Stolen Legacy Essay Example
Stolen Legacy Essay Example

Stolen Legacy Essay Example

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  • Pages: 9 (2432 words)
  • Published: May 10, 2017
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“Stolen Legacy” by George G. M. James was first published in 1954 and immediately became a bestseller among all the people with African origin.

It should be mentioned that George James was an Afro-American teacher of Greek, who’s done a lot of research on the issues of racial discrimination. The main idea of this book can be briefly formulated as: “The Greeks were not the authors of Greek philosophy, but the black people of North Africa, the Egyptians”.This means that in fact, there was “the erroneous world opinion that the African continent has made no contribution to civilization, and that its people are naturally backward; the misrepresentation that has become the basis of race prejudice, which has affected all people of color”. Thus, the whole book can be called a “new philosophy of redemption for black peoples” (Lefkowitz,1996).

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philosophy can be called the first attempt of the humanity to condense the main philosophical ideas.The book “Stolen Legacy” actually focuses on the origin of the Greek philosophy. George James puts the question whether Greek philosophy was really something new introduced by Greeks or whether it was merely a continuation and further development of philosophical views, which were originally introduced by other civilizations. In the first chapter of the book the author tries to give the description of the Western philosophical tradition or if to be more precise to explain the peculiarities of the Greek philosophy, its ideas and first philosophers.Further, James proceeds to the most intrigue question of the whole book – whether Greek philosophy was something authentic belonging solely to Greek people or stimulated by and developed on the other earlier philosophies. In thi

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discussion the author researches the question from the both viewpoints - conservative and revisionist.

As we can see the first viewpoint – conservative – is the one, which has been accepted for a long time. According to it the Greek philosophy is the beginning of philosophical thinking.It is original and belonging only to Greeks and does not have anything in common with the previous philosophical ideas. However, there also exists the second viewpoint – revisionist – saying that Greek philosophy is not authentic. It belongs not only to Greeks but it was rather a continuation of the other philosophical ideas. The author further explores the origins of the Greek philosophy and comes to the conclusion that this philosophy was in fact stolen from the earlier Egyptian civilization without even the slightest acknowledgement.

Therefore, George James believes that Greek philosophy in fact should not exist as a notion.It is nothing more than “Stolen Egyptian Philosophy” (Lefkowitz, 1996). Femi Akomolafe considers that it was the greatest crime of the whole Western civilization to consider that Greek philosophy is originally European philosophical school. By doing this they in fact intellectually steal Africa’s heritage.

This researcher considers that it is one of the greatest crimes due to the fact that in case the invaders occupy the country, destroying its palaces and monuments, it is far not as dangerous because this heritage can be rebuilt and return to the heritage of the real owner.However, in case the nation steals the intellectual property of the country it is much worse, as it enslaves and insults the nation, whose philosophical ideas has been stolen, just as it happened with the Egyptian philosophical

tradition, which is now considered lost to the humanity, but in fact was nothing but a source for the development of the Greek philosophy (Akomolafe, 2007). Femi Akomolafe further supports George James in his ideas and states that it is a proof of the European arrogance to think that all the philosophic set of ideas, the Arts and the Sciences were developed by Greeks.This made Europeans believe that they are superior to other nations and races and in fact insults and humiliates African race, who is a true originator of this intellectual property. The other important issue is that once it is proven that Africans were the originators of the philosophical thinking, it would change the attitude of Europeans to African nation and diminish their arrogance. On the other hand it is also essential to prove the contribution of Africa to human civilization as this would produce a beneficial influence on the self-esteem of the African people.

They should know that this is their race and their forefathers, who gave the world the treasure of philosophical thinking and religion (Akomolafe, 2007). Nowadays, “Greek Civilization” means a lot for every European, it is the source of inspiration, the source of ideas, and the source of pride. Europeans make a thorough study of the Greek philosophy and love to refer to it in any useful situation. However, won’t this fact be changed once it was proven that it is nothing more than a philosophy stolen from the Africans?Won’t it make them stop crying that Europeans are the originators of the main philosophical school, which is the basis of the whole intellectual heritage of the European civilization? (Akomolafe, 2007).

Europeans are too proud of their “Great thinkers” and “Greek Civilization”, and they don’t give the African people the opportunity to prove that they have made the contribution to the intellectual development of the humanity. Due to this fact some African people can even believe that their race is inferior or even “cursed”.

In the beginning of his book “Stolen Legacy: Greek Philosophy is Stolen Egyptian Philosophy” George G. M. James states that: “The term Greek philosophy, to begin with is a misnomer, for there is no such philosophy in existence. The ancient Egyptians had developed a very complex religious system, called the Mysteries, which was also the first system of salvation” (James, 2002).

George James supports that idea that the Egyptian Mystery System has the oldest origins and was “also a Secret Order, and membership was gained by initiation and a pledge to secrecy.The teaching was graded and delivered orally to the Neophyte; and under these circumstances of secrecy, the Egyptians developed secret systems of writing and teaching, and forbade their Initiates from writing what they had learn” (James, 2002). This gives us the basis to state that Egyptian civilization was the originator of the whole religious system and philosophical school and gave this treasure to the humanity a long time before the Greeks “were allowed into the temples”. Greeks did not show their intellectuality before the invasion of Alexander the Destructor, which was called the Great by Western civilization.His main “achievement” for the Western Civilization was that he invaded Egypt and plundered Egyptian temples and libraries.

Only after that Greeks received access to precious philosophical books and started “developing” their “own” philosophy. George James

proves that all the philosophical school of Aristotle was created on the Egyptian books. Thus, the first great philosopher of the Western civilization and the wisest man of the European world was nothing but a mere translator of books written by Egyptian philosophers. Starting from the very beginning of the book James began destroying the myth of a Greek philosophy.

First of all he referred to Pythagoras, who is considered to be one of the first Greek philosophers. James proved that he was a student in Egypt, so his ideas originated from Egypt, however, he did not acknowledge the origins of his thinking when he started teaching what he learnt from Egyptian philosophers. It was problematic to prove the originality of the Egyptian philosophy due to the fact that all philosophical works, “stolen” by Greeks were written in the Greek language. However, James easily explains this problem.Even today it is prohibited by the majority of Orders to put the ideas learnt within the order on paper.

That’s why Socrates hasn’t put a single thought on paper. However, there were some “philosophers”, like Plato and Aristotle, who neglected and wrote the books with the Egyptian philosophic ideas without acknowledgement of the source of their thinking. This gives the basis for the George James to state that Western philosophic school “is only the unwritten philosophy of the Egyptians translated into Greek that has met such an unhappy fate: a legacy stolen by the Greeks” (James, 2002).The aim of this book is to establish better race relations in the world, by revealing a fundamental truth concerning the contribution of the African Continent to civilization.

It must be borne in

mind that the first lesson in the Humanities is to make a people aware of their contribution to civilization; and the second lesson is to teach them about other civilizations. By this dissemination of the truth about the civilization of individual peoples, a better understanding among them, and a proper appraisal of each other should follow.This notion is based upon the notion of the Great Master Mind: Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. ' Consequently, the book is an attempt to show that the true authors of Greek philosophy were not the Greeks; but the people of North Africa, commonly called the Egyptians; and the praise and honor falsely given to the Greeks for centuries belong to the people of North Africa, and therefore to the African Continent.

Consequently this theft of the African legacy by the Greeks led to the erroneous world opinion that the African Continent has made no contribution to civilization, and that its people are naturally backward.This is the misrepresentation that has become the basis of race prejudice, which has affected all people of color. For centuries the world has been misled about the original source of the Arts and Sciences; for centuries Socrates, Plato and Aristotle have been falsely idolized as models of intellectual greatness; and for centuries the African continent has been called the Dark Continent, because Europe coveted the honor of transmitting to the world, the Arts and Sciences” (James, 2002).In the second chapter of the book “So-Called Greek Philosophy was Alien to the Greeks And their Conditions of Life” James explains the conditions under which the Greeks philosophy was developing. According

to Western historians this was the period 640-322 BC.

However, James states that in this case there should be even more doubts about the originality of the Greek philosophical school as “The period of Greek philosophy (640-322 BC) was a period of internal and external wars, and was therefore unsuitable for producing philosophers.History supports the fact that from the time of Thales to the time of Aristotle, The Greeks were victims of internal disunion, on the one hand, while on the other, they lived in constant fear of invasion from the Persians who were a common enemy to the city states. . .

. The obstacles against the origin and development of Greek philosophy, were not only the frequency of wars; and the constant defense against Persian aggression; but also the threat of extermination from the Athenian government, its worst enemy” (James, 2002).In the next chapter George James makes the supposition that Greek philosophical school was nothing but a further development of the Egyptian Mystery System and proves this statement easily. He states that all the ideas, arts and religion, which are now considered to be developed by Greeks, were in fact first created in Egypt centuries before Greeks could even learn them. In this chapter James also describes Egyptian religious system and shows its close resemblance to the Greek one, which proves the close origin of these two religions.

However, they do not have the common ancestor and it is proven that Egyptian religious system existed a long time before Greek one appeared. This gives us the basis to state that Greeks just “borrowed” the basis of their religion from Egyptians. Three chapters of the

book are devoted to the analysis of the doctrines of Greek thinkers and their similarity with the Egyptian ones, which is the proof of their Egyptian origin.In these chapters James explores great many works of the ancient Greek philosophers like Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Pythagoras, Xenophanes, Parmenides, Zeno, Heraclitus, Anaxagoras and Democritus.

In every separate case and in general George James convincingly proves Egyptian origin of all these philosophic ideas. Thus, all the philosophic heritage attributed to Greeks was nothing but a plagiarism of the Egyptian philosophic thinking. James also devotes a chapter of his book to the Memphite Theology, which “is an inscription on a stone, now kept in the British Museum.It contains the theological, cosmological and philosophical views of the Egyptians. It has already been referred to in my treatment of Plato's doctrines; but it must be repeated here to show its full importance as the basis of the entire field of Greek philosophy” (James, 2002).

So, one more important fact is that not only philosophy but also religion of ancient Greeks originated from Egyptians set of ideas. James points at close resemblance of both cosmologies, which is also a proof of their common origin.Finally, in the last chapter of his book “Social Reformation through the New Philosophy of African Redemption” George James states that “Now that it has been shown that philosophy, and the arts and sciences were bequeathed to civilization by the people of North Africa and not by the people of Greece; the pendulum of praise and honor is due to shift from the people of Greece to the people of the African continent who are the rightful heirs of such

praise and honor.This is going to mean a tremendous change in world opinion, and attitude, for all people and races who accept the new philosophy of African redemption, i. e. the truth that the Greeks were not the authors of Greek philosophy; but the people of North Africa; would change their opinion from one of disrespect to one of respect for the Black people throughout the world and treat them accordingly.

It is going to mean a most important change in the mentality of the Black people: a change from an inferiority complex, to the realization and consciousness of their equality with all the other great peoples of the world, who have built great civilizations. With this change in mentality of the Black and White people, great changes are also expected in their respective attitudes towards each other, and in society as a whole” (James, 2002).So, I can say that the book “Stolen Heritage” has produced revolutionary effect on the whole humanity due to the fact that it questioned and changed not only the origin of the Greek philosophy, which is by itself a great achievement. It praised the black culture, accredited its contribution to the cultural, philosophical and religious development of the whole world. It raised the self-esteem of the population with the African origin and reestablished historical truth.

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