Cosmology, Ethics and Epistemology
Index to the section covering the structure of the Yoruba cosmos, the supreme being debate, destiny and character, sacrifice, personhood, knowledge, and the figure of Esu.
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Index to the section covering the structure of the Yoruba cosmos, the supreme being debate, destiny and character, sacrifice, personhood, knowledge, and the figure of Esu.
The Yorùbá wey dem quote, the proverbs, oríkì, ẹsẹ Ifá, word list headwords, Odù names and citations dey exactly as the corpus record dem, for every language.
Dis section dey cover Yoruba philosophy: wetin make up di universe, wetin person be, how destiny and character dey affect each oda, wetin dey make action dey right, and how di tradition dey understand wetin knowledge be. Di focus dey more on philosophy pass religion, and anywhere claim depend on di framework wey di scholar take write, di file mention am.
Two things to note before di files.
Di framework matter. E. Bọlaji Idowu and John Mbiti, wey dia books start modern study of African religion, na ordained Methodist minister and ordained Anglican priest respectively; dem write for mid-twentieth century to show say African religion deserve respect, and di terms of respect wey dey dat time na Christian terms. Barry Hallen, J. Olubi Sodipo, Sophie Oluwole and Segun Gbadegesin challenge dat exact point, as dem argue say di tradition no need to look like Christianity before people go take am serious, and say to describe am with Christian terms dey spoil di meaning. Di work of di two sides appear across dis file, and di file show anywhere wey di framework dey influence di point.
Di translations na hypothesis. Ọ̀run no be heaven, Èṣù no be Satan, ẹ̀mí no be di soul, àṣẹ no be life force, àjẹ́ no be witchcraft, ìmọ̀ and ìgbàgbọ́ no be knowledge and belief. Somebody make each of dis match for specific reason, and each of dem dey fail. File 12 gather all of dem.
Order. File 1 reach 3 na di foundation and person suppose read dem first. File 4 reach 8 build di real philosophy. File 9 reach 11 treat di three topics wey people don scatter dia meaning pass for di common explanation. File 12 na di analytical synthesis.
Ifá itself, di 256 odù, how divination dey work and babaláwo training, dey inside section 05. Dis section dey mention Ifá concepts freely but e no map di corpus or explain di procedure.
01 Ọ̀run and Ayé: di Structure of di Cosmos (cosmology-orun-and-aye)
Di two half of di calabash wey join togeda, di junction places, and why to match ọ̀run to heaven and ayé to earth as separate worlds dey bring inside cosmology wey no dey di Yoruba system.
02 Ọlọ́dùmarè and Ọlọ́run: di Supreme Being wey Dem Dey Argue About (cosmology-olodumare)
Wetin di sources talk say e get and wetin dem clearly no talk, di origin of words wey dem dey drag, Idowu diffused monotheism and di argument say na missionary contact shape am, with di two sides of di argument explain in full.
03 Orí: di Inner Head (cosmology-ori)
Orí inú and orí òde, orí as personal divinity wey pass di òrìṣà, how person dey choose head before Àjàlá, di ilé orí symbol and di practice of ibòrí, with di primary texts.
04 Àyànmọ́, Kádàrá, Ìpín: Destiny and How to Negotiate Am (cosmology-ayanmo)
Three words for destiny wey dey do different work, di fatalist interpretation and who dey hold am, Balogun soft-determinist reply, àfọwọ́fá, and why Yoruba destiny no be predestination and e no be free will.
05 Ìwà and Yoruba Ethics (cosmology-iwa)
Character as di whole of Yoruba ethics, ìwàpẹ̀lẹ́ and ọmọlúàbí, how character and beauty na di same thing, sùúrù, di story of Ìwà-as-wife, and ethics wey stand on consequences and community instead of divine command.
06 Àṣẹ (cosmology-ase)
Di force wey dey make anything happen, why power and life force fail as translations, àṣẹ inside speech, ritual and art, wetin Abiodun talk about di empowered word, and wetin Barber talk about gods wey dey survive through attention.
07 Personhood: Wetin Make Up Human Being (cosmology-personhood)
Ara, ẹ̀mí, orí, ọkàn, òjìji and ẹsẹ, why scholars dey disagree on di list, why no element be di soul, ẹ̀nìyàn as normative term, àtúnwá as partial return, and àbíkú.
08 Epistemology: Ìmọ̀, Ìgbàgbọ́ and di Standards of Evidence (cosmology-epistemology)
Wetin Hallen and Sodipo find say Yoruba dey separate knowing from believing based on where di information come from instead of justification, why dat one na genuine philosophical result, and di objections against am.
09 Èṣù (cosmology-esu)
Wetin Èṣù be inside di sources, im role for junction and doorway, why divination no fit work without am, di Èṣù-Ọ̀dàrà title, di hat wey get two colours, and di documented history of missionary translation wey turn am to Satan.
10 Ẹbọ: Sacrifice and Exchange (cosmology-ebo)
Wetin ẹbọ dey do inside di logic of di system, how e no fit separate from divination, di seven types from daily food offering reach substitution, Èṣù's portion, and where di missionary understanding get fault.
11 Time, Causation and Misfortune (cosmology-time-and-misfortune)
Di four-day ritual week and di calendar, how Yoruba way to diagnose problem dey actually go, accurate explanation of àjẹ́ and women spiritual authority, di Atinga witch-hunt, and Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ as di tradition own response.
12 Comparative Frame: Where di Categories Fail (cosmology-comparative-frame)
Every way dem take match am with Greek, Christian, Islamic and modern Western categories, wetin each one get right and wetin e spoil, and di methodological conclusion.
Wande Abimbola, Ifá: An Exposition of Ifá Literary Corpus (1976) and di 1975 Ìwàpẹ̀lẹ́ paper. Barry Hallen and J. Olubi Sodipo, Knowledge, Belief and Witchcraft (1986, 1997). Barry Hallen, The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful (2000). Rowland Abiodun, Yoruba Art and Language (2014) and di 1983 ìwà paper. Segun Gbadegesin, African Philosophy (1991). Oladele Abiodun Balogun, Nordic Journal of African Studies 16(1), 2007, abaut orí and destiny. Ọlásopé O. Oyèláràn, Africa 90(2), 2020, abaut Èṣù and ethics. Karin Barber, Africa 51(3), 1981. Babatunde Lawal, The Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ Spectacle (1996). J. D. Y. Peel, Religious Encounter and the Making of the Yoruba (2000). E. Bọlaji Idowu, Olodumare (1962), and J. Ọmọṣade Awolalu, Yoruba Beliefs and Sacrificial Rites (1979), dem cite di two of dem wit dia theological frames flagged.
The two-part Yoruba cosmos, why translating orun as "heaven" and aye as "earth" gets it wrong, how the two are joined rather than opposed, and what the calabash image actually claims.
How Yoruba philosophical concepts map and fail to map onto Greek, Christian, Islamic and modern Western categories, and what goes wrong when the translation is made anyway.
Character as the whole content of Yoruba ethics, iwa pele and iwa rere, the identity of character with beauty, patience as the source of character, and an ethical system grounded in consequence and community rather than divine command.
Hallen and Sodipo's finding that the Yoruba distinction between knowing and believing is drawn in a different place from the English one, why that is a genuine philosophical result, and what it exposes about Western epistemology.
What the sources actually attribute to Olodumare, the disputed etymologies, and the live scholarly argument over whether the supreme-being framing is indigenous Yoruba thought or a shape given to it by the missionary encounter.
Ori as physical head, inner head, personal destiny and personal divinity, why the sources rank ori above the orisa, and the practice of ibori.