Since the 18th century, Greece has been heralded as the cradle of
Western civilization, with Plato, Pythagoras, and Thales touted
as the world's first philosophers. But as Temple University
scholar Molefi Kete Asante writes in this slim, spectacular book,
those men all studied in ancient Egypt and took credit for the
concepts created by Imhotep, Ahmenhotep, Akhenaton, and other
Egyptian intellectuals, scientists, theologians, and moralists.
Asante, the major proponent of the concept of Afrocentricity,
draws from a number of primary sources to reveal what he claims
to be the true origins of medicine, astronomy, ethics, scientific
inquiry, and civics. "The antiquity of African philosophy is
unique and stands alone and is older than all other
philosophies," Asante writes. "It would be much later, nearly two
thousand years, before the Greeks, who were influenced by the
Egyptians, would develop their philosophy."
From 2700 to 1290 B.C., the Egyptians were the light of the
ancient world. They produced many early medical instruments,
designed the world's first step pyramid, and laid the empirical
groundwork for scientific reasoning. Akhenaton, the rebel
pharaoh, is even cited as "the Father of Monotheism." Asante
stresses throughout the book that these developments came from a
confluence of African cultures, and not from other parts of the
world. "The practice of the African philosophers along the Nile
was a practice of maintaining Maat [the principle of truth,
order, and justice] in every aspect of life," he writes. "If we
could only learn from them the value of harmony, balance, and
righteousness, we would be on our way toward a revival of the
spirit of human victory." --Eugene Holley Jr.
