Microsoft Word - IGWEBUIKE JOUNALS VOL. 5. NO. 1.docx IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities Vol. 5 No 1, January 2019. ISSN: 2488-9210(Online) 2504-9038(Print) (A Publication of Tansian University, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies) 1 A CRITIQUE OF HEGEL’S CONCEPT OF AFRICA Anetoh Bonaventure Chike, Ph.D. Department of Philosophy & Religious Studies Tansian University, Umunya & Ezeilo Paschal Ifenna Pope John Paul II Major Seminary, Okpuno anetohbonaventure@yahoo.com Abstract This study focuses on a critique of Hegel’s erroneous conception of Africa, precisely black race of Africa. Africa is one of the continents of the world and it is very rich in human and mineral resources. It is often denoted as the ‘black race’. In the past, some western scholars doubted, and almost denied the humanity as well as the intellectual ability of Africans. Among such scholars is Georg Hegel who even excluded Africa from the world history. Some derogatory terms such as ‘irrational’, ‘uncivilized’, ‘irreligious’, etc. were used to refer to Africa. Hegel argued that Africa has no place in the world history and has actually nothing to contribute to the world history. The fundamental questions are: Is it correct to describe Africans as irrational and uncivilized people? Has Africa any place in the world history? Is Hegel correct in his concept of Africa? This study, employing analytical and critical methods, examines Hegel’s concept of Africa. This study argues that Africa is part and parcel of world’s history, and thus, Hegel’s denial of Africa a place in the world history is quite unfounded. It evaluates Hegel’s concept of Africa, and argues that most of Hegel’s ideas regarding Africa are quite erroneous. Such erroneous ideas seem to be as a result of deep-rooted racism. This study maintains that whiteness of skin colour does not imply superiority just as blackness of skin does not entail inferiority. Africa has contributed and is still contributing to the civilization of the world. Keywords: Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Africa, Critique. Introduction Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel is a German philosopher. He lived between 1770 and 1831. He is popularly known for his dialectical process of history as well as ideas from thesis to antithesis and then to synthesis, which later becomes a new thesis. However, he is one of the western scholars that uphold negative views about Africa, precisely the black race of Africa. Most of his claims about Africa were as a result of deep rooted racism and were obviously unfounded. His development of the dialectical scheme of the progress of history is quite remarkable, though very controversial. Hegel conceives history as a dialectical process of development of ‘the Absolute’. In the world historical categorizations, Hegel argues that ‘Asia’ is the beginning and IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities Vol. 5 No 1, January 2019. ISSN: 2488-9210(Online) 2504-9038(Print) (A Publication of Tansian University, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies) 2 ‘Europe’ is the end of history, while ‘Africa’ has no place at all in the world history. Thus, he denied Africa a place in the world history. He further argued that Africa has no contribution to make to the history of the world. Also, he used many pejorative and derogatory terms to refer to Africa and everything that has to do with the black race of Africa. However, the pertinent questions that quickly come to mind are: How can one justify the fact of Europe being the greatest in the world history with high rated culture? How can one really justify the assertion that Africa has no place in the world history? Does it mean that Africa is not a continent? Can the exclusion of Africa from the world history be justified? Are Hegel’s negative views about Africa at all justifiable? Is it not a contradiction to deny an existing continent a place in the world history? Why must it be Africa and not any other continent that could be said to have no place in the world history? The responses to these questions are very necessary in assessing Hegel’s placement of Africa as well as his negative views about Africa. Analysis of Hegel’s Concept of Africa Hegel conceives the universe as a ‘coherent whole’, and the essential part of this whole is what Hegel calls ‘Idea’ or ‘Spirit’ or ‘Divine mind’. He argues that the ‘Spirit’ is the only reality that governs the universe. History, for him, is a rational process, and the Spirit is capable of realizing and producing all history. Thus, the spirit is self-contained existence which is self-consciousness; and the essence of Spirit is ‘freedom’. From this perspective, Hegel is said to be a freedom-centred philosopher. It is from this concept of the Spirit that his correlation of the hierarchy of races as well as civilizations came up. Hegel is one of the western scholars who uphold very negative and derogatory views about ‘Africa proper’. Omotade Adegbindin brings out very clearly Hegel’s division of Africa into three parts. According to him: Furthermore, it is important to bring to the fore Hegel’s analysis of Africa, which entails three major distinctions; he divides Africa into three parts: i. Africa proper- the territory that lies south of the Sahara; ii. European Africa- that which lies north of the Sahara; and iii. Egypt- the territory that is connected to Asia.1 Thus, Hegel’s attack is on ‘Africa proper’. By ‘Africa proper’, he was referring to ‘Black Race of Africa’. He criticized Africa, arguing that Africa is characterized with backwardness. While examining the geographical basis of history, he argued that Africa’s backwardness is closely associated with geographical factor. In the words of Hegel: Africa proper, as far as History goes back, has remained — for all purposes of connection with the rest of the World — shut up; it is the Gold-land compressed within itself — the land of childhood, which IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities Vol. 5 No 1, January 2019. ISSN: 2488-9210(Online) 2504-9038(Print) (A Publication of Tansian University, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies) 3 lying beyond the day of self-conscious history, is enveloped in the dark mantle of Night. Its isolated character originates, not merely in its tropical nature, but essentially in its geographical condition.2 Hegel conceives Africa as a land of darkness and insists that Africa has no place in the world history. This may partly be as a result of his claim that nothing of world historical importance has ever happened in Africa. Besides, Africans, for him, do not have written histories. He sees history as that which is consequent upon people’s ideas, religion and philosophy. It is geography, climate as well as locality of an environment that determine the ‘national character’ or ‘common mentality’ of a people. He argues thus: The unchangeableness of climate, of the whole character of the country in which a nation has its permanent abode, contributes to the unchangeableness of the national character. A desert, proximity to the sea or remoteness from it, all these circumstances can have an influence on the national character.3 Hegel insists that Africans are isolated from other people of the world due to their geographical situation. Thus, he states: “Africa has remained cut off from all contacts with the rest of the world... Its isolation is not just a result of its tropical nature, but an essential consequence of its geographic character.”4 Thus, the geographic character of Africa isolates Africa from the rest of the world. One essential feature of world-historical peoples, however, is contact and mixture with other peoples, and hence, not racial homogeneity or racial purity, but heterogeneity. Hegel stresses the relationship of the ‘African consciousness’ with its geographical situation. For him, the African mentality is still imprisoned in nature, and Africans are living in a harsh natural environment. This has grievous demands on them. The demands of living in a harsh natural environment are such that consciousness has not been able to free itself sufficiently from nature to make spiritual progress. Africans, in Hegel’s analysis, are still in the complete grip of nature, such that, in the interior of Africa, the consciousness of its inhabitants has not yet reached an awareness of any substantial and objective existence. This influences their conception of a Supreme Being. In the words of Hegel: the Africans “have not yet attained this recognition of the universal; their nature is as yet compressed within itself; and what we call religion, the state, that which exists in and for itself and possesses absolute validity — all this is not yet present to them.”5 Hegel argues that the Negroes (Africans) lack the objective existence of higher principles of life. It ought to be noted that a ‘negro’ refers to one who belongs to a race from Africa with black skin. He regards Negroes as undeveloped, and have not yet attained any knowledge of God or law. This implies that Africans have no religion. According to Hegel: IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities Vol. 5 No 1, January 2019. ISSN: 2488-9210(Online) 2504-9038(Print) (A Publication of Tansian University, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies) 4 In Negro life, the characteristic point is the fact that consciousnes has not yet attained to the realization of any substantial objective existence — as for example, God, or Law — in which the interest of man’s volition is involved and in which he realizes his own being. This distinction between himself as an individual and the universality of his essential being, the African in the uniform, undeveloped oneness of his existence has not yet attained; so that the Knowledge of an absolute Being, an Other and a Higher than his individual self, is entirely wanting. The Negro, as already observed, exhibits the natural man in his completely wild and untamed state. We must lay aside all thought of reverence and morality — all that we call feeling — if we would rightly comprehend him; there is nothing harmonious with humanity to be found in this type of character.6 The point Hegel wants to emphasize is that Africans do not have a genuine idea of God and thus, have no religion as well as morality. Explaining further, he asserts: Religion begins with the consciousness that there is something higher than man. But even Herodotus called the Negroes sorcerers: — now in Sorcery we have not the idea of a God, of a moral faith; it exhibits man as the highest power, regarding him as alone occupying a position of command over the power of Nature. We have here therefore nothing to do with a spiritual adoration of God, nor with an empire of Right. God thunders, but is not on that account recognized as God. For the soul of man, God must be more than a thunderer, whereas among the Negroes this is not the case. Although they are necessarily conscious of dependence upon nature — for they need the beneficial influence of storm, rain, cessation of the rainy period, and so on — yet this does not conduct them to the consciousness of a Higher Power: it is they who command the elements, and this they call “magic.”7 Moreover, Africans, for him, don’t even conceive the idea of immortality of soul. Furthermore, Hegel maintains that black Africans practice tyranny and cannibalism. As was earlier stated in this study, Hegel is a freedom- centred philosopher. Thus, he has strong opposition to practices that are contrary to human freedom such as tyranny, slavery, cannibalism, polygamy and so on. He observes that such practices as already mentioned could be observed in Africa and thus states that in Africa: IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities Vol. 5 No 1, January 2019. ISSN: 2488-9210(Online) 2504-9038(Print) (A Publication of Tansian University, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies) 5 Tyranny is regarded as no wrong, and cannibalism is looked upon as quite customary and proper. Among us instinct deters from it, if we can speak of instinct at all as appertaining to man. But with the Negro this is not the case, and the devouring of human flesh is altogether consonant with the general principles of the African race; to the sensual Negro, human flesh is but an object of sense – mere flesh. At the death of a King hundreds are killed and eaten; prisoners are butchered and their flesh sold in the markets; the victor is accustomed to eat the heart of his slain foe. When magical rites are performed, it frequently happens that the sorcerer kills the first that comes in his way and divides his body among the bystanders.8 The implication of Hegel’s assertion is that tyranny and cannibalism are basically traditional in Africa. It is seen as no wrong and as such makes it morally right for the Africans to devour their fellow human flesh. He gave example with the burial of a king where hundreds of humans are killed and eaten, prisoners butchered and their flesh sold in the markets. Hegel sees these very acts as dehumanizing and as such was strongly against their practices. Also, Hegel observes that the Negroes practice polygamy so as to have many children to be sold into slavery. Parents sell their children, and at the same time children sell their parents if they have the opportunity.9 The practice of slavery is common among Africans. Thus, they are not afraid to give out their fellow human beings. For him, the poverty of African spiritual understanding, coupled with lack of regard for human life explains African courage. According to him, life for the Negroes has a value only when it has something valuable as its object. Among the Negroes, moral sentiments are quite weak or more strictly speaking, non-existent. This implies that Africans have no sense of morality. Hegel describes slavery as a characteristic fact with reference to Negroes. It ought to be noted that Hegel nowhere suggests that Negroes should be ‘dominated like animals’. Indeed, he explicitly condemns the enslavement of Negroes in his day. He stated categorically that “reason must maintain that the slavery of the Negroes is a wholly unjust institution, one which contradicts true justice, both human and divine, and which is to be rejected.”i0 Obviously, there is no room for slavery in the modern state, and as such in rational states, slavery no longer exists. In the words of Hegel: Another characteristic fact in reference to the Negroes is Slavery. Negroes are enslaved by Europeans and sold to America. Bad as this may be, their lot in their own land is even worse, since there slavery quite as absolute exists; for it is the essential principle of slavery, that IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities Vol. 5 No 1, January 2019. ISSN: 2488-9210(Online) 2504-9038(Print) (A Publication of Tansian University, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies) 6 man has not yet attained a consciousness of his freedom, and consequently sinks down to a mere Thing – an object of no value.11 Slavery is against human freedom which Hegel is advocating for. He argues that Africans witnessed the worst form of slavery, and insists that an absolute form of slavery exists in Africa. This is as a result of Hegel’s view that Africans lack the required consciousness of their freedom, and thus see themselves as mere objects of no value. This, for him, is indeed the essential principle of slavery. Hegel's lectures on Philosophy of History contain his famous and controversial claim on the notion of freedom. As was earlier demonstrated in this study, Hegel is an advocate of human freedom. He believes that man is free, and at the same time, he is not convinced of the consciousness of this freedom among black Africans. He holds that the history of human race is a development from less to greater freedom, and from less adequate freedom to perfect freedom. One who has achieved freedom ought to be independent. According to him: “I am free…, when my existence depends upon myself.”1ii This implies that “slavery is in and for itself injustice, for the essence of humanity is Freedom; but for this man must be matured.”1iii Hegel equates the essence of humanity with freedom Furthermore, Hegel argues that Africans devalues humanity. In fact, he maintains that the undervaluing of humanity among Africans reaches an incredible degree of intensity. This, as well as other issues discussed above led Hegel to the following conclusions: At this point we leave Africa, not to mention it again. For it is no historical part of the World; it has no movement or development to exhibit. Historical movements in it — that is in its northern part — belong to the Asiatic or European World. Carthage displayed there an important transitionary phase of civilization; but, as a Phoenician colony, it belongs to Asia. Egypt will be considered in reference to the passage of the human mind from its Eastern to its Western phase, but it does not belong to the African Spirit. What we properly understand by Africa, is the Unhistorical, Undeveloped Spirit, still involved in the conditions of mere nature, and which had to be presented here only as on the threshold of the World’s History.14 In summary, one could see from the discussions so far that Hegel has very negative views about Africa. He even went to the extent of stating that Africans do not have good political constitution, and maintains that it is only external force that can hold them together. Some have argued that all he portrayed about Africa is based on prejudiced, while some scholars have preferred to term him a racist who is particularly concerned with Africa. Let us at this juncture undertake a critique of Hegel’s conception of Africa in IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities Vol. 5 No 1, January 2019. ISSN: 2488-9210(Online) 2504-9038(Print) (A Publication of Tansian University, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies) 7 order to discover the plausibility of his positions and observations. This is the focus of the next section of this study. A Critique of Hegel’s Concept of Africa The previous of this study has tried to analyze Hegel’s view of ‘Africa proper’. Hegel’s view of Africa elicited conflicting reactions from different scholars. Some scholars admired Hegel’s ideas, while some denounced Hegel as a racist as stated in this study. Obviously, from the facts available to us, Hegel could be said to be a racist. At this juncture, these pertinent questions quickly come to mind: What necessitated Hegel’s negative views about Africa? Are they actually justifiable? What is Hegel’s intention for such ideas? What is the rationale behind Hegel’s statements concerning Africa? How would one categorize Hegel and his views about Africa? What actually led Hegel to claim that ‘Africa proper’ has no history? Why did Hegel focus only on the Black race of Africa? All these questions are necessary in assessing Hegel’s views about Africa? Obviously, Hegel claims that Africa has no history because, for him, nothing of world historical importance has ever happened in ‘Africa proper’. Is there any group of people without a history? What actually is Hegel’s conception of history? It could be said that Hegel is completely wrong by claiming that Africa has no history or has played no significant role in history. The exclusion of ‘Africa proper’ from world history is unjustifiable. His metaphysical speculations are basically on the ground that he is a child of enlightenment and was enthusiastic to display his philosophic genius in order to attract the attention of some thinkers. Hegel failed in his world historical classifications. It is quite unfair to deny any group of people a history just because one thinks that one is from a superior race that has contributed much to world civilization. Such superiority complex leaves much to be desired. Some of what he claims to be his evidences are quite unreal. Hegel denigrated the black race of Africa most probably on the ground of skin colour. But this denigration of Africa indicates that he is even ignorant of history. From the archeo-scientific discoveries, life and civilization began in Africa. It is a historical fact that Africa has contributed to world’s civilization. It ought to be noted that Hegel only relied on the circumstantial accounts of early Christian missionaries. However, we have note also that there are some early missionaries that even gave very positive accounts of Africa. For instance, Placide Tempels argued that Africans (Bantu) have their own philosophy and system of thought. Thus, Africans cannot be said to be incapable of thinking, and cannot be said to have no culture. Nevertheless, Placide Tempels Bantu Philosophy was later classified as ethno-philosophy by contemporary African philosophers such as P. Hountondji. Also, Gobineau attributed the inspiration IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities Vol. 5 No 1, January 2019. ISSN: 2488-9210(Online) 2504-9038(Print) (A Publication of Tansian University, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies) 8 of poetry as well as art to the black race of Africa. Thus, it could be argued that Hegel was not quoting the missionaries correctly. Rather, he was too selective and was forcing facts to suit his negative direction of thought. Hegel did not acknowledge the views of some early missionaries who gave positive account of Africa. Certainly, Hegel’s denial of Africa as a historical part of the world is quite unjustifiable since to exist in the world is already to be part of the world history. One cannot talk of world history without reference to Africa. Africa remains one of the continents of the world, and anyone who denies this fact is not doing justice to world history. All his portrayal of African image in a negative sense is arbitrary. One can easily argue that Hegel may be said to be ignorant of history or does not properly understand what history is all about. Among the African Scholars who opposed Hegel’s view of Africa and argued that Africa is the cradle of human race is J. Obi Oguejiofor. In his words: Scientists no longer dispute that Africa is the cradle of human race and its evolution to the stage of homo sapiens many hundreds of thousands of years ago, and before the beginning of the Neanderthaal period in Europe. Africa was also the cradle of the technological evolution of humanity from the invention of wooden and bone tools to the momentous advance into the stone-age….by 600 BC. It [Africa] was able to produce what has been described as “perhaps the best steel in the world of the time, and certainly equal to or even better than the steel produced in early modern Europe.15 The question is this: How can Africa that is said to be the cradle of human race and has hosted ancient civilization be excluded from world history? From all indications, it is clear that Hegel is a racist. Skin colour is very essential for him, and his problem is basically with skin colour. He likes white coloured skin and hates dark coloured one. His fundamental problem is that he thinks that ‘whiteness’ implies superiority. He fails to understand that skin colour is accidental and not essential to our nature as human beings. From the foregoing, it is obvious that Hegel is a racist. W. Shirer argued that Hegel’s philosophy formed the intellectual background and the theoretical structure of the racist nationalistic movements which Adolf Hitler was to bring to practical perfection in National socialism with terrible consequences.16 Also Karl Popper, a renowned philosopher of science and political philosopher, sees Hegel as the founder of German racialism and discovers a close connection between Hegel and racialist Nazism. This idea was made very explicit by W. Kaufmann. In his words: “the Nazis got their racism from Hegel.”17 In a similar way, Karl Popper states that: “Hegel + Haeckel is the formula for modern racism.”18 Also, J. O. Oguejiofor at the IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities Vol. 5 No 1, January 2019. ISSN: 2488-9210(Online) 2504-9038(Print) (A Publication of Tansian University, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies) 9 conclusion of his treatment on the philosophers’ views on the African predicament argues thus: Most philosophers who supported racism, slavery, and oppressive leadership, did not derive their positions from the logical consequences of their philosophy. In most cases they contradict themselves, or made objectionable applications of their questionable ends. Second, there are relatively few the implications of whose philosophy leads to the justification of inhumanity or the subjugation of human beings in the society. Of these, with the clear exception of Hegel, none is based on race, colour or origin of those under consideration…. There are very few thinkers whose theories are squarely against the fusions we have identified as underlying the African predicament.19 Another area where Hegel is wrong in his conception of Africa is in the domain of the conception God. Africans have an idea of the Supreme Being which is approached through the minor deities and spirits. Hence, Africans have their traditional religion with its accompanied morality. Thus, Hegel’s assertion that Negroes (Africans) have not yet attained the realization of any substantial existence such as God or law, is strictly based on unfounded assumptions which are as a result of inherent prejudice and bias. He sees the African as undeveloped person who exhibits the natural man, and hence cannot conceive God. But Africans as we know even before the advent of the missionaries have the existence of God in their subconscious minds. Though they have many gods which were taken to be in charge of different functions in the world, but they see these gods as intermediaries through which their prayers and devotions ascend to the Supreme Being. They serve as channels through which prayers, sacrifices and offerings are presented to the Supreme Being. In the words of C.O.T. Ugwu, “...they assume both natural and human forms. Among the Igbos, such divinities include the sun god, moon god, egbeigwe, ‘kamalu’ as it is called in Imo state, Nigeria, or ‘amadioha’, sky god, etc.”20 These beings have been given various names by various writers such as ‘gods’, ‘demigods’, ‘nature gods’, ‘divinities’ and the likes and are nothing but divinities which serve as an intermediary between God and man. It becomes very clear that Africans have conception of the Supreme Being. Hence, one stands to condemn Hegel for saying that Africans have no idea of objective existence of God and law. Hegel even contradicted himself when he asserted that “religion is the consciousness that there is something higher than man.”21 At the same time, he accused Africans of having no religion. Africans obviously are not devoid of this consciousness of higher being who is greater than man as we have demonstrated above. Why then did Hegel say that there IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities Vol. 5 No 1, January 2019. ISSN: 2488-9210(Online) 2504-9038(Print) (A Publication of Tansian University, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies) 10 is no idea of substantial existence of God among the Africans if not based on unfounded assumptions? More so, Hegel’s assertion that the polygamy of the Negroes has frequently for its object the having many children to be sold into slavery is quite incorrect and unjustifiable. Traditional Africans do not have many children just for slavery. Many traditional Africans used to have many children in order to have enough man-power for farm work since farming was the major source of income in traditional Africa, and one’s wealth was measured by the number of one’s yam barns. Also, traditional Africans value male children very highly, and anyone who has only female children tends to have many children in search for the male ones. With these, and other related reasons, traditional Africans used to have many children. It is not for slavery as Hegel postulated. Polygamy, as a matter of fact, has existed in all over the African continent. It represents an aspect of our culture and religion. Among the reasons why this has happened is because the African societies have managed to see that children were a form of wealth, and thus a family with more children was considered to be more powerful. Under these circumstances, the polygamy in Africa was considered to be part of the ways one could build an empire. Furthermore, Hegel’s assertion that cannibalism is seen as quite customary and proper in Africa is far from being the case. According to him, it is seen as no wrong, and as such makes it morally right for the Africans to devour their fellow human flesh. It is possible to criticise Hegel's lack of proper information on some of claims about Africa. It is an over-statement to assert that cannibalism is morally right among Africans. Though it was practiced in the past in some parts of Africa, it cannot be said to be proper in Africa. Besides, it cannot be said to be perculiar to Africa. It is important however, to note that this study is not arguing that cannibalism was never in existence at all, obviously it was and is still in existence today in some countries, but the contention of this study is that Hegel was wrong to particularize it to Africa. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia listed some places where cannibalism was practiced in the past, viz. USSR, Africa (Congo, West Africa, Central African Republic, Uganda), Asia (Cambodia, North Korea, China, Tibet) and various cultures such as Urapmin people, Aghoris, Korowai tribe of south-eastern Papua.22 If all these people as listed by Wikipedia practiced cannibalism in the past, why did Hegel focus only on Africa? Why did he exclude other continents and only talked of Africa as associated with cannibalism? He even denied that such practice could not even be mentioned among them. It could be argued that some cases of cultural cannibalism cited by explorers, missionaries, and anthropologists just as in the case of Hegel, were as a result of deep-rooted racism, and some of which were unsubstantiated. More so, IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities Vol. 5 No 1, January 2019. ISSN: 2488-9210(Online) 2504-9038(Print) (A Publication of Tansian University, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies) 11 history has shown that in most cases where cannibalism was practised, were mainly the periods of time when there was famine in those areas or countries during which the people yielded to the notion of ‘survival of the fittest’. Some of them ate only strangers in their land as a source of meal for survival. This is not an attempt to exonerate Africa, but the fact remains that the act in question is not peculiar to Africa, and cannot be said to be the unique characteristic of Africa. Evaluation and Conclusion Serious attempt has been made in this study to examine Hegel’s views about Africa. It is obvious from the study that Hegel has basically negative views about the black race of Africa. Having seen so far the criticisms levelled against Hegel, one can easily concur with the researchers that Hegel is a deep- rooted racist. It is explicitly clear that he was arguing from the perspective of racial superiority complex. This study argues that Hegel’s ideas about Africa are unfounded and they lack factual as well as logical justifications. Hegel is fundamentally euro-centric in approach, and thus sees everything from such perspective. It seems to the researchers that no race is superior to the other. Rather, each race is just different from the other, and thus very unique. Whiteness does not in any way entail superiority. It is only a matter of skin colour. Also, blackness or darkness does not in any way imply inferiority. Hence, Hegel’s denigration of Africa due to skin colour leaves much to be desired. It is unfortunate that he could not rise above racism even in his philosophy. It is expected that rationality would enable one to be objective in the assessment of issues. This expectation is not realized and actualized in Hegel’s conception of Africa. It is obvious that he allowed personal sentiment and bias to influence his ideas. No matter how one tries to defend him or tries to justify his ideas, the truth remains that one cannot extricate elements of racism from his views about Africa. J. Obi Oguejiofor rightly observed that scholars who did not allow racial discrimination to influence them were more positive in their assessment of Africa. He argues thus: There are, on the other hand, those philosophers who lived before the modern epoch. These were mostly ancient Greek philosophers. These must also have known a good deal about Africa, but the importance of their views is attenuated by the fact that they lived in a time when there was no race prejudice against the African. In a carefully researched book on the ancient perception of blacks, Frank Snowdon concluded that there were indeed numerous references to blacks in ancient records, but these references never had any racial undertones. They also show that blacks lived side by side with other races, and moved freely upward or downward on the social ladder without racist hindrance.23 IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities Vol. 5 No 1, January 2019. ISSN: 2488-9210(Online) 2504-9038(Print) (A Publication of Tansian University, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies) 12 One only began hearing of these prejudiced views about Africa in the modern period when racism has become so ingrained even into the subconscious minds of some scholars. As was demonstrated in this study, Hegel’s contention that Africa, because of her geographical condition, is capable of no development and culture stands to be refuted. It is certain that Africa has recorded a lot of developments in different sectors of life, though some would argue that the development is slow and stunted. Also, a lot of things have actually changed from the time of Hegel to the present day Africa. An ancient philosopher, Heraclitus rightly argues that everything is in a state of flux, and the only thing that is permanent in life is change. Consequent upon that, the present day Africa has in area of development, achieved a tremendous improvement as regards the level of consciousness of freedom among them as criticized by Hegel. For example, the issue of slave trade which he held as a weak point on the part of the Africans is more or less no longer a serious issue today. More so, in the present day Africa, the issue of burying the king with slaves is more or less no longer an issue in Africa. From all indications, it is explicitly clear that the present day Africa is no longer the same as it was during the time of Hegel or as he portrayed it to be. However, it ought to be noted that bad leadership is one of the major factors militating against rapid development in Africa. Endnotes 1Omotade Adegbindin, Critical Notes on Hegel’s Treatment of Africa, http://www. ajol.info/index. php/og/ article/download/ 121673/111136 (27/04/2018). 2Robert Maynard Hutchins (ed.), ‘Hegel’ in Great Books of Western World, vol. 46. (Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica Inc., 1952),p.196. 3 A.V. Miller (trans.), ‘Hegel’s Philosophy of Mind’, in William Wallace (ed.), Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences, Part III (Oxford: Claredon Press, 1971), p. 394. 4 G. Hegel, Lectures on the Philosophy of World History, H. B. Nisbet (trans) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975), p.174. 5Robert Maynard Hutchins (ed.), ‘Hegel’ in Great Books of Western World, vol. 46.,p.196. 6Ibid. 7Ibid.p.197. 8Ibid.pp.197-198. IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities Vol. 5 No 1, January 2019. ISSN: 2488-9210(Online) 2504-9038(Print) (A Publication of Tansian University, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies) 13 9G.W.F. Hegel, Philosophy of History, J. Sibree (trans) (New York: Random House, 1956),p.96. 10Robert Maynard Hutchins (ed.), ‘Hegel’ in Great Books of Western World, vol. 46.,p.199. 11Ibid.,p.198. 12G.W.F. Hegel, Philosophy of History,p.17. 13Ibid.p.99. 14Robert Maynard Hutchins (ed.), ‘Hegel’ in Great Books of Western World, vol. 46.,p.199. 15J.Obi Oguejiofor, Philosophy and The African Predicament, (Ibadan: Hope Publications, 2001), p.24 16 W. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, (New York: Faweet Crest, 1960), pp.143-152. 17 W. Kaufmann, ‘The Hegel Myth and its Method’ in Steward Jon (ed.), The Hegel Myth and its Legends (Illinois: Northwestern University Press, 1966), p.102. 18 K. Popper, The Open Society and its Enemies (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1950),p.252. 19J.Obi Oguejiofor, Philosophy and The African Predicament, p.87. 20C.O.T. Ugwu, ‘African Traditional Religion and Sustainable Development in Nigeria’ in E. Ezenweke (ed.) African Traditional Religion, Philosophy and Sustainable Development in Nigeria (Awka: Fab Anieh Nig. Ltd., 2014), p.52. 21Robert Maynard Hutchins (ed.), ‘Hegel’ in Great Books of Western World, vol. 46.,p.197. 22Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Human Cannibalism, https://en. Wikipedia. org/ wiki/ Huma-cannibalism.(12/03/18). 23J.Obi Oguejiofor, Philosophy and The African Predicament, p.69.