Joseph Omoregbe

Joseph I. Omoregbe is a Nigerian philosopher and scholar of African philosophy. His work has addressed philosophy, African philosophy, ethics, religion and philosophical jurisprudence. Quotes Philosophy is essentially a reflective activity. To philosophize is to reflect on human experience in search of answers to some fundamental questions. Omoregbe was explaining the nature of philosophy and describing philosophizing as reflective inquiry into fundamental questions arising from human experience. Human nature and human experience are basically the same all over the world, and the tendency to philosophize is part of human nature. Man cannot avoid philosophizing. Omoregbe was invoking Karl Jaspers' formulation to reinforce his argument that the tendency to reflect on fundamental questions is part of human nature. In a certain sense, that is, in a loose sense, every man at one time or another in the course of his life reflects on some of the fundamental philosophic questions about human life or about the physical universe. Omoregbe was distinguishing between the broad sense in which ordinary people engage in philosophical reflection and the stricter sense in which a person devotes substantial time and attention to philosophical inquiry. As long as we admit that Africans are human beings, we have also to admit that they reflect on the basic problems of life. Omoregbe was arguing that Africans, like other human beings, engage in reflection on fundamental questions. He used this argument to challenge attempts to deny the existence of African philosophical thought. Africa too has its own philosophers, its own Socrates, its own Plato, its own Aristotle. Omoregbe was arguing that African societies should not be assumed to lack philosophers simply because their philosophical traditions developed in forms different from those familiar in Western philosophical history. There is no part of the world where men never reflect on such basic questions about human person or about the physical universe. Omoregbe was arguing that philosophical reflection is not confined to any particular geographical region or civilization. He used the universal human tendency to ask fundamental questions as part of his argument for recognizing philosophical traditions in Africa. The tendency to reflect on such fundamental philosophic questions is part of human nature; it is rooted in human natural instinct of curiosity – the instinct to know. Omoregbe was explaining why philosophical reflection should be regarded as a universal human capacity. He connected philosophy with curiosity and the human desire for knowledge. Human nature and human experiences are the same all over the world, and the tendency to philosophize is part of human nature. Omoregbe was challenging the assumption that philosophical reflection belongs exclusively to Western intellectual traditions. His argument was that the capacity to philosophize follows from common human nature and experience. The philosopher is one who attempts to understand the world’s phenomena, the purpose of human existence, the nature of the world and the place of human beings in that world. Omoregbe was giving a broad account of what constitutes philosophical activity and the questions that philosophical inquiry attempts to address. This form of natural philosophy is identifiable in Africa even before individual African philosophers can be distinguished in the sources. Omoregbe was discussing philosophical reflection in African societies before the historical record clearly identifies particular African philosophers by name. Category: Philosophers from Nigeria