FIVE
Traditions of Philosophy as Conceptual Frameworks 1117
CHAPTER SIX
Distinctive Intellectual Features of Western and
African Philosophy 1131
POSTSCRIPT
Binary Complementarity and the Search for a New World
Social Order | 157
Socrates and Orunmila Two Patron Saints of Classical Philosophy
BIBLIOGRAPHY 1189
APPENDIX 1 1207
APPENDIX II 1217
|221
APPENDIX III
1223
APPENDIX IV
1225
INDEX
- vi -
Acknowledgements
The conventional view is that oral tradition is folk thouaht
This means it is a common possession of members of the
society in which it exists. The logic is that any use of its
texts needs neither acknowledgment nor reference since there
are no named authors. The case of the quotes in this book is
however, different. Although neither Socrates nor Orunmil^
wrote anything, some views have been recorded in their names
This is why the quoted verses are treated as evidence of their
respective thought processes.
My first acknowledgment is of the "bravest and noblest" Yoruha
ancestors who ensured that their intellectual culture did not di
by meticulously memorizing, from generation to generation the
innumerable verses in Ifa literary corpus.
Two years before I finished my Ph.D. programme at the
University of Ibadan, I accidentally came across the book On-
Odu MdrddndmlOgun by Professor Wande Abimbdla It was th
verse on page two of the work that convinced me that Ifa literal
corpus is a documentation of YorOba thought and classical
philosophy. I, therefore, acknowledge Abimbdla as a mentn,
who, inadvertently, initiated me into the study of Ifa
I owe an inestimable debt to Abimbdla and all others who have
transcribed and translated Ifa into the written form I can mention
only a few: Rev. E.M. LijadO, Patriarch Olarinwa Epega, William
Bascom, Feia Sdbanda, Fagbdnrd Bdyidkii, S. Pdpdoia
-01 -
Socrates and Orunmila Two Patron Saints of Classical Philosophy
Soiagbade Otunba Sir Joshua Olumuyiwd AwOpdju, Faslna
Faiad6. Ayd Salami, Chief Fas'ma Agbooia Dr. Abds6d6
Emanuel, Chief AwOr'inde Agbooia and Dr. Christoph Staewen.
To the numerous individuals whose contributions to the
production of this work cannot be quantified in monetary terms, I
say a big Thank you’. The list includes such names as Dr. Joseph
Akin Sdfoluwe of the Adebdia Adegunwa School of
Communication, Lagos State University and Professor Heinz
Kimmerle of the Institute of Intercultural Philosophy, Leiden,
Netherlands.
The contributions of my good friend, the late Dr. Addrdmi
Emmanuel
Babalola remain indelible in my mind It was he who.
as a result of his deep knowledge of Greek, Latin French and
English languages, took me through details of the fundamental
difference between literal and conceptual translation. Ironically
this was exactly the theme of my M A thesis: Transformational
Grammar and Philosophical Analysis (1974).
My former student, who later became my great teacher, friend
and supplier of many rare books and unpublished works on Ifa ,
Mr. Dimdji Ajikdbi, of the Department of Linguistics, African and
Asian Studies, University of Lagos, deserves my utmost
appreciation, which he earned in different ways. His profound
knowledge of Yorubd social history differs substantially from the
records of most professional historians.
A well-known, yet often neglected fact is that the enormous
amount of research that goes into the writing of this type of book
could not have been carried out by a single author. This work is a
joint product of three people engaged in the identification of an
authentic philosophy in African thought. It is in this sense that I
confess and appreciate the immense contributions of two young
members of staff of the Centre for African Culture and
Development (CEFACAD).
The first is Mr.TdlwO (Idris) Oldbpde. His load of biting criticisms,
often made in feigned ignorance, is Socratic in style. They saved
me from several linguistic, semantic and conceptual errors as
-02-
Acknowledgements
well as professional idiosyncrasies that would have caused me
considerable embarrassment. He worked hand in hand with Mr.
Ahmed (Fatahi) Ajlbbyd to draw my attention to the inadequacies
of some philosophical explanations and theories. Both of them
joined my noble nephew, Mr. Akin U. Albba, in consistently
drumming into my ears that it is unrealistic to produce a perfect
work, which, they insisit, does not exist anywhere.
The next acknowledgment goes to my niece, Mrs. OlbsGmbd
Olddipp, who, despite her Christian convictions, carried out a
critical, dispassionate, and intellectually demanding editing of
the manuscript. Mr. Kazeem AdbrnPia Fdyeml, a budding
philosopher, also did a fantastic job, identifying some conceptual
and philosophical terms that need further clarification.
Three other people read the final draft. They are Mr.Olcilbkan
AdbwOsI, the publisher of Ivory Magazine; Rabbi Addblsl Tijdnl, a
Christian theologian; and my daughter-in-law, Mrs. MbpblPlci
Fdpohundb. Each of them identified errors which I did not believe
were still there. I thank them all.
I cannot adequately express my appreciation of the
encouragement I have received from my academic colleagues
before and after my retirement from the University of Lagos over
one and a half decades ago. I want to thank, especially, Dr.
Oldmuyiwd Asciolu, who made his Lingual Software Package
available to me free of charge. And to my numerous friends in
The Press, both local and international, I owe a big load of
gratitude.
Sophie Bdsede Oluwole.
January, 2017
-03-
Preface
A study in comparative philosophy is based on two basic
presuppositions. The first is a definition of philosophy, at
least, as a working hypothesis. The second is the
existence of the two philosophies being compared.
Two books, almost entirely devoted to the conceptual analysis of
the question “What is philosophy?" have appeared in publication
within the last decade. The first is by Timothy Williamson, in
2007.
It is titled: Philosophy of Philosophy. The author explains:
The primary task of the philosophy of science is to
understand science, not to give scientists advice.
Likewise, the primary task of the philosophy of philosophy
is to understand philosophy, not to give philosophers
advice - although I have not rigorously abstained from the
latter, (ix)
He continues:
I also rejected the word 'metaphilosophy.' The philosophy
of philosophy is automatically part of philosophy, just as
the philosophy of anything else is, whereas
metaphilosophy sounds as though it might try to look
down on philosophy from above, or beyond, (ix) ... And
like the philosophy of science, it can only be done well by
those with some respect for what they are studying, (ibid)
Siren Overgaard, Paul Gilbert and Stephen Burwood, published
An Introduction to Metaphilosophy, five years later, they,
-0 5 -
