ELUSIYAN TOLU’ FRANCIS
The notion that man is free has
been a topical issue that occasioned many settings for debate. The
existentialist philosophers like Jean Paul Satre are prominent in this regard.
Their submission is that man is free in all his activities. In fact, the axiom
of Protagoras is a caption of their view when he says “Man is the measure of
all things”. But to what extent is human freedom in human history? Is man
totally free? If man is not totally free, then can we not say that history is
determined? In contrast to the view of the existentialists on freedom, some
scholars have subscribed to the fact that an integral aspect of human history
is determined. Some of these groups include the materialists, the mechanistic
philosophers and so on. Determinism therefore has been seen for these scholars
as an important factor of human history. But what is determinism per se?
Determinism
is the conception that a resultant effect is caused. It also holds that actions
are programmed. It can also be expressed as an influence which makes an action
to occur. Some have also agreed to the fact that actions are determined because
of the reasons that meditated the actions that occur. The different types of
determinism explicate the meaning of determinism the more. Let us consider the
few necessary ones.
Theological Determinism
This is the notion that the
almighty God who is the creator of the universe is responsible for everything
that happens in the universe. He knows what happens next even before it takes
place. He has foreknowledge of every event. Reasonably, this God who has
foreknowledge will not allow anything contrary to his will to happen. From the
knowledge of God, man shares. This foreknowledge is a form of determinism.
The
kind of knowledge that has been identified as a determinant for human behavior
is ethical. This is called ethical determinism. It is opined and expressed that
the knowledge of good and bad that man has is what determines his actions. Some
scholars hold that no normal human being will choose what is bad at the expense
of what is good for him.
Another
form of determinism is the economic determinism. This is the idea that it is
the economic situation that prompts the actions that people exhibit. This is
clearly understood with special reference to the capitalist states. Here, the
invisible hands of the economy determine the action of the people, which is
often than not is reactionary. That is, the rising and falling of the demand
and supply in relation to the price rate goes a long way to affect the people’s
reaction; the higher the price, the lower the demand; the lower the price, the
higher the demand. However, this may not be totally true everywhere – Nigeria
is a good example where this is not totally true.
Man
is part of nature and lives in the natural world. Man cannot be separated from
this natural world. The natural world as it were has laws that govern it. The
laws are also binding on man since man is part of the natural world. This
cannot be denied. Hence, it has been identified as a form of determinism called
physical determinism. Simply put, the natural law of the universe of whichman
is inclusive, determines the action of man.
There is also another conception
of determinism which will form the focal point of this paper. This is
historical determinism. Historical determinism is basically the notion that
personalities, events and objects in history are determined by a force. For
Placid Tempels, this is known as the vital force. It is the force that moves
and exhibits itself using what may be called the agents. It is in this form of
determinism that we can now query, “is human history determined?” if yes, “to
what extent is human history determined?” history here should be seen as ……
SOME PHILOSOPHERS AND DETERMINISM
IN HISTORY
HEGEL
The enterprise of Hegel’s work on
history is the absolute spirit. In this work, Hegel simply highlights the fact
that nature is the absolute spirit. The world (universe) is the body through
which the spirit showcases itself. So, the world and the spirit are the same.
This is pantheistic especially when the right wing Hegelians interpreted the
absolute spirit to be God. Hegel therefore posits that the events and the civilization
we see in the physical and natural world is as a result of the absolute spirit
in the form of his Thesis, antithesis and synthesis. The absolute spirit according to Hegel did
not pass through Africa. That is why Africans are prelogical and uncivilized.
He therefore submits that Africans have no idea of spirit and cannot have
history. This is because history is spirit and spirit is history. But let us
think deeper and ask, if the natural world must be animated by a spirit, is
Africa part of the natural world? if yes, let us further the question, how can
a part of the body not be animated by the anima (soul, mind or spirit).
However,
Karl Marx was influenced by Hegel. He aligned with the theory of thesis,
antithesis and synthesis. As a matter of fact, Marx used the theory to study
the eco-political situation of Europe historically. To this effect, it is not
out of placepoint out that in the view of Karl Marx, history is determined. But
there is a disparity between Hegel and Marl as regards the determinant of
history. Hegel, being an idealist tied the determinant to the spirit, which is
transcendental and intangible. This can be said to have taken root from the
platonic philosophy. But karl Marx was a materialist. His analysis was based on
the real world. For Marx, the determinants are the economic factors. Thus, his
form of determinism in history can be technically understood in his notion of
historical materialism. But man is not a composite of materiality only.
In a more
profound way, determinism in history becomes more striking when we consider the
teleological vision of some philosophers about the world. Teleology as it weremeans
purposiveness, a reason pointing to an end, the summit to which something is
directed and can only become understandable at this stage. Teilhard De Chardin
calls this end the Omega Point. In his view, an attempt to attend to the
problem of evil in the world, he concords that what man terms evil is not evil.
For him, the events in this world including the historic disasters as prototype
are part of the process leading to the utmost perfection of the world at the
omega point. As way of interpretation, we can also say that historical wars;
some leading to the vandalization of the beautiful environment is part of the
process leading to the perfection of the world. This process by the process
philosophers like Alfred North Whitehead cannot be altered by any man. In fact,
man is part of the process. But can this be true in every respect? What about
the depletion of the ozone layer causing direct and heavy sunshine in our
world?
In African
context, we must be quick to note here that the question of whether history is
determined or not is not even raised. African philosophy
per se, is one that has metaphysics as its foundation. Owing to this fact, the
idea of spirit is not strange to Africans. Rather, it forms the core of African
thought. Within this system is the interconnectivity between man as the object
of history and the transcendental world, where the force and the supervision of
the activities of man comes. For the typical African, man can do nothing alone
without the assistance of the ancestral world. Also we must expose the fact
that punishment and reward comes from this arena. Man is therefore compelled,
mandated and determined
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