From Traditionalism to Modernism: A Study of the Problem of Environment in Africa

doi:10.4236/ojpp.2012.24040

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Open Journal of Philosophy

2012. Vol.2, No.4, 272-276

Published Online November 2012 in SciRes (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/ojpp) http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ojpp.2012.24040

272

From Traditionalism to Modernism: A Study of the Problem of

Environment in Africa

Okoye A. Chu ka

Department of Philosophy, Universit y o f N i g e ria, Nsukka, Nigeria

Email: [email protected]

Received February 16th, 2012; re vised March 24th, 2012; accepted April 5th, 2012

The history of the environmental philosophy carries with it the effort to overcome the medieval anthro-

pocentric morality. Here, nature is seen from the instrumental value which they give. The instrumental

value here shows the existence of things as important only as they are useful to man. The contemporary

environmental ethics bring a novelty showing these environmental bodies as possessing an intrinsic value

showing that they have an ethical value. The medieval ethical system which denies intrinsic value to the

environment and thus posits man as being at the center of any moral system leads to the over possession

of the environment by man. This over possession by man has led to the destruction of environment by

man who exploits the environment in his service. This work looks at the African scenario which seems to

be facing more environmental degradation in the contemporary times. The reason for this is surmised by

this paper as a damaging evolution of the African history from traditionalism which seems to respect the

environment to modernism which demystifies the mysteries accorded the environment and hence putting

the environment into excessive use through some actions like deforestation, burning of fossil fuels and so

on. This paper suggests a crusade against these damaging effects of modernism for a better preservation

of the environment.

Keywords: Traditionalism; Modernism; Africa; Environment

Introduction

The grounds of People’s existence stem from their culture

which evidently shapes their lives and their perception of things.

One is whom one is by the grounds of one’s culture. It is perti-

nent here to note that one’s actions, altitude towards things and

indeed the whole of one’s world view is measured by how

much the culture of the person is able to influence him. Jurgen

Habermas (2008: p. 99) expressly categorized the human cul-

ture into two.

1) The capitalist/rational structured societies.

2) The mythically structured societies.

The African societies by the tenets of their culture belong to

the mythically structured societies. As such their belief systems

and their world view are based on some mythologically

founded theories. It must be important to immediately note here

that the mythological undertone of the African belief system

neither makes it weird or non factual. Present in these myths are

pragmatic issues that operate successfully according to the Af-

rican system.

Among these is their understanding of their environment.

The Africans see a lot tied to their environment. In fact the

Africans do not seem to believe that human beings exist alone

independent of those elements in their environment. This

amounts to the attachment and the respect which the African

man has for his environment. This respect for the environ-

mental is innate in the African culture and has helped save the

African environment from colossal damage. Nevertheless, the

wind of enlightenment and modernism seems to tear Africa

apart owing to the loss of identity by the mutilation of culture.

Today, it appears that Africa generally suffers many environ-

mental problems due to this loss. People make use of the envi-

ronmental endowments careless which leads to their destruction

and abuse. Africa is endangered environmentally by the amount

of man-made hazards that has occurred as a result of the care-

lessness put by the Africans over their environment. This article

attempts a study of the indigenous African concept of environ-

ment with a view to seeing how far the current environmental

problems can be tackled.

Explaining the African Cosmology

The African life is governed by their cosmological grounds

of existence. In the first place, the Africans believe that there

are two major worlds namely: the physical and the spiritual

worlds. These two worlds are further divided into parts by their

hierarchy in existence and values attached to them. They are

distinct but are always in constant interaction.

The spirit world is a world of a transcendent form. Here in

dwells some spiritualized beings including the sovereign God.

The abode of the sovereign God is inhabited, as Africans be-

lieve, by God Himself and the “angels”/messengers that wait on

Him, carryi ng out His decrees. The second part of this spiritual

world is the world of the ancestors. The ancestors are often

regarded as the living dead who still play active role in the pro-

tection of and the provision for the family. This position is a

sublime and exalted one hence not every dead person is ac-

knowledged as an ancestor.

These ancestors are closely united with the physical universe.

This physical universe is a universe of men and animals, plants

and other inanimate things. This world is very active to the

extent that the whole activities of the African cosmological

O. A. CHUK A

plane centre round it. This world is active, however, not be-

cause of the animals and plants but because of the human exis-

tence in it around which the whole world revolve. As such,

although things are oriented in some way or other to the world

about them, only man cultivates a world view and generates

action in the universe (Andah, 1988: p. 73).

This cosmological view of the Africans incorporates the Af-

rican ontology which centers on forces in existence. Based on

the religiosity of the Africans, they have a tendency to place

every existential authority of God. They see God as the creator

of the universe (both the visible and the invisible). But He en-

trusted the worldly administration on the lower gods, good

spirits and indirectly the ancestors. The Africans, as such, look

up to these intermediaries of God for provision and sustenance.

They offer prayers through the ancestors to god for fertility, of

their lands and their daughters, daily protection from woe, daily

bread and so on. This exchange, according to Andah, (1988: p.

81) preserves the balance of the world which is unstable.

By the ontological co-existence of these beings, the African

sees a subtle interaction among them. Dogbe (1988: p. 3) lists

five (5) categories of the ontologically interacting beings which

are ordered but fused together.

 The being above all beings which is the ultimate explana-

tion of the genesis and sustainance of both man and all

things.

 Spirits made up of super human beings and spirits of men

who died long ago.

 Man, including human beings who are alive and those about

to be born.

 Animals and plants or the remainder of biological life; and

 Phenomena and objects without biological life.

These must co-operate for harmony through rites, offerings,

sacrifices and invocations. This at times demands mystical rela-

tionship between man and other lower forces.

The traditional African preservation of her environment con-

sists in the way in which this hierarchical interaction is carried

out. Most of the natural things in Africa in the core-traditional

society are not carelessly tampered with. They are left follow-

ing in the belief in their possession of intrinsic value which

demonstrates the place of the traditional African environmental

ethics. These things that form the natural world are protected

from man by surrounding them with mysteries, and major and

mirror taboos which keep man and his destructive tendencies

away from them. Andah (1988: p. 81) argues further:

The African (Igbo) have the frightening possibility of over-

throwing their [environs] by violating the manifestation of the

sacred, which pervade their whole life, trees, market, rivers,

hills, shrines, and so on. Therefore, they are protected by nu-

merous major and minor taboos that can be broken even unin-

tentionally.

One does not dig too deep to discover that the structure of the

core-African society by the application of their rules embedded

in their tradition, save their world from some environmental

damage and ecological destruction. Any violation of the natural

order through an occurrence of any form of natural disaster is

seen further as a retribution from God either for misuse or re-

appraisal for a taboo. One sees among the Africans a collective

effort to pressure his environment by avoiding such environ-

mental property that will either destroy one or the entire com-

munity.

The African belief system seems to be mythologically bound

and conformist in its structure since everyone dread the out-

come of any mishap, from the gods. However, it seems re-

warding since in the practice of this there is an environmental

preservation and ecological equilibrium.

Environmental Philosophy: The African

Indigenous Perspective

Environmental philosophy studies the relationship between

human beings and the environment (here comprising of animals,

plants and other inanimate things with the world; and indeed

whole world). The African indigenous perspective comes to

mind in trying to study the various things in the world and how

they interact. In the Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (1958:

p. 105), the author brought out a seeing attitude of the average

African man to his environment by the reception given to the

“white man” (colonial missionaries) by the natives.

According to Achebe, when the white man came, the indi-

genes gave the “evil forest” for their settlement. This, the au-

thor stressed, is to make it impossible for them to survive since

the evil forest is specifically sacred and is believed to be an

abode of the wicked spirits. Similar account is rendered of the

Turkana people who mounted fierce resistance to the construc-

tion of Dade Dam and the subsequent flooding of the valley.

The belief of the indigenes of this Turkana is accounted for by

Lenana the medicine man. It is so believe d by these people that

there is a serious problem digging the valley—the graves of the

death. This is because the beliefs and the knowledge of the dead

which impacts on the knowledge of the living will be cost since

there is a link between the living and the dead, to destroy the

remains of the dead amounts to destroying the knowledge and

future of the living (Johnson, 1981: pp. 13-14).

The African perspective of environmental philosophy evi-

dently stems from their concept of interaction of forces. This

belief in interaction of forces is embellished by their attachment

to geneological bonds and their belongingness. The indigenous

responsibilities to and for the natural world are based on an

understanding of the relatedness, or affiliation, of the human

and non-human worlds (Jamieson, 2001: p. 22). One can con-

veniently call this a “fundamental genealogical drive to envi-

ronment”.

The genealogical study of the Africans presents a mytho-

logical history of the indwellers of a particular place. This

mythological history goes to inform one of one’s primogenital

decendence and the migration (if any) to the present settlement

over time. It is indeed a continuous unfolding of history. Ac-

cording to Jamieson (2001: p. 6):

Genealogical map affiliations spatially as well, placing indi-

viduals and families in relation to one another, and locating

them in—by connecting them to—the earth.

The above citation suggests that possession of origin is tan-

tamount to the possession of genealogy which gives its current

place within time (historically). This genealogy by its historical

attribution connects the individual in question with the place

and further with the other people who exist and others who

existed (but are dead) in that place at one time or another. This

genealogy equally accounts for the other aspects of existence

(non-living things in the world and their origin in the environ-

ment.

Genealogy identities a people and their relations and thereby

set them apart from the others. It explains the mode of the rela-

tionship between one person and the order and the extent of this

relationship. Thus, to recite a genealogy, to recall the ties of

O. A. CHUKA

affiliation, is to affirm a reciprocal bounding (Jamieson, 2001:

p. 5). Genealogy defines an individual and opens to the indi-

vidual the moral responsibilities and obligations which indi-

vidual owes to the environment. Genealogy is a valid source of

the knowledge about the past present and future. It cements the

bond between an individual and another and between one group

and the other.

This genealogy comes to the fore in explaining the African

interaction with the environment. The respect given to certain

water bodies, trees and even animals is a testimony to the at-

tachment the African has to his environment. The description of

the place given to the “Land” by the Africans is illustrative. The

Igbos of Africa, for instance, believe that “ala” (Land) is the

mother of all and it the strongest of any god. As such special

care is taken not to offend this earth god (ala). The issue here

lies in the fact that the African system by their ontology shows

the relevance and functionality of every form of being in the

African world.

The hierarchical structure of the African ontology as previ-

ously demonstrated opens up the interconnectivity between the

human entities and non-human entities. The Africans believe

that everything reserves within itself a value given to it by na-

ture/God. The grasses are given to a number of functions which

when put to use can either restore health or damage. This belief

of the Africans in the intrinsic functionality and relevance of

everything in the world, whether human or non-human, bring

up what we can label as “respect” in the African mode of exis-

tence.

The sense of respect as the African existential inquiry shows

is such that there is a demonstration, of the full significance of

every environmental object in nature and at the same tile a cap-

turing of the normative grounds of their existence in the world.

Respect, based on the above is further illustrated by Laurie

Whitt as a matter of appreciating the inherent value of some

entity or activity that has it by virtue of the fact that it inheres in,

or belongs to, the natural world (Whitt, 2001: p. 7). What this

entails is a conscious realization of the vital role of an object

towards the sustenance of the natural universe. This connotes

an avoidance of things that can work down on or a direct mis-

use of the particular thing in question.

This mutual respect by the Africans on these natural beings is

as a result of the role which gives them intrinsic value. Among

the Igbos of Nigeria, again, some crops and trees are not med-

dled with. Yam is a crop which is believed to be for men only.

The respect given to this crop is such that one is not allowed to

match on yams lest the crop will not grow for the person since

the individual has devalued it.

This practice also extends to some animals which are be-

lieved to be sacred. This sacredness may be historical in its

appreciation based on the role such animals played (often

mythological) in the establishment of the said society. This

tradition is handed down though generations. This historical

ground brings an epistemological angle to the African reaction

to the environment.

The epistemological angle to conceptualization of the Afri-

can environment comes through the mythological foundation of

the African culture and the traditional method of transmission

of knowledge through strong telling and folklores. In listening

to stories one learns. The source of the knowledge and respect

for the natural world is usually stories which promote indige-

nous knowledge and environmental value systems. Silko (1996:

pp. 94-95) talks about the place of stories generally in the

propagation of indigenous knowledge stating that:

[T]here is a story connected with every place, every object in

the landscape […] we are still in this place and language—the

story telling—is our way of passing through our past and fu-

ture…

Ekwenugo (2003: p. 48) corroborates what Silko tries to put

across while explaining the place of story telling in the African

culture stating that:

We find ourselves in a place where we do not know and

where we are not familiar with the world around US […] it is a

world of space structured by time. The familiarity we get from

this world stems from the knowledge we gather through our

tradition handed down to us by our ancestors through folktales

and cultural traditions.

One, evidently, learns about a place and the practice through

the stories surrounding the very place. As such the environ-

mental preservation which the Africans have is sustained by the

knowledge of the relationship between man and the natural

world handed down through many generations through stories.

Tribal understanding is thereby locked together… with the

entities themselves so that a place and its knowledge cannot be

separated (Whitt, 2001: p. 15). The Africans believe that man

by man’s place in the universe is a custodian of the environ-

ment and this function so given to man by nature is a result of

the belief in the intrinsic value possessed by every existent in

the environment both human and non human. This is handed

down to generations through the African cultural system ped-

dled through their stories.

The above grounds the African environmental ethics where

Africans are said to believe in the intrinsic value of every exis-

tent in the environment given to Him by their respective roles

in the sustenance of the world.

Cultural Crises and Environmental Problem in

African

Colonialism rings out to the average African mind as that

which has caused an untold menace to the African mind. A lot

of scholars who tried to trace he problem of under development

in African blames it mainly on colonialism, according S.

Amoah (2004: p. 36), the crises of development in Africa is

caused by the current mind set of the African who has been

brain washed and rendered inferior by the psychological trauma

infused on him by the westerner through the slave trade and the

dissolution of his culture through colonization. Evidently peo-

ple generally believe that the impact of colonization on the

Africans is so profound that Africans have constantly searched

in vain for the real foundation of their culture.

The colonization of the African man, no doubt, leaves him

embattled within himself about what the reality of his existence

is. This affects the various areas of the life of the African in-

cluding the human interaction with his environment. The colo-

nization of the African mind which is said affects equally the

human interaction with the environment comes as a form of

cultural alienation in which the African is seeks to strike a bal-

ance between his culture and a the culture of his colonized self.

The greatest effect here is seen in the religion of the African.

The ethical grounds of the African is worldview is generally

believed to be from their religion. Idowu (1962: p. 145) accepts

this view stating:

[That] morality is basically the fruit of religion and to begin,

it was dependent upon it. Man’s concept of the Deity as every-

274

O. A. CHUK A

thing to do with what is taken to be the norm of morality. God

made man, and it is He who implants in him the sense of right

and wrong. This is in fact the validity of which does not depend

upon whether man realized and acknowledges it or not.

Idowu’s point is also carried on by Ilogu (1997: p. 537) who

uses the Igbo culture to re-present the idea of religion the foun-

dation of morals among Africans. For Ilogu:

In Igbo traditional society, religion is the basis for morality

both through the beliefs of the people as well as through the

sanctions imposed by customs and prohibitions.

The religion of the Africans gives them the ethical disposi-

tion towards their environment. As was mentioned above, the

African system ensures that the African sees an intrinsic value

in every environmental element ranging from land, herbs, water

bodies, trees and animals, to human beings. As such in the tra-

ditional African society, there is hardly any report of environ-

mental abuse or d e g r a d a t ion.

But in the present times, there are cases of environmental

hazards being consequences of environmental abuse. This is

blamed on the hybrid of culture which comes with crises of

religiousity, between the traditional African religion and to

foreign religion.

The dominant western culture which reflects in the western

religion presents the natural world as a property of man which

man is free to handle any how man pleases irrespective of the

values attached to it. This is against the African traditional reli-

gious tenet where man is seen as a guardian of the natural world.

Nzeadigo (2004: p. 44) shows this his analysis of the African

anthropology stating that:

The Africans view man as force, which stands at the middle

of beingness. By the human position, he takes care of the natu-

ral world not as an owner but as a keeper. Man submits to God

who is the strongest force and keeps other lower forces as they

exist according to the capacity of their life force.

The western Nigerian strongly shows the strength of man

over his environment. This idea gives man the authority to ma-

nipulate the environment and as such is responsible for every-

thing that takes place in the environment. Among the Christians,

for instance, the base of the relationship between man and the

natural world stem from the biblical injunction (Genesis 1: 26-

28) where man is given to the control over the world. The

scriptures say:

And God said; let us create man in our image and likeness:

and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over

the birds of the air, and over the earth […] God created man in

his own image and likeness; male and female He created them.

And god blessed them, and said to them go into the world and

inherit it. Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and conquer it.

Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air

and over every other thing that moves upon the earth.

By this Christian account (which represents the western ac-

count of human supposed relation with the environment), hu-

mans are the only morally necessary members of the world.

Nature lacks any form of intrinsic value. Thus no matter what

man does with anything in nature, he is not bound morally.

Evidently, natural world is supposed to be at the disposal of and

in service of man and the needs he has. The western tradition

possesses, by this account, a radical anthropocentricism in

which nature is viewed as “merely a resource for the satisfac-

tion of human interest wants and needs”. A statement attributed

to a Jewish Rabbi shows the strength of marginalization of the

environment. Ya’akov, the ancient Jewish Rabbi is noted to

have stated that:

One who while walking along the way, reviewing his studies,

breaks off from his study and says, “How beautiful is the tree!

How beautiful is that ploughed field!” the scripture regards him

as if he has forfeited his soul (Pirkei Avot Ethics of the Fathers

3.7).

Despite the varied interpretation of this statement attributed

to Rabbi Ya’akov. The fact remains that nature is regarded as a

secondary to human existence. There is a tendency of seeing

nature differently from man and the man’s development. Tak-

ing care of nature radically suggest mundanity and the relega-

tion of the human soul. Man should be paid great attention to

not the natural world.

This teaching from the western religion is what has infil-

trated the traditional African religion and leaving the African

with the tendency of viewing every aspect of the traditional

religion as fetish especially as it concerns the human relation-

ship with his environment. The result is simple’. The African is

alienated from his culture and the tenets of it but at the same

time not fitted into the new culture which we has been put into.

This problem abandons the African in a state of not under-

standing himself and his environment.

The colonized and Christianized African unveils the secrecy

of the tradition which keeps him in respect to his environment.

He throws away his concept of his environment and tries to

embrace the scriptural western teaching where the environment

is seen as that through which man’s needs, desires and wants

are satisfied. The natural world is often abused and handled

without any intrinsic value. This accounts for the number of the

environmental problems experienced today in Africa ranging

from the green house effects, erosion menace, and desert en-

croachment to flooding.

Africans seem to have lost the wealth of their tradition which

gives them the grounds for maintaining their environment.

There is more instrumentalism in the relationship with the en-

vironment. This instrumentation has two effects on the indi-

viduals name ly:

1) The inauthentic existence effect.

2) The environmental destability effect.

The inauthentic existence effect manifests itself on the indi-

viduals who are utilitarian in their relationship with their envi-

ronment. Here the individual claims to create an artificial envi-

ronment for oneself. This artificial environment replaces he

neutral which has been marginalized and destroyed by the use

of harsh equipments and chemicals. This inauthentic existence

is created by the individual to make one temporarily comfort-

able and have a feeling that there is the security of the “self”.

This first effect is on the immediate individual who suffers

directly and unexpectedly when the artificial structure, which

has been built to replace the natural environment, collapses.

The second one—the environmental destability effect has a

mediate effect on the individual but an immediate effect on the

environment. In this environmental destability effect, the envi-

ronment is depleted as a result of the destructive actions carried

out by the human elements. Such actions like extreme industri-

alization, bush burning, deforestation (through chemicalized

elements) and wanton ecological reduction, weigh down on the

environmental stability especially in Africa where there is great

level of ignorance about environmental preservation.

The trend of development seems to contribute seriously also

to the environmental degradation in Africa. The philosophy of

development in the African dimension focuses on the centrality

O. A. CHUKA

276

of the “self”. This self stands at the middle of the globaliza-

tional existence. The idea of personhood as conceived in the

African thought system carries with it a rational approach to

development. There is a tendency that the African conceives the

‘self’ through the Cartesian mode.1 In this dimension, the self

proceeds primarily through the metaphysical self and after-

wards the social and ecological self.

The structure here brings out the “I”-self as the central exis-

tential focus in the existential system. To identify the “I’-

mind” of cognition and existence defines the human structure.

The other levels of existential identification both social and

ecological are subservient. It is not a surprise seeing the Igbos

define the human being as Mma-ndu/i—there beauty or beauty

there.2 By the etymology of the nomenclature, the humans are

depicted as the being at the centre of existence that creates the

beauty to the world. This centralizes the existential mode of the

human being to the metaphysical self—a reality which exists as

itself.

This informs the instrumentalism of the human interactive

with the environment. While the human being exists first, he

understands his society as belonging to him (social mode) and

sees the world around him as an aid to develop and satisfy

himself (ecological mode). This understanding destroys the

environmental system and causes untold havoc to the nature.

The main reason for the African current environmental problem

is not far fetched. The problem lies in the way the African con-

ceives development. It is also lies in the alienation of the Afri-

can culture which is a result of the identity crises in Africa

handed down by colonialism. There is need for a readjustment

of the African value system and cultural grounds for a before

environmental development.

This solution is made perfect through de-ideologization and

re-orientation of the African mind. The way the ethics of envi-

ronment is put forward must be such that the people are duly

informed of their responsibilities to themselves through their

environment.

Taylor (1981: p. 117) emphasized that a life-centered ecosys-

tem is opposed to human-centered ones since the life-centered

one has moral obligations that are owed to both wild plants and

animal as members of the earths biotic community. One who

cares for the environment cares for oneself as these co-existen-

tial entities support the human life by ensuring the stability of

nature where man equally exists.

The Africans should care for the environment not just as la-

bour but as a beautiful act. This is achievable by a readjustment

of the inclination of the Africans not their morals (which is

basically anthropocentric). This does not just end in trying to

establish the inherent worth of nature but emphasize the com-

plementarity in the natural world.

Conclusion

The African environmental problem is basically more man-

made than natural. Most of the issues that come up in the envi-

ronmental problems of African come up as a result of ignorance

which is rooted in the effort to reconcile the evolved African

man from traditionalism to modernism. It is a problem of de-

velopment. The African combines the anthropocentrism and

rationalism embedded in their culture to face their environment.

This culminates in low care/abandonment of environment, en-

vironmental dilapidation and hazards.

Africans would need to revitalize the traditional system

which gives some respect to the environment and merge with it

a developmental structure which would help engender ecologi-

cal preservation to ensure a sustained environmental preserva-

tion.

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1The Cartesian understanding of the self is such that the self is limited to the

thinking personality—the res cogitans. The res cogitans by its explication

signifies the human being and naturally shuts off every other entity which

may not be said t o possess consciousness.

2See Okoye, Chuka On the Critique of John Ekei’s etymological Idea of the

human pers on. The mma-ndu etymology.