Compare and Contrast the Different Perspective on the Self

Compare and contrast the different location on the ego in Kaphagawanis article Afri can conceptions of a psyche. Reflect on some of the challenges. Table of Content Table of Content1 Introduction2 Nature2 Principle of life2 Personhood3 Human being3 Conclusion3 References4 IntroductionIn this essay I will compare and contrast the different perspectives of self, person and personhood from various cultures crosswise Africa, answering the age-old questions within metaphysics as well as doctrine What is a person? What elements constitute being a person? and Could unmatchable be a person without personhood? Nature The Akan philosophers Wiredu and Gyekye agree the okra (soul) is the inmost self of the person, but disagree whether the nature of the okra is a significant or fresh substance.Wiredu insist the okra is different from the Western philosophical systems perceived soul, beca intent to the West the term soul refers to a stringently immaterial entity that somehow inhabits t he body. The okra, by contrast, is quasi-physical. (1) The okra for Gyekye has the same concept of a soul as in other metaphysical systems and proclaims that a polar aspect of Akan metaphysics is the existence of the world of spirits (2a). Gyekye insists the okra and sunsum are immaterial substances and they survive death as a spiritual unity(2b) where Wiredu suggests sunsum is non an entity but a manner of being, which perishes at death.Principle of life The sunsum as the activation principle and okra as the principle of life is unclear. The Yorubas ori, the likes of the okra, is the determinant of personality, where the emi is the active principal of life. The Akans perception of okra is regarded as the active life principle supplied by the deity, as well as the bearer of destiny, where the Yorubas emi, which is the equivalent of okra, is not the bearer of destiny. PersonhoodThe words of canful F. Kennedy, Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country (3) sums up the road to personhood. Mbiti (4) argues that in traditional life, the individualistist does not and cannot exist al hotshot except corporately. He is simply go against of the whole, and describes a social-centric view of personhood in which society creates the individual. Tempels agrees that this concept of separate beings, of substance hich find themselves side by side, entirely independent one of another, is foreign to Bantu thought. (5) Human being Kagame claims that humans beings are release animals from the moment he exist in his mothers womb, when a pee-pee has been given or from the moment he puts reason to good use (6) but for Wiredu everyone is born a person. However personhood is something you may achieve making some more person than others on fulfilment of ones obligations to self, household and to familiarity. 7) For Geykye a human person is a being who has a moral mind and is capable of making moral judgements (8a) and does not agree with the personhood debate because what the individual would be striving for in all his/her exertions is some social status, not personhood. (8b) Conclusion After colonialism Africa provided descriptions on what a person is in the African context but the authentic descriptions were lost in order to patch up for Aristotles man is a rational animal.It unified African amend philosophers and created a second tier by adding the word hood to person. The English language creates translation issues because it is unable to effectively delimitate African concepts as passed down amongst generations. The words of can F. Kennedys inauguration livery stress the essence of African culture as it emphasises the role which the partnership plays in order for a person to be able to define him-/herself. References (1) Kwasi WireduThe concept of mind with particular reference to the language and thought of the Akan coetaneous Philosophy A new survey. Vol 5 African Philosophy, ed G. Floistad (Dordrecht Nijhoff, 1987) pg. 161 (2a) Kwame Gyekye fancy of a person An essay on African philosophical thought, revise,d edition, ed Kwane Gyekye (Temple university press, Philadelphia, 1995) pg. 86,87 (2b) Kwame Gyekye Concept of a person An essay on African philosophical thought, revise,d edition, ed Kwane Gyekye (Temple university press, Philadelphia, 1995) pg. 98 (3) John F.Kennedy This speech was delivered by John F Kennedy at his inauguration in Washington on January 20 1961. (4) John S. Mbiti Ethnic Groups, Kinship the Individual African Religions and Philosophy, 2nd edition, ed. John S Mbiti (Oxford Heineman, 1989), pg. 106. (5) Father Placide Temples Bantu Philosophy La Philosophie Bantoue, ed. Dr. A. Rubbens (Elizabethville Lovania, 1945), pg. 58. (6) Alex Kagame The Shadow Thesis see in contemporary African Philosophy, ed Dr P Mungwini, Dr MLJ Koeane, Mr ESN Mkhwanazi (UNISA Pretoria, 2012) pg. 91 (7) Kwasi Wiredu An Akan perspective on human rights The African Philosophy Reade r, Second Edition, ed PH Coetzee and APJ Roux (Routledge Londen, 2003), pg 315 (8a) Kwame Gyekye Person and community in African thought Reading in contemporary African Philosophy, ed Dr P Mungwini, Dr MLJ Koeane, Mr ESN Mkhwanazi (UNISA Pretoria, 2012) pg. 29 (8b) Kwame Gyekye Person and community in African thought Reading in contemporary African Philosophy, ed Dr P Mungwini, Dr MLJ Koeane, Mr ESN Mkhwanazi (UNISA Pretoria, 2012) pg. 30