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The Egyptian Philosophers: Ancient African Voices from Imhotep to Akhenaten

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Molefi Asante's Ancient Egyptian Philosophers: From Imhotep To Akhenaten is a timely redressing of a serious omission in the human history -- the antiquarian contributions of African philosophers to medicine, philosophy, science, and the birth of civilization itself. Beginning with a chronology of Ancient World Philosophers, this scholarly, superbly crafted survey covers Imhotep and the "emergence of reason", Ptahhotep and the "moral order", Merikare on "common sense", as well as the contributions and insights of Akhenaten, Amenemope, and others whose work was ignored, suppressed, or simply unknown to the academia based on Greco-Roman sources and histories. Ancient Egyptian Philosophers: From Imhotep To Akhenaten is highly recommended reading for students of Black Studies, philosophy, and the history of science.

When I first read this book I kept comparing it to Karenga's work on Egyptian philosophy. I felt that Asante came up short. Do not make my same mistake. Asante simply has a different approach. His work is brilliant and insightful. Rhetorically speaking, he appeals with logos, though he is often criticized for not providing ethos. However, we must take into consideration that most of the published archeaological work available has been crafted by people of European descent and are infested with Eurocentric anti-Africanism. That being said, Asante is a wonderful scholar and this work is particularly valuable as an introduction to the philosophy of the world's most ancient literate civilization: Kemet.

If you prefer revisionist history, this book will mean nothing to you. If, however, you have a scintilla of interest in the possibility that other than white europeans made enormous contributions to this world, you can begin by reading this book.

This is another great book of African History, and o learn that Africa indeed have philosophers, that taught the Greeks and thne the Romans about objective and non-objective thinking. No, the Greeks wern't the first to do this!

As a teacher of ancient Greek philosophy, and hearing of recent claims of an out of Africa influence on that philosophy, I decided to look into these claims to consider whether I should revise my curriculum. My first look was Innocent C. Onyewuenyi's "The African Origin of Greek Philosophy: An Exercise in Afrocentrism." I was unimpressed by the book (my review is on this site). The evidence presented for the view, stated repeatedly by Onyewuenyi, that the Greek philosophers were simply teaching Egyptian philosophy, was the offering of Egyptian creation myths, a ubiquitous form of early religion in most cultures that was entirely out of character with Greek philosophy. The fact is that the Greek philosophers were by in large uninterested in explanations of the creation of the world. Their view was cyclic: there is change that repeats on itself-the seasons, the celestial bodies, etc. The notion that time is retrospectively eternal is emphasized in this tradition, and finally finds an argument in Aristotle's book Lambda of his "Metaphysics."

My next thought was that perhaps I should search for something unlike codified religious belief in Egyptian culture-some tradition of free thinkers that could be placed seamlessly into the tradition of Greek philosophy. Thus I came to this book, which seemed to identify individual thinkers in Egyptian history.

Let us first be clear what "philosophy" is in the most specific sense. Philosophy is a term of Greek origin that referred to a tradition of thought that had four basic features. First, an aim at achieving understanding or wisdom concerning reality. Second, a view that traditional beliefs were irrelevant to the success of the first objective. Third, a critical attitude to former proposals of the tradition, and thus originality of thought. Fourth, an insistence that views be supported by reasons, evidence, argument, etc., that would compel any reasonable person that the views offered should be adopted.

In a broader sense, of course, many cultures have traditions of thought that share some of these characteristics, and thus it has been deemed legitimate to speak of Chinese philosophy, Indian philosophy, etc. In the same vein one might speak of African philosophy.

Asante expresses his agreement with the out of Africa proposal that would put the Egyptians as the antecedents of the Greek philosophers, placing them in the tradition of philosophy in the specific sense outlined above (14). Although in this book he offers no argument for the view, clearly his discussions of various Egyptian writers is meant to suggest who the antecedents are. The problem is that the various Egyptians writers that he discusses, in the ideas they express and the manner in which they are expressed, are entirely out of character of the Greek philosophers. For the most part what we have are words of advice, generally directed at sons by their fathers, as to how to behave within society. There is no argument or reasons offered as to why the advice should be accepted (the fourth feature of Greek philosophy). Nor do these writings stand apart from Egyptian traditions, or are at all critical of these traditions. As Asante says "The practice of the African philosophers along the Nile was a practice of maintaining Maat [a traditional Egyptian ethical concept] in every aspect of life" (116). Thus these writings do not share the second and third features of Greek philosophy outlined above.

Ethical concerns in the Greek tradition did not receive true philosophical treatment until Socrates, and the approach he took, from what we can know of it from the Platonic writings, was completely different from the Egyptian writers of this volume. Socrates did not simply hand out advice on the basis of Greek tradition, but asked questions concerning fundamental ethical concepts, with the presumption that tradition had failed to offer adequate answers. The discussion is argumentative, and often the conclusions are tentative, or deemed entirely unsatisfactory. Socrates was no mouthpiece for Greek tradition, or for Egyptian tradition, but a seeker of truths not found in any tradition.

None of this is meant as a denigration of the Egyptians, or the writers who Asante discusses. The material in this book has intrinsic interest in its own right, and may fairly be called "philosophy" in the broader sense noted above. The Egyptians indeed developed an extraordinary civilization, and if nothing else this book shows that they were thoughtful and reflective, and developed a traditional ethic that warrants study. The one point, however, that I wish to make in this review is that they were not the antecedents of Greek philosophy.

There is no doubt that M.K. Asante is a pioneer and pacesetter in the discovery of ancient African philosophers. And as a matter of fact, anybody that know and understand the history of ancient world and free of prejudice would accept that Africa is the origin of philosophy and civilization.

Not useful for the egyptophile in my view. On the other hand - if you buy the Black Ancient Egyptian trip - you might find this work of interest.