Teilhard de Chardin and Senghor on the civilization of the universal

To my beloved mother of blessed memory

Gisèle Ekobo

DEDICATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The reading of all good books is like a conversation with the finest men of past centuries. How could I repay all these great philosophers who by their writings have helped me achieve this research work in philosophy?

I wish to extend my gratitude to all those who in one way or another, far or near, have contributed to the achievement of this research work. My heartfelt thanks go in a special way to my supervisor, Professor Godfrey BANYUY TANGWA, who played the wonderful role of mentor. His invaluable suggestions, criticisms and corrections enhanced the quality of this work.

Among those who offered me scholarly advice and generously shared their time and knowledge were Rigobert DAMAN, Roger KREBSER, Joël Francis OHANDZA, Jean-Baptiste BIKENA TONYE and Jacques NLEND.

I am also indebted to my classmates: Joseph Christian BOUNOUNGOU, Michel TAKOUA, Jacques KOUKAM, Serge NYONGO MBESSA, Oumarou DJALIGUE, Innocent MBALLA, André TSOGO, Pierre Constant FOUDA, Terence ATEH, Beatrice BIDOUNG, Sophie MENYE and to my friends who, by their thought-provoking remarks, gave me the impetus to firm up this work. Special thanks go to Charles ONDOA EDANG, Lazare OWONO, Charles LIKEN III, Thierry MOLO, Barthélémy NKOA, Jean Olivier NKE ONGONO, Alain Cyrille NYOUMI NDZIE, and Martin BOGAN.

I am most especially grateful to my entire family and to my benefactors: Luc ONGUENE, Serge Clément and Paule Eunice NKE, Alain ANANGA, Denis MBESSE, Jean Daniel ANDELA, Jean Louis BOMBA, Emmanuel GONGHOMU, Rev. Fr. Jacques Bernard NKOA LEBOGO, Rev. Fr. Thierry MASSE, Rev. Fr. Serge Denis BOKO, as well as Rev. Fr. Lucien BEDE NAMA, Rev. Fr. Timothée ZOGO, and Mgr Damase ZINGA ATANGANA, who provided me with timely and much appreciated moral, spiritual and material support.

Immense thanks to Legrand NDZANA for his computer which motivated the beginnings of this work and to my Grandmother Fidèle ALENE, my aunts Céline ANANGA and Julienne BELLA as well as Cécile ONANA, Marie ONANA and Juliette ONANA for their maternal love and for all their prayers.

I am thankful to the NOMO Lazare family and to the NKE Serge family for keeping me under their roofs during these years of studies.

I will not forget to give a well-deserved credit to my dear father Joseph Martin BELIBI who placed my intellectual formation at the centre of his important preoccupations when this was still possible.

RESUME

La communauté mondiale actuelle semble courir à son occidentalisation. Ce phénomène entraîne chez les plus faibles des risques d'aliénation et de dépersonnalisation. Pour certains peuples, ce ne sont plus seulement des risques. Plusieurs jeunes Africains face à la télématique, se trouvent complexés et même aliénés quant à leurs cultures qu'ils qualifient souvent de rétrogrades. La mondialisation telle qu'elle se présente aujourd'hui se caractérise par une volonté de puissance du Nord sur le Sud, des plus riches sur les plus pauvres. Eu égard aux inégalités que favorise la mondialisation, il apparaît urgent de la contrôler. Comment l'Africain pourrait-il entrer dans la mondialisation sans perdre son identité propre ? Quelle contribution pourrait-il apporter à l'édification de la Civilisation de l'Universel ? La Civilisation de l'Universel telle que présentée par Teilhard de Chardin semble salutaire pour les plus faibles parce qu'elle exige la complémentarité des civilisations pour une unité dans la diversité. Une recherche dans ce domaine permet de comprendre l'essence de la mondialisation pour combattre le néolibéralisme et le néocolonialisme et appeler à une revalorisation des cultures traditionnelles africaines qui peuvent aider l'Afrique à préserver sa spécificité dans le dialogue des civilisations. Cette recherche se fonde sur deux auteurs qui nous invitent à considérer dans une dimension morale et politique l'interaction des civilisations. Il s'agit de Teilhard de Chardin et Senghor. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin semble indiquer la voie à suivre. La Civilisation de l'Universel dont il est le pionnier pose les principes de la mondialisation sur le plan culturel. Ainsi, l'idéal consiste à totaliser sans dépersonnaliser, s'unir dans la diversité, accepter les différences et les identités propres inhérentes aux différentes composantes de l'humanité tout en s'ouvrant aux autres sans se dissoudre dans l'Universel. Léopold Sédar Senghor adopte les idées du philosophe et Jésuite Français pour situer le rôle de l'Afrique dans la Civilisation de l'Universel. Le nègre, par sa vision communautaire du monde pourra apporter ses valeurs traditionnelles et culturelles telles la solidarité, l'hospitalité et le sens de la communauté, au rendez-vous du donner et du recevoir. Pourtant, l'humanisme senghorien sera marqué d'ethnocentrisme et va sombrer dans une idéologie revendicatrice de la reconnaissance du noir, de la glorification d'un passé de toute une race, sans prendre en compte les problèmes politiques de l'Afrique. Croire en l'Africanité c'est croire qu'il existe un certain nombre de valeurs spécifiquement africaines, communes à toute l'Afrique. Ces valeurs sont exprimées dans un style typiquement africain. Ce style, ni l'évangélisation, ni la colonisation n'ont pu le faire disparaître. Il s'exprime non pas seulement dans une vision du monde quelconque, mais aussi dans l'expression même de la culture africaine : l'art et l'artisanat africains. La pensée de Senghor doit se mouvoir en praxis, en quelque chose de plus pratique qui fait la spécificité même de l'Afrique et qui peut l'aider à atteindre l'industrialisation pour qu'elle cesse de jouer seulement les griots au rendez-vous du donner et du recevoir. Il s'agit de voir comment la technique locale peut participer à l'Universel. L'art africain a une place et un rôle important dans les échanges internationaux et il peut aussi contribuer à l'industrialisation de l'Afrique. La Civilisation de l'Universel est une civilisation carrefour : c'est une convergence panhumaine vers le point Oméga, un rendez-vous du donner et du recevoir. Ainsi, aucune civilisation ne peut prétendre se constituer en modèle pour les autres. Aucune civilisation ne peut s'ériger en civilisation universelle. Toutes les civilisations doivent construire la Civilisation de l'Universel qui revêt alors un caractère transcendant au-dessus de toutes les civilisations pour devenir universelle.

CONTENTS

Dedication...............................................................................................................ii

Acknowledgement.................................................................................................iii

Résumé.......................................................................................v

0. GENERAL INTRODUCTION..........................................10

0.1. Aim of study...................................................................................................10

0.2. Why these two authors...................................................................................11

0.3. Method of study.............................................................................................12

0.4. Clarifications..................................................................................................13

0.4.1.The Civilization of the Universal................................................................13

0.4.2. Teilhard de Chardin....................................................................................14

0.4.3. Senghor......................................................................................................14

CHAPTER ONE

THE CIVILIZATION OF THE UNIVERSAL

IN TEILHARD DE CHARDIN........................15

INTRODUCTION.....................................16

I.1. The notion of totality in Teilhardian metaphysics..................................17

I.1.1.The problem of the one and the many........................................................19

I.1.2. Omega: the point of universal convergence...............................................21

I.1.3. The attributes of the Omega point.............................................................23

I.1.4. The ultra reflection....................................................................................24

I.2. The foundations of a racial morality..........................................................25

I.2.1. Unity in unanimity. .....................................................................................26

I.2.2. Unity in diversity.........................................................................................27

I.2.3. Complementarity of Races in totalisation...................................................29

I.2.4. Unity and not Identity.........................................................................30

I.3. The present situation and mutual duty of races.......................................32

I.3.1. The conflict situation..................................................................................32

I.3.2. A step towards union...................................................................................33

I.3.3. A reliable hypothesis...................................................................................34

I.3.4. The value and significance of human totalisation..............................35

CONCLUSION...................................................38

CHAPTER TWO

TEILHARD DE CHARDIN ADOPTED AND ADAPTED

BY SENGHOR.................................................39

INTRODUCTION................................40

II.1. The foundations of Senghor's Civilization of the Universal...................41

II.1.1. The complementarity of human races..........................................41

II.1.2. The Negro-African race..........................................................42

II.1.3. The effects of colonisation.......................................................42

II.2. Senghor's African Socialism...................................................44

II.2.1. An Inventory of Traditional Values...........................................44

II.2.2. An Inventory of Western Civilization and its impacts on Africa.........44

II.2.2.1. The Inferiority Complex in the African.....................................45

II.2.2.2. The Split of Personality.......................................................46

II.2.3. An Inventory of our African Resources.......................................46

II.3. The Negro-African vision of the world.......................................48

II.3.1. The Concept of Being...................................................................48

II.3.2. The Concept of Nature...........................................................50

II.3.3. The concept of World..............................................................51

II.3.4. The Concept of God.....................................................................52

II.3.5. The Concept of Man.............................................................52

II.3.6. The Concept of Time............................................................53

II.3.7. African and Teilhardian views.................................................54

II.4. The Negro-African role and contribution to the Civilization............56

II.4.1. Senghor's ideal society...........................................................56

II.4.2. The Communal Dimension of Love in Africa................................59

II.4.3. Africa and Civilization...........................................................61

II.4.4. Africa and Sciences.................................................................61

II.4.5. Africa and Art.....................................................................65

II.4.6. Africa and Religion.................................................................67

II.4.7. Africa and Philosophy.............................................................69

CONCLUSION.......................................74

CHAPTER THREE

EVALUATION OF SENGHOR'S HUMANISM...................75

INTRODUCTION.............................76

III.1. Positive impacts of Senghor's humanism....................................77

III.1.1. Pan-Africanism...................................................................77

III.1.2. The Revalorisation of Traditional value.......................................78

III.1.3. The fight against the Inferiority Complex....................................79

III.2. Negative impacts of Senghor's humanism..................................84

III.2.1. Ethnocentrism....................................................................84

III.2.2. No Revolutionary Praxis........................................................85

III.2.3. The Glorification of the Past...................................................86

III.3. The Civilization of the Universal and Négritude..........................88

III.3.1. What is Négritude?..................................................................................88

III.3.2. Négritude in the light of the Civilization of the Universal.......... .......91

III.3.3.Senghor the Oxymoron..........................................................92

CONCLUSION......................................95

4. GENERAL CONCLUSION.................................96

4.1. The actuality of Teilhard de Chardin and Senghor..............................96

4.2. African art, Globalisation and Industrialisation..................................97

4.3. The Civilization of the Universal: myth or reality?..............................99

5. SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY................................101

5.1. Main Sources........................................................................101

5.2. Secondary Sources..................................................................102

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

The problem of the One and the Many, which had preoccupied PLATO in the Parmenides, can be well thought-out in relation to human races and cultures. The interaction of human races can be conducted under the sign of unity in diversity. The Civilization of the Universal is a type of humanism which seeks unity and harmony in the whole universe, acknowledging the differences of human races and cultures, while bringing them together through convergence.

0.1. Aim of study

We have decided to work on the Civilization of the Universal because of the growing nature of the degeneracy of morals in our African society in general and our Cameroonian society in particular. This shows itself in the inferiority complex and in the split personality characterising most Africans today. If human races are complementary, as Teilhard de Chardin says, then Africans should strive to know and remain themselves and to work on those cultural values that will help them build up, with other human races, the Civilization of the Universal.

Our work is an attempt to examine the notion of the Civilization of the Universal, basing ourselves on TEILHARD DE CHARDIN and on SENGHOR, the latter adopting and adapting the former, albeit with some imperfections. It aims at calling the attention of Africans on the importance of their cultural and traditional values. How could the African remain himself when influenced by the western world? What could his contribution to the Civilization of the Universal be? How could we abandon the bad effects of colonisation which are inherent in our cultures? That is the problematic of our argument. Because the change in mentality concerns the whole African culture, we will also consider African anthropology, sociology and religion. Consequently our work implies:

· The revalorization of our African cultural and long-established values.

· The fight against neo-colonialism.

· The fight against racism, chauvinism and ethnocentrism.

· The fight against Inferiority Complex.

· The fight against the negative influence of western cultures, which has helped in thrashing most African traditional values.

· The reinforcement of Pan-Africanism.

· The contribution of Africa in the process of Globalisation.

In effect, through the revalorisation of our cultural values of love, solidarity and hospitality, we shall seek a universal unity, a universal brotherhood which was once advocated by the Stoic school of philosophy and which appears clearly in their maxim stating that we are citizens of the world, and that the universe is our fatherland.

0.2. Why these two authors?

We found it interesting to bring together the Reverend Father Marie-Joseph Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and Léopold Sédar Senghor, the politician, on an issue that engages the African contribution to globalisation, the rendez-vous ,of giving and receiving, as Senghor calls it. In fact, reading Teilhard de Chardin, we were fascinated by his vision of the world, which lays emphasis on humanism. We then realised that Senghor drew inspiration from the Teilhardian world view in his writings on African humanism notwithstanding some imperfections.

The year 2006 marked the 100^th anniversary of the birth of Léopold Sédar Senghor, poet, cultural thinker, and first President of Independent Senegal. In Teilhard de Chardin, Senghor found a way to develop a synthesis of the Christian concept of a God who is both the source and the aim of life with the African concept of a universal vital force in all creation. This vital force is the base for the essential oneness of all life, life coming from a common source, evolving through a multitude of different shapes and forms but called upon to become aware of its oneness through a planetary consciousness. Teilhard de Chardin also provided a framework for a way to understand the contribution of African society and culture to world civilization. Convergence is a key concept in Teilhard de Chardin's thought. Senghor, who followed Teilhard de Chardin, has been described as the poet and theorist of synthesis against apartness.

At a time when the dialogue among civilizations as well as a possible clash among civilizations is on the world political agenda, it is useful to look at the lasting contribution of Senghor and his application of the philosophy of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin to the African context.

0.3. Method of study

In order to attain our goal, library research is our method of study, together with careful consideration of advice, corrections, suggestions and remarks made by our Director, our classmates and friends. Our dissertation is divided into three chapters. In chapter one, we examine the Civilization of the Universal in Teilhard de Chardin. Chapter two is an analysis of Senghor's adaptation of Teilhardian views on the Civilization of the Universal. In chapter three, we set ourselves to evaluate Senghor's considerations. In our general conclusion, we try to actualize our dissertation by presenting the risk of westernisation in the world today. A select bibliography marks the end of our endeavour.

0.4. Important Clarifications

0.4.1. The Civilization of the Universal

The concept «the Civilization of the Universal» was coined by Teilhard de Chardin, who asserted in between the two world wars, that the general movement of civilizations was bringing them towards a panhuman convergence as Richard Laurent OMGBA puts it:

Le terme civilisation de l'universel est emprunté au théologien et philosophe français Pierre Teilhard de Chardin qui tentait de montrer dans l'entre-deux-guerres, que le mouvement général des civilisations les portait vers une convergence panhumaine. ^1(*)

The Civilization of the Universal is the drawing up of all cultures, all civilizations towards a point of universal convergence, the Omega point. As such, there is no civilization which can claim to be the universal civilization. The Civilization of the Universal is globalisation from the cultural point of view. It is the work of all human races, all cultures and all civilizations. It entails not only the recognition of the other but also the knowledge and the recognition of the self. The Civilization of the Universal is a futurist vision of the world that was announced by the French theologian, scholar, and philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. His idea was largely spread because of its humanistic and optimistic elements.

It is important to notice that English translations of the works of Teilhard de Chardin as well as the works of Senghor translate la Civilisation de l'Universel by the Civilization of the Universal. In our work, we shall also use the other expressions used by Teilhard de Chardin to express the same thing: panhuman convergence, totalisation, planetisation of humankind and collectivisation of mankind.

0.4.2. Teilhard de Chardin

Marie-Joseph Pierre TEILHARD DE CHARDIN was born in 1881 in France and he died in 1955. He was educated in philosophy and mathematics at the Jesuit College of Mongré, near Lyon. He entered the Jesuit Order in 1889 and was ordained priest in 1911. His philosophical thought is based on humanism. He considered the philosophical problem of the One and the Many which Plato examined in the Parmenides from the point of view of the interaction of human races. Teilhard de Chardin is the philosopher of synthesis and of unity. His philosophy concerns the union that will make humanity a harmonious fusion of civilizations by intellectual, moral, and spiritual improvements. He explains this coming together of civilizations by saying that the most humanized human groups always appear as the product of a synthesis, not segregation.

0.4.3. Senghor

Léopold SEDAR SENGHOR was born in 1906 at Joal in Senegal and he died on December 20^th 2001 at Verson in France. He was a writer, a poet, a catholic Christian, a statesman, first president of the Republic of Senegal, an academician in the French Academy and also a vocational philosopher. His philosophical considerations are a mixture of western and African cultural philosophy. He was fascinated by the writings of Teilhard de Chardin and followed his steps on humanism, considering the role of Africa in the Civilization of the Universal from its cultural resources.

Senghor makes of Teilhardian ideas on culture a dominant principle in his work. Culture, in some ways, determines all the themes that he developed and all are directly or indirectly linked to this central notion. Senghor straightforwardly militates for the Civilization of the Universal expressed by Teilhard de Chardin, whose first vision held the seeds of humanism.

CHAPTER ONE

THE CIVILIZATION OF THE UNIVERSAL IN TEILHARD DE CHARDIN

INTRODUCTION

As a palaeontologist, a geologist, a theologian and a philosopher, Teilhard de Chardin proves to be a man of science. His great scientific spirit which accepted the complexity of our world and the complexity of human relationships, enabled him to foresee that all human races, all cultures, all civilizations, were coming up together through convergence. His scientific investigations lead him, though he had not received a great philosophical formation, to consider some philosophical problems and to stand out as a great philosopher of the future. This is what Paul-Bernard GRENET asserts when he says:

Un grand esprit qui ne voulait faire que de la science fut contraint, par l'universalité même de cette science, de poser des problèmes qui étaient philosophiques, de parler un langage philosophique. Comme sa connaissance de la technique philosophique était sommaire, il passa aux yeux de plusieurs, qui étaient ses juges par fonction, ou qui usèrent des droits de tout lecteur à porter un jugement pour un maître de mauvaise philosophie. Comme son information scientifique était immense, ses dons de coeur inépuisables, le lyrisme de son expression prestigieux, il passa aux yeux de plusieurs autres pour le seul maître de la philosophie de l'avenir. ^2(*)

In effect, Teilhard de Chardin affirmed that the general movement of civilizations was drawing them towards a panhuman convergence. In his writings, he presents how civilizations are called to come together in synthesis in order to unite in the Omega Point, the centre of all civilizations. Throughout his metaphysical considerations, he maintains the idea of totality, defending the complementarity and mutual duty of human races in the process of collectivisation of mankind. In this chapter, we are going to present the notion of the Civilization of the Universal as Teilhard de Chardin conceives it.

I.1. TOTALITY IN TEILHARDIAN METAPHYSICS

Teilhard de Chardin's metaphysics is essentially metaphysics of convergence and totality. According to him, at first sight, beings and their destinies might seem to us to be scattered chaotically over the face of the earth; but the more one reflects, with the help of all that science, philosophy and religion can teach us, each in its own field, the more one comes to realize that the world should be likened not to a bundle of elements artificially held together, but rather to some organic system animated by a broad movement of development which is proper to itself. As centuries go by, it seems that a comprehensive plan is indeed being slowly carried out around us:

Il y a une affaire en train dans l'univers, un résultat en jeu, que nous ne saurions mieux comparer qu'à une gestation et à une naissance...Laborieusement, à travers et à la faveur de l'activité humaine, se rassemble, se dégage et s'épure la Terre nouvelle. Non, nous ne sommes pas comparables aux éléments d'un bouquet, mais aux feuilles et aux fleurs d'un grand arbre, sur lequel tout apparaît en son temps et à sa place, à la mesure et à la demande du Tout.^3(*)

There is in effect a situation that is taking place in the universe, a phenomenon that can be likened to pregnancy and to the giving-birth process. Arduously, through human activity, the new Earth is gathering itself. We are not to be likened to the items of a flower pot, which are gathered haphazardly; but to the leaves and flowers of a great tree, on which everything appears at the right time and at the right place, according to the measure and request of all the others. For Teilhard de Chardin therefore, there is a dynamic structural character of things and a temporal dimension of totality.

The universe is thus a totum in which each element is positively weaved with all the others. Man does not live in a world already arranged, but in a world which is in transformation, in progress. Commenting Teilhard de Chardin, Claude CUENOT says that this vision of the world is what is considered as Cosmogenesis:

L'évènement le plus considérable qui se soit déroulé à la surface de la terre, c'est que nous prenons graduellement conscience du fait que le monde est en mouvement. Dans l'ensemble, l'homme avait vécu avec l'idée qu'il appartenait à un système déjà tout arrangé où il se trouvait placé. Or, c'est ce système là qui est en train de se mettre en mouvement dans un sens d'organisation. Ce passage d'un monde conçu comme arrangé à un monde conçu comme en voie d'arrangement, c'est le passage d'une vision en cosmos à une vision en cosmogénèse.^4(*)

Gradually, we are becoming conscious of the fact that the world is in progress. For so long, man has lived with the idea that he was part of a system already arranged and where he just happened to find himself. In fact, this system is in movement in an orderly manner. The passage from the conception that the world is already arranged to the conception that the world is in progress leads us to Cosmogenesis.

For Teilhard de Chardin, the process of convergence in totality is one which occurs naturally, according to the pattern of the evolutionary process itself. Nevertheless, reflective man is capable of choosing whether to cooperate in the process or to oppose to it. He is optimistic enough to suppose that mankind will be neither foolish enough nor wicked enough to defeat this totalisation.

In fact, the world is evolving, the elements are gathering up together in order to become one. Teilhard de Chardin would then consider the problem of the one and the manifold, plurality and unity, and he will insist on the fact that civilizations, cultures, human races, men and women are able to unite despite their differences in order to build up the Civilization of the Universal.

I.1.1. The problem of the One and the Many

If we seek to discover what Teilhard de Chardin regarded as a central and fundamental problem, we have some indications that the starting point of his philosophical thought was the same as that treated by Plato in the Parmenides: the relation between the One and the Many. Thus, Cuénot affirms in the following words:

In his Sketch of a Personal Universe, he wrote: «Plurality and unity: the one problem to which in the end all physics, all philosophy, and all religion, come back.»^5(*)

The problem of the One and the Many had been grappled with throughout the history of philosophy and it lies at the basis of Teilhard de Chardin metaphysics. The Civilization of the Universal, «creative union», is the theory that accepts the conciliation of the One and the Multiple as Wolfgang SMITH puts it:

In the present evolutionary phase of the cosmos (the only phase known to us), everything happens as though the One were formed by successive unifications of the Multiple. [...] This does not mean that the One is compose of the Multiple i.e., that it is born from the fusion in itself of the elements it associates [...] The One appears in the wake of the Multiple, dominating the Multiple since its essential and formal act is to unite^6(*).

Teilhard de Chardin saw that convergence brought together the One and the Many, the One being born from the concentration of the Many. Within a universe which is structurally convergent, the only possible way for one element to draw closer to the other neighbouring elements is by driving towards the point of universal convergence. He calls it the Omega Point. According to him, everything begins in multiplicity and converges towards an ever greater unity. And yet, it is clear that even the most elementary observations disclose just the opposite. The fertilized ovum for example, which looks like a sphere or tiny globule, divides and subdivides, creating a spherical immensity of cells. Then the cells begin to divide themselves, giving rise to a multiplicity of layers, tissues, and organs. The entire movement appears to be in the direction of increasing multiplicity. But Teilhard de Chardin seems to be convinced that things invariably move in the opposite direction: first multiplicity, then unity. For him, not only do all things begin in multiplicity, but it is multiplicity that unites them.

The notion of creative union is central to Teilhard de Chardin's entire system of thought. In effect, here lies the basis of his consideration of the Civilization of the Universal. Creative union is the theory that leads us to such a collectivisation of humankind, what he calls Hominisation as he says:

Coalescence des éléments et coalescence des rameaux. Sphéricité géométrique de la Terre et courbure psychique de l'Esprit s'harmonisant pour contrebalancer dans le Monde les forces individuelles et collectives de Dispersion et leur substituer l'Unification : tout le ressort, le secret, finalement, de l'Hominisation.^7(*)

Individual forces and even collective forces of dispersal are being harmonised through the gathering of the elements of the earth in order to bring forth unification which is finally the work of Hominisation.

From such a metaphysical framework, Teilhard de Chardin laid the foundation of the Civilization of the Universal, where the problem of the One and the Many was considered in terms of real men and women. As he says:

I find that the one great problem of the one and the manifold is rapidly beginning to emerge from the over-metaphysical context in which I used to state it and look for its solutions. I can now see more clearly that its urgency and its difficulties must be expressed in terms of real men and women.^8(*)

The Civilization of the Universal is a convergence that synthesizes the One and the Many. More than this, in Teilhardian metaphysics, however, love in unifying, ultra-personalizes. Thus Teilhard de Chardin's Cosmo-mysticism falls in line with the demands of established Christian mysticism and this was the core of his own spiritual life.

I.1.2. Omega: The Point of Universal Convergence

It was without any doubt one of Teilhard de Chardin's most cherished convictions that the cosmos as a whole is somehow converging towards the Omega Point:

[...] in the heart of a universe prolonged along its axis of complexity, there is a divine centre of convergence. That nothing may be prejudged, and in order to stress its synthesizing and personalising function, let us call it the point Omega.^9(*)

He felt that cosmic evolution must have a term, and that this end can only be conceived as a point or centre of universal convergence. Sister Mary LINSCOTT expresses this fact when she avers:

Socialisation energised by love and leading towards unification prepares the consummation of the world but it is a process which cannot go on for ever, Teilhard holds that everything that rises must converge and, when he projects the curve of evolution into the future, he postulates a final convergence which will be the culmination of evolution: the fullness both of the unity of the species and the personalisation of the individual. This is the pleroma seen as the completion of the scientific phenomenon of evolution. Teilhard calls it the Omega point.^10(*)

It is evident therefore that it is evolution that depends on Omega and not the reverse. Teilhard de Chardin takes his final step and identifies Omega with Christ. Faith had to go on to identify the Omega of scientific deduction with the cosmic Christ of revelation and, in this light; the transformation of the world became the fullness of evolution not only as a scientific phenomenon but as a Christian phenomenon too. In effect, in the process of totalisation, the Omega of evolution is to be identified with the Christ of Revelation:

If the world is convergent and if Christ occupies its centre, then the Christogenesis of St. Paul and St. John is nothing else and nothing less than the extension, both awaited and unhoped for, of that noogenesis in which Cosmogenesis culminates.^11(*)

Hence, the divine Omega is rooted in the Person of Christ, source and object of love, through whom mankind is destined to achieve its ultimate unity on a new plane of being. The Prime Mover to speak like Aristotle, the centre of the Civilization of the Universal, actuates all the energies of the universe. Epoch-making as it may be, the scientific recognition of an Omega Point as the ultimate term of Cosmogenesis was for Teilhard de Chardin the first major step towards an even more momentous discovery: the realization, namely, that the Omega Point of Science coincides in reality with Christ. What appears to the eye of science as a universal centre of attraction and confluence is in reality none other than the cosmic Christ of Saint Paul:

It was to be the work, and the constant joy of the next 20 years to see, step by step, and keeping pace with one another, two convictions build up around me, each gaining strength from the other: Christic «density» and the «cosmic density» of a world whose «communicative power» I could see increasing with the increase in its «power of convergence»...The heart of «amorized» matter, of matter impregnated with love.^12(*)

In Teilhardian metaphysics, the layers of matter considered as separate elements no less than as a whole, tauten and converge by synthesis. It is not simply a question of isolated regions detaching themselves from the rest of the cosmos, but of a universal convergence to a single Apex, the Omega Point.

I.1.3. Attributes of the Omega Point

First, Omega is a pole. It is a centre in itself and it is not directly comprehensible to us even though its divine nature allows us to formulate the conditions which must be met in order that it fulfils its role. Omega must be supremely present, with a mastery over time and chance and it must be a personalizing focus, a Person distinct from all persons whom it completes in unifying.

Secondly, Omega must be conceived as a summit of transcendence, a primeval transcendence, a transcendent reality. Omega must also be looked at as a centre of centres, a centre of a superior order which waits for us, no longer besides us, but also apart and above us.

The main reasons for the nature and function of the Omega Point are based on love and love is the highest energy that can personalize by totalisation: it is the highest form of radical energy:

Love is the most universal, the most formidable and the most mysterious of cosmic energies. [...] The progress towards Man, through Woman, is in fact the progress of the whole universe. The vital concern for Earth [...] is that these bearings be established.^13(*)

For human beings, «love alone takes them and joins them by what is deepest in themselves».^14(*)

Omega is thus the pinnacle of humanisation, the summit of the Civilization of the Universal. The final union of the converging forces of evolution must entail not repression or diminution, but expansion and fulfilment. Omega must therefore be a supreme centration, the focus in which are united without any loss of identity all the individual centres of men, taking up into themselves the full development of the material cosmos. According to Teilhard de Chardin, «autonomy, actuality, irreversibility, and thus, finally, transcendence are the four attributes of Omega».^15(*) All these four attributes simply refer to a Perfect Being in whom the universe is personalized by His very nature.

I.1.4. The Ultra Reflection

Co-reflection among men, Teilhard de Chardin says, must simply follow a universal centre of convergence and consciousness:

(It is) not as something engendered by energy as it reflects upon itself, but a centre that constitutes the generative principle (the mover) of that reflection.(It is) the phenomenon, in fact, of the third reflection by which Omega reflects itself upon (reveals itself to) a universe that has become capable of reflecting it in turn.^16(*)

Omega is not a potential centre, but something real and already in existence and only a sufficiently high degree of socialisation will enable man to reflect it.

The ultra-reflection is the third and final stage of reflection after the birth of consciousness in man and the stage of co-reflection. Teilhard de Chardin stresses the fact that the ultra-reflection does not consist in bringing all men into a single supra-consciousness in such a way that their personal identity and their individuality would disappear. Every gigantic effort to reduce the multitude of mankind to some order seems to have ended by slitting the human person, because none is higher than each man's personal consciousness and freedom.

I.2.THE FOUNDATIONS OF A RACIAL MORALITY

In order to posit the nuts and bolts of a racial morality, Teilhard de Chardin is faced with a problem: How can the peoples of the earth achieve harmony unless they first agree upon the basis of their union? And how can they find the ardour and courage to perform their duty, once perceived, if they do not feel some attraction to it? He wonders:

[...] there is a grave uncertainty to be resolved. The future, I have said, depends on the courage and resourcefulness which men display in overcoming the forces of isolationism, even of repulsion, which seem to drive them apart rather than draw them together. How is the drawing together to be accomplished? How shall we so contrive matters that the human mass merges in a single whole, instead of ceaselessly scattering in dust?^17(*)

A priori, in Teilhard de Chardin's opinion, there seem to be two methods, two possible roads in order to build up this collectivisation of mankind.^18(*)

The first is a process of tightening-up in response to external pressures. The human mass, because it is in a state of continuous additive growth, in number and inter-connections, on the confined surface of this planet, must automatically become more and more firmly concentrated upon itself. To this impressive process of natural compression there may well be added the artificial constraint imposed by a stronger human group upon a weaker; we have only to look around us at the present time, nowadays, to see how this idea is seeking, indeed rushing towards its realisation. Many countries still behave as masters over others. What is the `G8' all about? Why is it that some countries for example, have the right to own the atomic bomb and not others?

Yet, there is another way. This is that, prompted by some favouring influence, the elements of mankind should succeed in making effective a profound force of mutual attraction, deeper and more powerful than the surface repulsion which causes them to diverge, forced upon one another by the dimensions and mechanics of the earth, men will purposefully bring to life a common soul in this vast body.

And so, the two possible roads are the following: «unification by external or by internal force? Compulsion or Unanimity?»^19(*)

In his days, Teilhard de Chardin experienced the destruction of war and for him, war expressed the tension and the interior dislocation of mankind shaken to its roots as it stood at the crossroads, faced by the need to decide upon its future.

1.2.1. Unity in unanimity.

Instead of humanity to unite through compulsion, since unity imposes itself, the collectivisation of mankind being an unavoidable process, it must unite in total freedom. Learning from the miseries of the past with the world wars, for example, humans must unite in a unanimous spirit. The road to be followed therefore is the road of freedom; we are supposed to engage in the process of totalisation consciously and freely. In effect, Teilhard de Chardin declares:

In my view the road to be followed is clearly revealed by the teaching of all the past. We can progress only by uniting: this, as we have seen, is the law of life. But unification through coercion leads only to a superficial pseudo-unity. It may establish a mechanism, but it does not achieve any fundamental synthesis; and in consequence it engenders no growth of consciousness. It materialises, in short, instead of spiritualising. Only unification through unanimity is biologically valid. This alone can work the miracle of causing heightened personality to emerge from the forces of collectivity. It alone represents a genuine extension of the psychogenesis that gave us birth. Therefore it is inwardly that we must come together, and in entire freedom.^20(*)

The Teilhardian view here reminds us of the Stoic notion of freedom. In fact, happiness consists in obeying nature, living like the gods, living according to the spark of divinity in us, living according to reason. As such, man's happiness consists in following without restraint the prescriptions of Nature. In a determined world, the stoic is still free. He is free to follow nature or not to do so. Like a dog tied behind the chariot, man is supposed to choose to run step by step, following the cadence of the chariot, in all freedom in order to find satisfaction behind the chariot; instead of resisting and ending up being dragged by force.

The process of totalisation imposes itself to us and our happiness consists in uniting in all freedom, in all unanimity in order to avoid being yanked by coercion.

1.2.2. Unity in diversity

There is no hesitation that humanity, taken in its concrete nature, is really composed of different races. Human races exist, but this needs not give room for any antagonism or racism. In effect, there is no need for us to try to deny our differences. Teilhard de Chardin wonders:

Les nier? Mais pourquoi donc? Les enfants d'une même famille sont-ils tous également forts ou intelligents ? Egaux, les peuples le sont par valeur biologique, en tant que « phyla de pensée » destinés à s'intégrer progressivement dans quelque unité finale qui est la seule vraie humanité. Mais égaux, ils ne le sont point encore par la totalité de leurs dons physiques et de leur esprit. Et n'est-ce point justement cette diversité qui donne à chacun son prix ?...Sinon, pourquoi parler d'une synthèse de tous ?^21(*)

We cannot but acknowledge the fact that people are different like chalk and cheese. Even the children of the same family are not all equally strong or equally intelligent. People are equal by their biological value, as «phyla of thought» destined to progress together; but they are not equal in their physical and spiritual talents. This diversity is what gives merit to each and every one. If it were not so, one could not talk about a synthesis of all.

In order to lay a foundation of a racial morality, we are called to acknowledge our differences. People are all equal in dignity, but each individual person is different from another in terms of talents, temperament, character and personality. We cannot but accept this fact in order to talk about the Civilization of the Universal, or about globalisation, where there is a synthesis of all human races. It is therefore important for us to point out here with Teilhard de Chardin, the error of feminism. Woman is not man, and it is precisely for this reason that man cannot do it all alone, without woman. A mechanic for example, is not a football player, or an artist, or a farmer; and it is thanks to these diversities that the national organism functions. Similarly, a Cameroonian is not a Frenchman, nor is a Frenchman a Kaffir or Japanese. This is most providential for the total prosperity and future of man.

It is important to note with Teilhard de Chardin that these inequalities and or differences may appear as detrimental so long as the elements are regarded statically and in isolation. Observed however from the point of view of their essential complementarity, they become acceptable, honourable, and even welcome. Will the eye ever say that it despises the hand?

Once this functional diversity of human races is admitted, in Teilhard de Chardin's opinion, two things follow instantly. The first is that the duty of each race is not to preserve or rediscover some indefinable original purity in the past but to complete itself in the future, according to its own qualities and values. The second is that in this drive towards collective personalisation, aid must be sought from each of the neighbouring branches of civilization.

I.2.3. Complementarity of Human Races in Totalisation

In the Teilhardian world view, human races are complementary. No race is supposed to claim superiority over others. In this way, Teilhard de Chardin goes against Levy-Brühl, Hume, Hegel, Arthur de Gobineau, Heidegger and Gusdorf, just to name some western thinkers, who had considered the African, especially the Negro-African race, as inferior to other races. Teilhard de Chardin avers:

Races, patries, nations, Etats, cultures, groupes linguistiques..., toutes ces entités superposées ou juxtaposées, concordantes ou discordantes, isolées ou anastomosées, sont au même degré, quoique à des plans différents, naturelles : car elles représentent les prolongements directs, chez l'homme et à la mesure de l'homme, du processus général englobé par la biologie sous le nom d'évolution.^22(*)

As a palaeontologist and cosmologist, Teilhard de Chardin tends to reconcile East and West:

L'Issue du Monde, les portes de l'Avenir, l'entrée dans le Super-humain, elles ne s'ouvrent en avant ni à quelques privilégiés, ni à un seul peuple élu entre tous les peuples ! Elles ne cèderont qu'à une poussée de tous ensemble, dans une direction où tous ensemble [fût-ce sous l'influence et la conduite de quelques-uns (d'une « élite ») seulement] peuvent se rejoindre et s'achever dans une rénovation spirituelle de la Terre.^23(*)

Hence, collectivisation is not the work of some privileged cultures or human races or civilizations. The doors of the future are going to open themselves only through the impulse of all the civilizations together. The Civilization of the Universal is not for some peoples, but it is the work of all though some may lead the others in this panhuman convergence.

Since we are all from the same species, we must work to build up a common mind and avoid racism. The increase of human consciousness favours forces that tend towards dissolution but this is countered according to Teilhard de Chardin, by a planetary impulse towards solidarity: the Civilization of the Universal.

I.2.4. Unity and not Identity

An ecumenical view of humanity emerged clearly in Teilhard de Chardin's mind during his days. The call for the Civilization of the Universal is based here on his principle that union differentiates in order to neutralize all forms of racism. The collective must be personalized in order to heal the cleavage. Individual races must become collective-minded.

The various races of man, in so far as we can still distinguish between them, in spite of their convergence, are not biologically equal but different and complementary like children of the same family. And there is no doubt that it is even to this very genetic diversity that we must attribute the extreme biological richness of mankind. Each race must therefore strive to keep its identity, because the Civilization of the Universal means unity in diversity and not fusion in identity. With all confidence, Teilhard de Chardin thus says:

There is nothing in this, I think, to hurt anyone's pride: provided, of course, that each one of us understands (like each member of a family), that the only thing that ultimately matters is the general triumph of all mankind by which I mean that globally it shall attain the higher term of its planetary evolution...They accuse me of being a racialist, I am not. For the racialist, mankind is divided into higher and lower races, any fusion of the two being immoral and degrading. The biologically inferior races have, for him, only one useful purpose, to perform the meaner tasks, and humanity will never attain unity.^24(*)

Though different, all races are complementary and equal in dignity. In effect, there are in Teilhard de Chardin's vision, some races that act as the leading light of evolution and others that have reached a dead end. Mankind is evolving towards a form of totalisation, and this process necessarily entails a particular role for every race. The various races, though different, are capable of coming together in synthesis. These races must therefore share

[...] an attitude of sympathetic collaboration in a unanimous effort towards «ultra humanization», for which every shade of humanity needs the others in order to attain maturity.^25(*)

There is in fact a moral effort needed in order that this collaboration among races may take place effectively. Teilhard de Chardin states:

Pour s'unifier et se concentrer en soi-même, l'être doit rompre beaucoup d'attaches nuisibles. Pour s'unifier avec les autres et se donner à eux, il doit porter atteinte, en apparence, aux privautés, les plus jalousement cultivées, de son esprit et de son coeur. Pour accéder à une vie supérieure, en se centrant sur un autre lui-même, il doit briser en soi une unité provisoire. [...] L'effort moral est nécessairement accompagné de douleur, de sacrifice. ^26(*)

Human relationships are so complex that one needs to be very careful in relating with the other person. There is a constant moral effort that is needed. This entails a great spirit of sacrifice. Coming up together in view of the Civilization of the Universal is not something so easy. Accepting the values of the other culture or human race is not given. History teaches us how the African race had always been considered as less human than the others and it is on this basis that western man came to colonize the black man in order to `humanize' and `rationalize' him.

Claude Cuénot tells us that the views of Teilhard de Chardin on the complementarity and collaboration of races were not accepted at UNESCO for example, though he maintained his friendship with Julian Huxley, the Chairman.

I.3. THE PRESENT SITUATION AND MUTUAL DUTY OF HUMAN RACES

I.3.1. The conflict situation

In discussing the present situation and mutual duties of races, Teilhard de Chardin acknowledges that there is a contagious movement which is at present setting the various ethnic unities of the world in great hostility with one another. This antagonism among peoples, in which we are caught, seems to give a final knock to whoever dreamed of a unification of the universe. The world in his days was characterised by repulsion, isolation and fragmentation and this was revealed by wars and conflicts.

Teilhard de Chardin, who believed in the existence of human progress, remained optimistic despite the revival of racism in his days. He asserts:

Nous commençons maintenant à le sentir en nous, et à le constater chez nos voisins: avant les derniers ébranlements qui ont réveillé la terre, les peuples ne vivaient guère que par la surface d'eux-mêmes ; un monde d'énergie dormait encore en chacun d'eux. Eh bien, ce sont, j'imagine, ces puissances encore enveloppées qui, au fond de chaque unité humaine, en Europe, en Asie, partout, s'agitent et veulent venir au jour en ce moment ; non point finalement pour s'opposer et s'entredévorer, mais pour se rejoindre et s'interféconder. Il faut des nations conscientes pour une terre totale.^27(*)

Teilhard de Chardin bears witness to the fact that some peoples of the earth have lived in fear of one another and even in conflict. He imagines that these forces of opposition lying in every human unit in Europe or in Asia, were then in gestation and that they wanted to come out, neither to oppose nor crush themselves, but to unite, come together and to fertilize themselves. We need conscious nations for a total earth.

I.3.2. A step towards union

The apparent conflict situation in the world is just a step towards a union by dissension and gradually, all races are becoming aware of their duties towards one another. There is therefore, according to Teilhard de Chardin, no room for discouragement, since the process of globalisation will have to take a long period of time. What we need is patience and optimism:

Nous sommes donc en proie, à l'heure présente, aux forces de divergence. Mais ne désespérons pas...Dans la réalité des choses, un processus aussi vaste que celui de la synthèse des races ne se réalise pas d'un seul jet...Pour que l'ordre s'établisse sur la différenciation humaine, il faut sans doute une longue alternance d'expansions et de concentrations, d'écartements et de rapprochements. Nous nous trouvons placés, hic et nunc, sur une phase de divergence extrême, prélude à une convergence telle qu'il n'y a pas encore eu sur terre.^28(*)

Teilhard de Chardin says that nowadays, we are witnessing forces of divergence; but we need not despair. In reality a process as great as the synthesis of races cannot be realised quickly. It will take time more especially because we are in the phase of extreme divergence. The phase of extreme divergence which is characteristic of races and the world today is just a prelude to such a convergence, that is, the Civilization of the Universal as has never yet been on earth. In fact, according to Teilhard de Chardin, every move we make to isolate ourselves presses us closer together. So, in spite of quarrels and conflicts which it disturbs and saddens us to see, the idea that a concentration of humanity is taking place in the world and that, far from breaking it up, we are increasingly coming together, is not an absurd one.

I.3.3. A reliable hypothesis:

The theory that there is a human synthesis is indubitable and it is taking place gradually as days and centuries go by in the universe. Teilhard de Chardin affirms:

L'hypothèse qu'il y a une synthèse humaine en cours est donc satisfaisante parce que cohérente jusqu'au bout en elle-même et avec les faits...Admettre en effet qu'une combinaison des races et des peuples est l'évènement biologiquement attendu pour que se produise un épanouissement nouveau et supérieur de conscience sur terre, c'est définir du même coup, dans ses lignes majeures et dans son dynamisme interne, la chose dont notre action a le plus grand besoin : une éthique internationale.^29(*)

We need to admit the fact that there is a coming together of human races and of peoples in order to appreciate that which humanity needs most: an international ethics. This international ethics is what we have been considering in a wider context as the Civilization of the Universal, the convergence of all races towards the Omega Point. Teilhard de Chardin is himself conscious of the fact that this phenomenon calls for no detailed description:

It takes the form of the all-encompassing ascent of the masses; the constant tightening of economic bounds; the spread of financial and intellectual associations; the totalisation of political regimes; the closer physical contact of individuals as well as of nations; the increasing impossibility of being or acting or thinking alone - in short, the rise, in every form, of the Other around us.^30(*)

Hence, we are now in the phase of planetisation. «The age of Nations is past, says Teilhard de Chardin, the task before us now, if we would not perish, is to build the earth.»^31(*) We will build the earth by humanizing it, by spreading love, mutual acceptance and mutual recognition and by spelling away the forces of division, hatred, racism, ethnocentrism and xenophobia.

I.3.4. The Significance and Value of Human Totalisation

In his consideration of the Collectivisation of mankind, Teilhard de Chardin is confident. He perceives a great event foreshadowed: the planetisation of mankind, the Civilization of the Universal. He says that although our individualistic instincts may rebel against this drive towards the collective, they do so in vain and wrongly:

Si, contre cette dérive vers le collectif, nos instincts individualistes se révoltent, c'est donc vainement et injustement. Vainement, puisque aucune force au monde ne saurait nous faire échapper à ce qui est la force même du monde. Et injustement, puisque le mouvement qui nous entraîne vers des formes super-organisées ne tend, par nature, qu'à nous faire complètement humains.^32(*)

There is no force on earth that can escape to that which is the force of the earth. The movement which carries us along tends by nature to make us completely human. Ipso facto, we are called to obey to this inner drive of the universe, which seeks to make us one and if we become aware of this profound ordering of things, we will be able to allow human collectivisation to pass beyond the enforced phase, where it now is, to the free phase: that in which men, having learnt in consequence to love the preordained forces that unite them, a natural union of affinity and sympathy will supersede the forces of compulsion.

Teilhard de Chardin asserts that the phenomenon of planetisation of humankind falls in several aspects: geographical, ethnical, economical and even psychical.

Geographically, since 1939, a vast expanse of the earth, the region of the Pacific, hitherto on the fringe of civilization, has for practical purposes entered irrevocably into the orbit of industrialised nations. Mechanised masses of men have invaded the southern seas, and up-to-date airfields have been permanently installed on what were the poetically lost islands of Polynesia.^33(*)

He goes further to question:

Ethnically, during the same space of time, there has been a vast and pitiless confusion of peoples, whole armies being removed from one hemisphere to the other, and tens of thousands of refugees being scattered across the world like seed borne on the wind. Brutal and harsh though the circumstances have been who can fail to perceive the inevitable consequences of this new striving of the human dough?^34(*)

And finally, he says:

During the same period, economically and psychically the entire mass of mankind, under the inexorable pressure of events and owing to the prodigious growth and speeding up of the means of communication, has found itself seized in the mould of a communal existence^35(*)

According to Teilhard de Chardin, this process of collectivisation of mankind is unavoidable:

Que nous le voulions ou non, sans arrêt depuis les origines de l'Histoire, et de par toutes les forces conjuguées de la Matière et de l'Esprit, nous nous collectivisons, lentement ou par saccades chaque jour davantage. Voilà le fait. Aussi impossible à l'Humanité de ne pas s'agréger sur soi qu'à l'intelligence de ne pas approfondir indéfiniment sa pensée !^36(*)

Teilhard de Chardin says that this Hominization ^37(*) of the world, seen to be allied to a very strange characteristic, which suggests that there is something to be discovered scientifically in man that is even more interesting than the manifestation of a cosmic property or the product of evolution, is irreversible^38(*). Despite the accumulated improbabilities that its progress presupposes, it has continually been increasing in our world and what can be seen in mankind today is precisely its climax. We cannot stop or turn back from what is taking shape and gathering speed around us indeed, it is an unavoidable process.

In effect, we do experience today progress in human collectivisation. Countries tend to build up international organisations in order to make unity among them more effective. What the Western world experiences today through the European Union, is a tangible proof that humanity is moving towards the Civilization of the Universal, though much still needs to be done in the whole world. Teilhard de Chardin is a forecaster. He had already foreseen a certain planetisation of mankind in his days. Is it not what globalisation is all about? This is the Civilization of the Universal, a rendez-vous where each culture has something to offer and to receive as well. This will continue to take place gradually.

Teilhard de Chardin calls our attention to the need to accept this phenomenon of planetisation of mankind in all optimism:

Au lieu de chercher à nier ou à minimiser, contre toute évidence, la réalité de ce grand phénomène, acceptons-le franchement ; regardons-le en face ;et voyons si, en l'utilisant comme un fondement inattaquable, nous ne pourrions pas construire sur lui un édifice optimiste de joie et de libération^39(*).

Instead of denying or minimizing the reality of this great phenomenon, we are supposed to frankly accept it. We are called to acknowledge its value and its significance in order to build on it a monument of happiness and liberation of all humanity.

CONCLUSION

One may genuinely wonder how Teilhard de Chardin could postulate such a phenomenon. The answer is simply that as a Geologist and Palaeontologist, he studied the past and his studies of the past enabled him to establish knowledge of the future. The «vision of the past» helped him to foresee the «future of man»^40(*) as he writes in a letter of September 8^th 1935:

Le passé m'a révélé la construction de l'Avenir... Précisément pour parler avec quelque autorité de l'Avenir, il m'est essentiel de m'établir avec plus de solidité que jamais comme un spécialiste du Passé.^41(*)

He believed that it is only by carefully studying the past that we can anticipate the future and understand the present. In this context therefore, we consider Teilhard de Chardin a Prophet of globalisation.

Faced with so much destruction at this beginning of the 3^rd millennium, we can still affirm that the planetary consciousness of Teilhard de Chardin is taking place; it is a process that is certifiable. Here lies the intrinsic value of this French Jesuit priest, as Charles RAVEN says:

It is perhaps Teilhard's greatest service to our time that having accepted the whole cosmic process as one, continuous, complexified and convergent, he can regard it with an unfaltering hope. Anyone who enters into the significance of evolution will find in the record of its evidence of progress and therefore of encouragement, not as an exception, but in its diverse forms and at every level verifiable and conclusive.^42(*)

The thoughts of Teilhard de Chardin had a great influence on later and even contemporary thinkers and writers like Léopold SEDAR SENGHOR who made of Teilhard de Chardin's views on the Civilization of the Universal, the foundation of his African Socialism.

CHAPTER TWO

TEILHARD DE CHARDIN ADOPTED AND ADAPTED BY SENGHOR

INTRODUCTION

In our first chapter, we have considered the notion of the Civilization of the Universal as presented to us by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. The thought of this French Jesuit priest on humanism gave much dignity to peoples that were considered as inferior in a period marked by the growth of racism and ethnocentrism. In effect, the writings of Teilhard de Chardin were actually challenging the racist visions of the representative of western imperialism in Africa. Léopold SEDAR SENGHOR would then continue the work that was begun by the French Jesuit priest and he would apply the Teilhardian views on humanism, the Civilization of the Universal, adopting and adapting them to the African context. In this second chapter of our philosophical endeavour, we set ourselves the task of analysing the foundations of Senghor's humanism, his African socialism, the Negro-African vision of the world, his role and his contribution to the building up of the Civilization of the Universal.

II.1. THE FOUNDATIONS OF SENGHOR'S CIVILIZATION OF THE UNIVERSAL

Léopold Sédar Senghor drew inspiration from Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Like Teilhard de Chardin, Senghor considered the interaction of cultures and human races. His readings of Teilhard de Chardin urged him to adopt and adapt some of his views on the Civilization of the Universal. In the midst of French and African culture, Senghor makes of Teilhard de Chardin's humanism, the basis of his thought on the Civilization of the Universal:

[...] Senghor [...] voulait lui-même concilier son désir douloureux de revendiquer son identité nègre et d'assumer la séduction que la civilisation française exerçait sur lui. La théorie de Teilhard de Chardin lui permettait de concilier ces contraires, de sortir d'une aventure ambiguë et de pouvoir à la fois se revendiquer de Diogoye Senghor, son père, le lion affamé, de Tokô Waly, son oncle maternel, le mystique, de Descartes, le rationaliste, de Péguy ou de Claudel. Teilhard l'avait déjà précédé dans cette voie...^43(*)

In effect, although Négritude remained the ideology with which Senghor is most associated and which he continued to uphold in organizing Pan-African conferences of artists and thinkers, after 1955 he focused on the Civilization of the Universal and the application in Africa of the philosophy of the French Jesuit palaeontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.

II.1.1. The Complementarity of Human Races

The foundations of Senghor's understanding of the Civilization of the Universal could be drawn from the assertion of Teilhard de Chardin that there are some human races that have reached a dead end, while others act as the spearhead of evolution. As we have seen with Teilhard de Chardin, mankind is evolving towards a form of totalisation, and this process necessarily entails a particular role for every human race. This is because human races are complementary and capable of coming together in synthesis. All human races and cultures are called to share an attitude of sympathetic collaboration in a unanimous effort towards the Civilization of the Universal. The complementarity of human races enabled Senghor to found his African humanism.

II.1.2. The Negro-African Race

Senghor's humanism is based on the contribution of the Negro-African race to the building up of the Civilization of the Universal. Africa thus occupies an important place and it has an important role to play in this process of totalisation of mankind. Later on in our work, we shall consider with Senghor that which is the Negro-African contribution to the Civilization of the Universal. Senghor's humanism is based on the Négritude movement, the exaltation of the black race, the expression of the African personality. In our evaluation, we shall consider Négritude as humanism.

II.1.3. The Effects of Colonisation

Several years after the colonial period in black Africa, one can tempt to draw up the cultural relation balance between the two continents: European and African. Were there cultural exchanges strictly speaking? In order to have a real reciprocal cultural exchange, a certain equality is necessary in the relations between two continents. However, the colonisers considered the colonised like primitives, uncultivated and incapable to have a civilization of their own. This is what Ferdinand CHINDJI-KOULEU deplores in the following words:

L'Europe de toute façon ne voyait pas ce que l'Afrique noire pouvait lui apporter dans le domaine de la culture. Quel profit pouvait-elle tirer des traditions orales négro-africaines ? Il a fallu attendre, Picasso pour reconnaître la valeur de l'art-nègre. Même aujourd'hui où l'on ne cesse de nous casser le tympan avec la coopération culturelle, la musique négro-africaine, pour arriver en Europe, doit passer par les Amériques. Le raisonnement des Européens est fort simple : nous avons colonisé, construit et instruit ce peuple démuni. Que peut-il nous donner en retour ? Certainement pas son folklore païen avec sa musique monotone ou son art « grotesque » et sensuel. Et c'est ainsi qu'on arrive à fermer la porte à des valeurs nouvelles. Il est évident que le fait de reconnaître du positif dans la culture négro-africaine aurait contribué à détruire certains arguments culturels et moraux de la colonisation.^44(*)

Senghor will endeavour to present the bad effects of colonisation on the African culture. In effect, colonisation has helped in the loss of most of our African traditional values and has helped in the formation of a split personality in many Africans. Senghor calls for a revalorization of our traditional and cultural values since the African contribution to the building up of the Civilization of the Universal is above all based on his cultural values.

II.2. SENGHOR'S AFRICAN SOCIALISM

Senghor's African socialism relies on three pillars: an inventory of African traditional and cultural values, an inventory of western civilization and of its impacts on African civilization, and finally, an inventory of African economic resources, its needs and potentialities both material and spiritual.

II.2.1. An Inventory of Traditional Values

In order to obtain an inventory of traditional African values, in Senghor's opinion, the study of the mythical past of Africa is crucial. For him, Africa is «rather a communion of souls than an aggregate of individuals».^45(*)

Teilhard de Chardin had exhorted all cultures to converge towards the Omega point, through love and charity. In adapting Teilhard de Chardin, Senghor considers that the African world is much more adapted than the western world, to realize this communion of love. He considers the African's view of the world as a communion of souls, as the basis of the contribution of the African continent to the Civilization of the Universal. He then calls for a revalorization of African cultural values such as hospitality, solidarity and mutual love and concern.

II.2.2. An Inventory of Western Civilization and its impacts on Africa

This inventory can be drawn from the effects of colonialism on cultural patterns of behaviour of the African. The aim of this inventory is to produce a `dynamic symbiosis'^46(*) among several cultures, neither of which should dominate the others; since all are complementary. We can point out here the Inferiority Complex and the Split personality in the African.

II.2.2.1. The Inferiority Complex in the African

According to Kenneth KAUNDA «the humanistic character of the African has been damaged and even partly destroyed by Africa's long exposure to the West.»^47(*) Colonialism has introduced into Africa, many attitudes that could not be naturally integrated into the existing traditions.

Thus, while Europe opened new vistas of freedom by freeing Africans from disease, ignorance, superstition and even from slavery, it also introduced a new form of servitude which arises from the Inferiority Complex of the African vis-à-vis the technically superior Europeans.

Similarly, while colonialism brought a new security by introducing the rule of law against the arbitrary power of chiefs; and brought technical and economic developments which make man less dependent on nature, it has also robbed the African traditional security which he found in his tribal ties and in the old social web of relationships.

Finally, while it introduced a broader horizon into people's life by making them look beyond the limits of their villages, and by bringing about new associations: political parties, churches, trade unions, etc..., it has also brought to many people a new form of loneliness arising from urbanization and from the rootlessness of detribalized existence.

As we shall see in the next chapter, despite these side effects of colonialism, the African himself, at least partly, still carries the blame of his inferiority complex and his split personality.

II.2.2.2. The Split of Personality

As a result of his inferiority complex, the African develops a split personality. This reflects itself more especially in African leaders as Kaunda points out: «the modern African leader is a split personality between two ways of thought...between heart and head.»^48(*) This schizophrenia extends to the masses. In effect, the problem lies in the mentality of the African. Frantz FANON observes: «the Negro behaves differently with a white man and with another Negro; and this self-division is a direct result of colonialist subjugation.»^49(*)

II.2.3. An Inventory of our African Resources

Africa is a continent blessed with a lot of natural resources. Due to poor technical and economic development, these resources are and have been exploited by the West. Senghor thus insists on the spiritual and cultural resources of Africa.

The foreign contributions, whether capitalist or socialist, whether from the West or from the East, must take cognizance of and be adapted to the African cultural and economic realities. Neither western nor eastern, nor African civilization is the universal civilization. Africa has something to offer in the process of collectivisation of mankind. The Hegelian and other racist attitudes are therefore wrong:

The Negro-African is not finished before he even gets started. Let him speak; above all, let him act. Let him bring like a leaven, his message to the world in order to help build the Civilization of the Universal.^50(*)

Following the steps of Teilhard de Chardin, Senghor acknowledges the complementarity of races and cultures. According to Senghor, the Négritude movement

[...] welcomes the complementary values of Europe and the white man, and indeed of all other races and continents. But it welcomes them in order to fertilize and reinvigorate its own values, which it then offers for the construction of a civilization which shall embrace all mankind. The neo-humanism of the twentieth century stands at the crossroads where the paths of all nations, races and continents meet, where the four winds of the spirit blow.^51(*)

Above all, the search for the Civilization of the Universal must not become an excuse for introducing a new cultural colonialism. This implies an independence of the mind, which is the necessary prerequisite of other independences: political, economic and social; that is, the right and the possibility of thinking for oneself, of choosing values for oneself, of acting by oneself and of being oneself. Such independence must imply not merely the rejection of the former colonial rule as being the absolute culture, but also of any other culture or value system which has not been fully integrated into that of one's own people. Every man is part of a social context: he has a country, a colour, a history and a civilization.

II.3. THE NEGRO-AFRICAN VISION OF THE WORLD

The conception of reality by Africans is in many ways different from the way the Westerner views the world. Our attitude to life cannot therefore but be different from the western attitude to life. It is important to consider how the negro-African views reality in order to see why Senghor adopts and adapts the Teilhardian considerations on the Civilization of the Universal.

II.3.1. The Concept of Being

When the Westerner considers reality as empirical, Africans look at being as dynamic. In effect, for the Westerner, everything can be tested and can be explained scientifically. He believes in empirical causality and seeks to know the material causes of things. He holds that a thing is what it is and not something else. He is more or less occupied with experience and bases his conception of reality on the law of non-contradiction, law of identity, law of the excluded middle, which are the basic principles outside which thought must be incorrect.

For Africans, Being is dynamic, not static. It is concrete, real. As such, we are aware of the fact that there are causes and reasons that cannot be explained scientifically. We are aware of the fact that a thing can be itself and still be something else. We are not only aware of this, we live it intensively. Sometimes, our vision of things tends to defy the principles and categories of western thought. There is more to the world than what only the eye can see. We are engaged in the events and things that occur and we are involved in Being. Let us consider the illustration of Jude Thaddeus MBI on this point:

A tree falls and kills a man. The westerner would say there was an accident, a tree fell and killed a man. Then he would bring out his equipment and go to examine the tree. Perhaps he would discover that the tree was hollow inside. Perhaps, he would be able to establish that there was a storm at the time the tree fell. The man happened to be passing just at that moment and so he got killed. To prevent this from happening again, he would, perhaps, decide to fell all trees within a certain distance from the highway.^52(*)

Mbi continues by showing how Africans look at things in a way that is different from the western vision of the world:

He (the westerner) doesn't think of praying about the matter. Our peoples, on the other hand, would look at the man. They would want to know why the tree fell on this man. For them this is not just a simple event. It is an occurrence that has meaning. God, the Ancestors, the spirits, other human beings come into picture. Relationship has been disrupted somewhere and this situation must be set right in order to prevent a repeat of this kind of occurrence. They would go for a nggambe man to find out the origin of this evil. Then they would offer sacrifices of appeasement and try to procure protection for the members of the family. They don't think of changing the physical conditions.^53(*)

These are two completely different approaches to the same situation. When the Westerner will stress on the material dimension of events, the African will stress more on the spiritual dimension of it. He will see the spirit everywhere. Because Africans usually think and react the way they do, they are often condemned as being superstitious and illogical. After all, can we say that what is not known does not necessarily exist? Can we actually attribute the effectiveness of what is only to that which is known? Do we have the right to reject totally the African's understanding of being as dynamic? This will certainly lead us to the absolutisation of rationality in its scientific and technological form, the error of Positivism.

We suppose, therefore, that it is wiser to see the western vision and the African vision as complementary ways of being-in-the-world. The human being is both matter and spirit:

A purely rationalistic approach to reality, which takes account only of the materially demonstrable, can be just as lopsided as one, which sees spirit everywhere. It doesn't help the situation if we simply disregard and condemn. It would do a lot more good if we try to understand and move forward...^54(*)

It is important to acknowledge our differences in the way we look at Being instead of trying to condemn one attitude or the other. The two visions are necessary in the construction of the Civilization of the Universal.

II.3.2. The Concept of Nature

While western man studies nature to see what he can make out of it, we acknowledge on our part that nature holds mysteries. For us, nature is mysterious, we learn from it, we perceive the dynamism of being from it and this leads us to worship. The reverence that Africans give to nature points out to traditional religion. We perceive God in nature and we worship Him in and through nature. Nature is the ground for all our relationships:

Whereas Descartes would say, «I think, therefore, I am», we would say, «I relate, therefore, I am». I am because I am involved with other beings. Without relationship my being loses meaning and I cease to be. Where there is a breach in relationship I am bound to experience trouble, I find myself confronted with nonbeing.^55(*)

Nature involves us completely and we are part of it. From nature, we gain not only material goods, but also knowledge, religiosity and wisdom. If for the Westerner, what is artificial is meaningful and valuable, because it is the mark of his achievement and scientific spirit, for us, what is natural is meaningful and valuable because it is the sacred ground of our being. With our vision of the world, it is perhaps right to assert that we worship God naturally, the Most real Being in the most natural way.

Again, one great mistake which the foreigner is liable to make when he sees us gazing at nature is to say that we worship trees or stones...Africans do not worship trees or stones; it is a misunderstanding of the way we look at things. Our metaphysics is impregnated with religion. Africans are notoriously religious.

II.3.3. The Concept of World

The world for Africans consists of the physical reality, which we see. It is not a static reality but a dynamic reality, which opens up to the world beyond. The world both seen and unseen is one reality. In the world beyond, there is the realm of the nature spirits, both the good and the bad, and there is the realm of ancestral spirits: people who lived a useful life on earth go to where the ancestors are. They are blessed ones; they are productive even in the after-life since they are close to the source of life. They live in perpetual communion with the family and can bring assistance to those in the present life. They are venerated as Ancestors. Those whose life was unproductive on earth are damned ones; they remain unproductive when they die. They are «wandering spirits, they have no rest and they cannot be venerated as Ancestors.»^56(*)

African ontology presents a concept of the world which is diametrically opposed to the traditional philosophy of Europe. The latter is essentially static, objective, dichotomic; it is in fact, dualistic, in that it makes an absolute distinction between body and soul or matter and spirit. It is founded on separation and opposition: on analysis and conflict. The African, on the other hand, conceives the world, beyond the diversity of its forms, as a fundamentally mobile, yet unique, reality that seeks synthesis.

The African is, of course, sensitive to the external world, to the material aspect of beings and things. It is precisely because he is sensitive to the tangible qualities of things such as shape, colour, smell, or weight that he considers these things merely as signs that have to be interpreted and transcended in order to reach the reality of human beings. Thus, the whole universe appears as an infinitely small and at the same time an infinitely large network which emanates from God and ends in God.

II.3.4. The Concept of God

For Africans, God is absolutely transcendent, far beyond everything. He is so great that even the Ancestors and the spirits do not «see» Him. Our Ancestors who have died are closer to God than we are and they can obtain blessings from God for us. Our parents are «God-for-us» in the hic et nunc since they are the ones through whom the life-giving power of God has been transmitted to us. We worship God as creator. A portion of sacrificial meal is always reserved to God. As Mbi says, «For Africans, God is in Himself male and female.»^57(*) This is an expression of their awareness of the wholeness of God. God is complete, whole and needs nothing outside Him as man needs woman and woman needs man. This way of reasoning opens the way for an easy understanding of mystery.

II.3.5. The Concept of Man

For Africans, man stands at the centre of the world and of being. In the created realm, man is the most important being; whatever exists exists for man and man exists for God. Man therefore is the reference point for any meaning in life. According to Father Jude Thaddeus Mbi, there are four types of human being: «the normal man, the witch or wizard, the `rational animal' (a person able to transform herself into an animal), and the living dead, the Ancestors.»^58(*)

In our societies, people want but the `normal man'. If signs of `abnormality' are revealed, certain rites are carried on the baby or child in order to make him `normal' again. This is one of the areas were faith in Africa is often tried. People are aware of the rites, or `country fashion' which must be performed for their baby to be fine. Western Christianity has qualified these rites as pagan. Only the strong survive this kind of sore testing often at a great price. The majority would be in church in the morning and in the evening «take to witchcraft».^59(*) This area needs careful study so that a clear distinction may be made between legitimate tradition and witchcraft.

For Africans, human life is the highest good in the created order. Man's being is ordered to God because God created man for Himself. Man is God's property, God's food. You cannot question Him any more than you would question a man who takes a chicken from his poultry. This is how death is understood. The ancestors too belong to the human community, they are the living dead. Since they are mediators between God and us, we relate to them regularly through prayer, libation and sacrifice. It is for this reason that the veneration of Ancestors is considered to be the backbone of African traditional religion. Again, this is another area of sore testing for Christian faith of our peoples. Again, only the strong survive, often at a great price. The majority would be at the Eucharist in the morning and would be immolating a goat back in the compound later on in the day.

II.3.6. The Concept of time

Africans are well noted for not being time-conscious. Before blaming them further, we must understand what time is for them. They do not think of time in-itself: time is time for me. I do not count time, rather I experience it and I live it. Time is evaluated by what I do with it, what I achieve, what it offers me. The western conception of time is different:

The westerner, we could say, «counts» time. He pays attention to time units such as seconds, minutes, hours, etc. and programmes himself to follow these time units. He has invented the clock for this purpose. This again, follows from his «objective vision» of time-as-it-is. He has objectified time to the point that he can even buy and sell it as a commodity. «Time is money», he would say. This measured time is what the Greek calls chronos. By paying attention to time in this way the westerner has developed a linear conception of time. Time for him passes. What is past shall never be again. There is a linear progression and no unit of time past is repeatable.^60(*)

When western man counts units of time, Africans pay attention to man and to events, and try to determine how time gets involved in order to enhance the being of man. Time is experienced time, not conjectured time. The Ancestors, for example, though dead are still living, they are still present; they have never left.

Africans' conception of time shows itself in the way they do things ordinarily. They are often blamed for being always late comers, not time conscious. Time is made for man and not man for time. Man is lord of time. So long as I achieve what I set myself to do, I am satisfied and the reckoning of time is not important.

II.3.7. African and Teilhardian World Views

We have already seen that Senghor considers the African world as a communion of souls rather than an aggregate of individuals. When we have a look at Teilhardian metaphysics that we have considered in our first chapter, we are struck by the resemblance between the vision of the world of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and the African traditional vision of the world.

In effect, these visions of the world are characterised by totalizing harmonies. Thus, we might say that Teilhard de Chardin provides a framework within which a typical African philosophy for the future may be written. Like that of Teilhard de Chardin, Senghor's world view is personalistic, socialistic and humanistic, aiming above all at a unity or a totality in a dynamic communion of all beings among themselves and with the Omega Point, in a mutual embrace of love.

Reading Teilhard de Chardin, Senghor could therefore assert that the Negro-African society is better adapted than the western society to realize this communion of love needed for the building up of the Civilization of the Universal. According to Senghor, western man constructs artificial and therefore aggregates of `human units', each of which remains closed within itself and seeks primarily self-sufficiency and independence. A union which comes from within, from the soul of a people which knows that individual man is not the measure of anything, that is, a union which, freely accepted as a vital necessity, runs a much greater chance of lasting success.

Unfortunately, the impact of western politics, of ideological conflicts and of power block diplomacy has weakened this basic unity. In addition, for Senghor, this communion of souls is most effective at the level of the fatherland or tribe and often breaks down into tribal conflicts at the level of the artificial states created by colonialism.

II.4. THE NEGRO-AFRICAN ROLE AND CONTRIBUTION TO THE CIVILIZATION OF THE UNIVERSAL

The Negro-African race according to Senghor, acts as the spearhead of evolution because the black man's contribution to the Civilization of the Universal should, on the basis of his traditional values, consist in forging the unity of man and the world by linking the flesh to the spirit, man to fellow man, the pebble to God, as he says:

Le service nègre aura été de contribuer avec d'autres peuples à refaire l'unité de l'Homme et du Monde, à lier la chair à l'esprit, l'homme à son semblable, le caillou à Dieu ; en d'autres termes, le réel au surréel - par l'Homme non pas centre, mais charnière, mais nombril du monde.^61(*)

The Negro-African's role in the Civilization of the Universal is to lead all the other races and cultures towards the Omega Point. This appears clearly in Senghor's considerations of what is an ideal society, his insistence on the communal dimension of love in the African setup and in the contrast he makes between the African and the western world views.

II.4.1. Senghor's Ideal Society

Senghor maintains that European society is primarily differentiated from the African one in that the former is at best a collectivist society that is bringing together into a collectivity a number of individuals who remain individual persons in a society. Western man distinguishes himself from the other and claims his autonomy to affirm himself in his basic originality. Senghor contrasts with the African society:

African society on the other hand is a community: the African stresses more the solidarity of the group and the contributions and needs of the individual persons. This is not to say that the African neglects the individual person, but rather that he does not primarily conceive of the person as a member of a kind of «mystical body» in which alone he can achieve his full development, his originality and his total potential. Indeed, this community goes beyond even the human members, since it involves a communion with all beings in the universe: stones, plants, animals, men, dead (ancestors) or alive, and God.^62(*)

Thus, while Karl MARX and other Marxists concern themselves with the economic infrastructures, seen as a mechanical and material processes, Senghor following Teilhard de Chardin, goes further into the roots of man's development and therefore is capable of looking towards the future. For him, the roots of man's development lie in the biological and psychological dimension of man himself, not merely as an individual. This leads to a growth in socialization for a better life by means of common search for the common good.

In order to achieve this better life, there is need for the dynamism of love. In this way, Senghor's ideal society is the African society, a society not characterised by individualism as is the case in western societies. The African family puts humanism at the centre of relationships. Here, relations are on the basis of a natural need to live in a stabilised family:

Non seulement la famille est, chez les Nègres, comme ailleurs, la cellule sociale; mais encore la société est formée de cercles concentriques de plus en plus larges, qui s'étagent les uns sur les autres, imbriqués les uns dans les autres, et formés sur le type même de la famille. Plusieurs familles qui parlent le même dialecte et qui sentent une origine commune forment une tribu ; plusieurs tribus qui parlent la même langue et habitent le même pays peuvent constituer un royaume : enfin plusieurs royaumes entrent, à leur tour, dans une confédération ou un empire [...] C'est à l'étage de la tribu, plutôt du royaume, que l'on peut saisir, plus nettement, la solution que le Nègre a donnée aux problèmes sociaux et politiques. Solution qui a répondu, par avance, à cette « unité pluraliste » qui reste l'idéal des humanistes d'aujourd'hui, de ceux du moins pour qui l'humanisme n'est pas une sorte de vain divertissement « d'honnête homme ».^63(*)

The better life sought also depends on the way with which the problem of work and ownership is handled. This is often the source of many social problems. Every individual person must work in order to produce his own goods, to find happiness from and through the work of his hands. The error of capitalism, according to Senghor, does not lie on the existence of ownership or propriety, necessary condition for man's development; rather, it lies on the fact that in a capitalist society, ownership does not necessarily derive from work. Again, the Negro society proves its worth because here, work is considered as the only source of ownership. In effect, Senghor avers:

Le vice de la société capitaliste n'est pas dans l'existence de la propriété, condition nécessaire du développement de la personne; il est dans le fait que la propriété ne repose pas essentiellement sur le travail. Or, dans la société nègre, « le travail, ou, plus exactement peut-être, l'action productive, est considéré comme la seule source de propriété que sur l'objet qu'il a produit ». Mais - les critiques du capitalisme l'ont souvent souligné - la propriété ne peut qu'être théorique si les richesses naturelles et les moyens de production restent entre les mains de quelques individus. Là encore, le Nègre avait résolu le problème dans un sens humaniste. Le sol, de même que tout ce qu'il porte - fleuves, rivières, forêts, animaux, poissons -, est un bien commun, réparti entre les familles et même parfois entre les membres de la famille, qui en ont une propriété temporaire ou usufruitière. D'autre part, les moyens de production en général, les instruments de travail sont la propriété commune du groupe familial ou de la corporation.^64(*)

We see with Senghor that there is a great sense of community in the negro-African society, which humanizes the relationships among all the members of the community. Even the ownership of agricultural products is collective since work itself is collective; so much that everyone has a vital minimum for his survival. It is a great advantage for all:

[...] chaque homme est assuré, matériellement, du « minimum vital » selon ses besoins. « Quand la récolte est mûre, dit le Wolof, elle appartient à tous. » Et cet autre avantage, non moins important du point de vue de la vie personnelle : l'acquisition du superflu, luxe nécessaire, est rendue possible par le travail, la propriété individuelle étant réglée et restreinte, non éliminée.^65(*)

It is noticeable here that because of colonialism, this sense of the community, the common good, tends to disappear. Senghor's ideal society is therefore the pre-colonial negro-African society; a society full of values that need to be revalorized today and our dissertation aims as we have seen in calling the attention of Africans on the value of their traditions and at fighting the bad effects of colonialism which has helped in the loss of most of these values. Senghor's ideal society is a society having at its foundation, the dynamism of love.

II.4.2. The Communal Dimension of Love in Africa

Senghor, who had personally experienced the sterility of hatred, opposition and isolation and had turned towards a synthesis which would bring men together rather than maintain them in a perpetual conflict, sees love as the highest form of human energy. Love achieves that totality and coherence, that communion which African myth has always and fairly effectively been seeking. This communion is achieved at three levels.

First, love brings man's individual acts into a unity of totality within the person himself. We are always tempted to act piecemeal, for the here and now. But if we consciously relate every one of our acts with the ultimate unifying goal, that is God, we thereby also think all acts among themselves and with the events throughout the universe.

Secondly, love totalizes us in the sense of making us aware of ourselves as persons. It is by loving others that we transcend ourselves and thus grow personally. This is not merely an external union like people sitting in the same room, but a communion of persons, like the love between husband and wife which enriches and ennobles both persons. Unless and until man learns to evaluate himself as a person, there is no room for growth in dignity.

Thirdly, humanity as a whole can only be totalized and given social cohesion through love. Any political system and any international organisation which relies exclusively on socio-economic techniques or on laws and police enforcement must fall unless love guides all those structures. It is based on structures to which man is subjected or on fear of which man's dignity is robbed. Senghor has this to say:

They sacrifice the part to the whole, the person to the collectivity. Since a materialist postulate underlies this, and since the collectivity is conceived solely as a technical organization, it does not attract (as love does); to push the individuals towards it, one must resort to constraint and violence.^66(*)

The communal dimension of love in Africa is mostly expressed in the way events are celebrated. An event is never one's event or one's family event: it is a celebration for the whole community or the whole village. A marriage for example engages several families: the family of the bride, maternal and paternal, as well as the family of the bride-groom, maternal and paternal. All are invited to celebrate the event, even those who are not directly concerned. The same holds true for other good events like First Holy Communion, Baptism and others. Bad events such as burials are also celebrated in a community spirit. All come together in order to comfort the bereaved family and in order to express their love and concern to the afflicted members of the community.

As such, Africa can teach western man this dimension of love because western society has come to be more individualistic and materialistic than the African society where solidarity and hospitality are values that have to remain despite the influence of the media and despite what has come to be the westernisation of the world.

Nevertheless, we cannot just place the negro-African contribution exclusively at the level of culture from his vision of the world. Africa has greatly contributed to the development of civilization and of science it is important to note this and to encourage scientific research and innovation in Africa.

II.4.3. Africa and Civilization

Cheikh ANTA DIOP devoted his whole life to rewrite history, placing the origins of civilization in Africa, in ancient Egypt. Throughout his writings, he proves scientifically that Africa is at the centre of civilization. Going back to ancient Egypt, at the time of Pharaohs, Cheikh Anta Diop shows that history has been falsified and that the sciences that constitute the core of western civilization had their origins in Egypt though Westerners failed to recognize this fact in their writings in order to claim later on that Africa has nothing to offer to the other peoples as far as civilization is concerned. Accepting this racialist views would be rejecting the place and role of Africa in the building up of the Civilization of the Universal. Thanks to Diop, we are going to see how the sciences saw their beginnings in Egypt, that is, in Africa.

II.4.4. Africa and the Sciences

In Mathematics, more especially in geometry, from his research, Cheikh Anta Diop demonstrates that ARCHIMEDES in his mathematical elaborations only repeated the theories that already existed in Egypt before him. In the works of Archimedes, scientific acquisitions present in ancient Egypt, are implied as Diop says:

[...] les acquisitions scientifiques antérieures des anciens Egyptiens sont largement impliquées dans les livres d'Archimède intitulés De la sphère et du cylindre, De la mesure du cercle, pour ne citer que ceux-là. [...] En effet, Archimède dans ce dernier livre, en calculant la valeur Ï=3,14 n'a fait nulle part allusion à la valeur très voisine de Ð=3,16 trouvée par les Egyptiens deux mille ans avant lui. Il ne se doutait pas qu'un papyrus égyptien apprendrait accidentellement la vérité à la postérité. Le traité d'Archimède De l'équilibre des plans ou de leur Centre de gravité, porte sur l'équilibre du levier, problème que les Egyptiens avaient maîtrisé depuis 2600 av. J.C., époque de la construction des pyramides.^67(*)

Hence, what Archimedes assumed to have discovered, like the value of Ï=3,14 was already present in Egypt. The problem here is that Westerners are usually dishonest in the way they handle their findings and in the way they exploit them in ancient Egypt. This is actually what leads to the falsification of history. Fortunately, Cheikh Anta Diop committed his life to bring the truth to light: Africa is not only the cradle of humanity, but also the cradle of science, art, and philosophy; in brief, the cradle of civilization.

Taking cognizance of this will enable us build in ourselves a certain legitimate pride and will enable us gather momentum in order to make our contribution to the building up of the Civilization of the Universal a task for all Africans.

In algebra, the Egyptian influence was so strong as far as PYTHAGORAS is concerned that the latter's school used hieroglyphic signs in their mathematical notations, despite the difference in the language. For example, the sign of water `ìììì' used to symbolise numeric progressions; alongside with other Egyptian signs like: ê used to represent a series of uneven numbers and = used to represent even numbers.

Diop asserts:

Les Egyptiens avaient une notion claire des séries Mathématiques et de leurs propriétés particulières : Ils connaissaient très certainement les séries que sont les progressions géométriques, et très probablement d'autres types de séries aux propriétés beaucoup plus complexes.^68(*)

The Egyptians were aware of mathematical series, the numeric progressions and other proprieties of high complexity. In a passage of PLUTARCH cited par Hoefer in Civilisation ou Barbarie, Diop proves that Greeks were aware of the fact that the theorem known as « the Pythagorean theorem » was an Egyptian discovery:

Les Egyptiens paraissaient s'être figuré le monde sous la forme du plus beau des triangles, de même que Platon, dans sa Politique, semble l'avoir employé comme symbole de l'union matrimonial. Ce triangle, le plus beau des triangles, a son côté vertical composé de 3, la base de 4 et l'hypoténuse de 5 parties, et le carré de celle-ci est égal à la somme des carrés des cathètes. Le côté vertical symbolise le mâle, la base la femelle, l'hypoténuse la progéniture des deux^69(*).

In effect, Ferdinand HOEFER remarks that the Egyptians considered the perfection of the world to be represented in the form of the most beautiful triangle and Plato seems to have used it in his Politics. The most beautiful triangle has four parts at its basis, three at its vertical side and five at his hypotenuse. It was the symbol of matrimonial union: the vertical side symbolising the male, the basis the female and the hypotenuse the descendance.

Cheikh Anta Diop will continue to demonstrate in Civilisation ou Barbarie, the contribution of Egypt to the development of mathematics in many other aspects: equations of the first degree and equations of the second degree.^70(*)

In Astronomy, great work had been done by peoples of ancient Egypt:

Bien que tardif, le Papyrus Carlsberg décrit une méthode de détermination des phases de la lune dérivant des sources plus anciennes et sans aucune trace d'influence de la science hellénistique[...] ; cela semble prouver qu'il a existé des traités d'astronomie égyptienne.^71(*)

.

The papyrus of Carlsberg describes a method used by Egyptians to determine the stages of the moon, without any influence of western science. This enabled them to bring about the calendar. They invented the year of 365 days containing 12 months of 30 days each and 5 days corresponding to the birth of the gods: Osiris, Isis, Horus, Seth, Nephtys who will bring humanity into existence and inaugurate historical times: Adam and Eve are thus in Diop's opinion, biblical representations of Osiris and Isis.

As for geometry, Egyptians were the exclusive inventors of the calendar, the one which just slightly reformed, regulates our lives today as Cheikh Anta Diop writes:

Comme pour la géométrie, les Egyptiens ont été les exclusifs du calendrier, celui-là même, a peine réformé, qui règle notre vie aujourd'hui, et dont Neugebauer dit « qu'il est vraiment le seul calendrier intelligent qui ait jamais existé dans l'histoire humaine (...) L'année est divisée en 3 semaines de 10 jours, le jour en 24 heures. Les Egyptiens savaient que cette année civile était trop courte, qu'il lui manquait un quart de jour pour correspondre à une révolution sidérale complète (...) Au lieu d'ajouter un jour tous les quatre ans et d'instituer une année bissextile, les Egyptiens ont préféré la solution magistrale qui consiste à suivre ce décalage pendant 1460 ans^72(*).

Actually, the calendar invented by Egyptians had 365 days and in order to institute the bissextile year, they estimated that they could add one day on the 365 days, after 1460 years. (365 X 4 = 1460).

As far as Medicine is concerned, the Egyptians proved their worth. There are many ancient healers that referred to Egypt in order to learn how to heal diseases. Cheikh Anta Diop in this light says:

Théophraste, Discoride, Galien citent perpétuellement les recettes qu'ils tiennent des médecins égyptiens, ou plus exactement comme le dit Galien, qu'ils avaient apprises en consultant les ouvrages conservés dans la bibliothèque du IIè siècle après J.C, et où s'était instruit sept siècles auparavant Hippocrate, le « père de la médecine. »^73(*)

Thus, even the one who is considered the father of medicine studied this science in the Egyptian library, five centuries before Christ. The origins of medicine are nowhere to be found than in Egypt.

Medicine was practised in Egypt at three levels as we read in the works of Cheikh Anta Diop. First, there were magicians and priests just like our nggambe men today, who assured mystical healing or like the saints in the Catholic Church. One could be at the same time a magician and a healer. Secondly, there were generalists as well as specialists of diverse illnesses. Finally, there were healers who at the same time were civil servants who in some cases offered their services free of charge in military expeditions for example.

In Chemistry, ancient Egypt is still standing at the centre of this discipline. The root of the word «chemistry» has an Egyptian origin as Cheikh Anta Diop says:

Il vient de Kemit: «noire», par allusion aux longues cuissons et distillations qui étaient de coutume dans les « laboratoires » égyptiens, afin d'extraire tel ou tel produit désiré. [...] Le chimiste français Berthelot était tombé en admiration devant les connaissances scientifiques égyptiennes en chimie, au point de leur consacrer un mémoire.^74(*)

Kemit is the word used by Egyptians, meaning `black', in relation to the lasting distillations in the Egyptian workshops, in order to obtain a precious product to be used.

II.4.5. Africa and Art

African art expresses itself in ancient Egypt through several aspects. We are going to limit ourselves in architecture and drama.

As far as Architecture is concerned, there is no doubt that it had its beginnings in Egypt. Egyptians were actually great architects and many experts have not ended expressing their wonder when faced with the marvellous architectural work of Egyptians because this implies a certain mechanical and technical knowledge. They used to build pyramids with big stones and experts still recognize that it is difficult to give an explanation on how Egyptians managed successfully to build pyramids. This is what Cheikh Anta Diop expresses in the following words:

Les savants reconnaissent que nul n'est encore en mesure de donner une explication satisfaisante de la manière dont les Egyptiens ont procédé pour la construction de la grande pyramide de Khoufou (Chéops) : la technique employée pour rassembler 2 300 000 pierres dont chaque pèse en moyenne deux tonnes et demi, et surtout celle utilisée pour polir les surfaces et les assembler si parfaitement qu'on chercherait en vain, aujourd'hui encore, à introduire entre elles une lame de rasoir.^75(*)

In effect, building even today, with more than two billions heavy stones is not something easy; but the Egyptian built their pyramids with the poor material at hand with a remarkable technique that keeps us wondering even today on the precious character of their architecture.

As far as drama is concerned, Cheikh Anta Diop demonstrates the Egyptian origin of Greek drama from the mysteries of Osiris or Dionysios, its representation in Greek soil. Drama used to take place in ancient Egypt especially in the royal family as he says:

Jusqu'à la première dynastie thinite, la famille royale elle-même jouait le drame d'Osiris, assimilé au pharaon défunt. Puis plus tard, les prêtres seuls joueront la passion d'Osiris, le mystère de la mort et de la résurrection du dieu devant la famille royale.^76(*)

From every indication, drama had taken place in Egypt even before the first dynasty. The royal family, and then later on the priests only, used to play the passion and the resurrection of Osiris. Let us now consider how religion was expressed in Africa in ancient times.

II.4.6. Africa and Religion

When we consider the catholic religion, we see that there are many similarities with what religion was in ancient Egypt. It just seems that many rites found in the Catholic religion or even in the Muslim religion, were just copied in ancient Egypt.

The king is the demiurge, Ra, who reflects and perpetuates creation on earth. He is the intermediary between God and men and as such, he is the guarantor of cosmic order. Hence he is the one who is called to perform the tasks and since he cannot be everywhere at the same time, he delegates his religious functions to priests in the various temples.

The servants of God cannot come into His presence with physical impurity and so they have to clean themselves twice a day and twice a night, they have to practise their ablutions on the side of the sacred lake, which in each temple, symbolises the waters of the Noun from where creation came about. This water is used for baptism. This is what Cheikh Anta Diop has to say about it inter alia:

Le baptême royal est assuré avec l'eau lustrale, le baptême chrétien (Jean-Baptiste et l'eau du Jourdain), la tonsure du prêtre catholique, les ablutions musulmanes trouvent ici leur lointaine origine (...) Le prêtre égyptien, comme celui de l'Eglise Catholique, avait une tenue réglementaire qui dans le cas égyptien excluait la laine, comme matière de souillure animale. L'administration des temples, celle du domaine d'Amon à Thèbes, en particulier, avec son armée de clercs, préfigurait la savante organisation de l'Eglise Catholique. Le prêtre égyptien est marié, généralement monogame, peut-être par abstinence, mais les femmes ne sont pas explicitement admises dans la caste. On jouait la passion et les mystères d'Osiris devant le temple. Le temple était une réplique du ciel sur la terre, et toute son architecture était un vaste symbole de l'univers.^77(*)

In effect, the revealed religions were greatly inspired by Egyptian rites, by their ways of relating with divinity. This shows itself in the similarities between the vesture of the Catholic priest, the rite of baptism, and even the organisation of the Church. As far as Islam is concerned, the practice of ablutions did not leave them indifferent in their religious practices.

Furthermore, the religion of Osiris is the first in date in the history of humanity to invent the notions of paradise and hell:

Deux mille ans avant Moïse et trois mille ans avant le Christ, Osiris, la personnification du Bien présidait déjà le tribunal des morts dans l'au-delà, coiffé du Atew ou Atef. Si le mort a satisfait durant sa vie terrestre aux différents critères moraux, il gagne le Aaroure ou Aar, un jardin protégé par un mur en fer avec plusieurs ports et traversé par un fleuve. Le mort justifié devient un Osiris, immortel, et vit désormais parmi les dieux pour l'éternité.[...] L'enfer est réservé au châtiment des impies, représentés par des âmes, des ombres plongées dans les gouffres de feu où l'on aperçoit aussi des têtes coupées. Des bourreaux féminins surveillent ces gouffres, des déesses à tête de lionnes qui se nourrissent des cris des impies, des rugissements des âmes et des ombres, qui leur tendent les bras du fond de leurs gouffres.^78(*)

And so, after death, every soul presents itself at the tribunal of Osiris in order to be judged. If one's life on earth was good, one will inherit paradise and if one's life on earth was wicked, one will be sent to hell, to be tortured by the goddesses who feed themselves with the cries from hell.

Again, other practices like fasting are showing once more the great heritage given by Egypt to the other religions: Judaism, Christianism and Islam. As Diop says, fish, pork, and wine were not to be eaten or drunken by priests in ancient Egypt. It is therefore judicious to remark once more that Egypt and in a wider dimension, Africa, stands at the centre of religious practices and rites as we see them being practised in the revealed religions we have just mentioned.

II.4.7. Africa and Philosophy

We can build up a body of disciplines in social sciences in Africa by legitimating the return to Egypt. We are then going to see that Egyptian facts enable us to find the common denominator of the small scraps of thought, here and there, a tie between the African cosmogonies in way of fossilization. This is because Egypt played for Africa, the same role that Greco-roman civilization played for the western world, as Diop affirms:

L'Egypte a joué vis-à-vis de l'Afrique Noire le même rôle que la civilisation gréco-latine vis-à-vis de l'Occident. Un spécialiste européen, d'un domaine quelconque des sciences humaines, serait malvenu de vouloir faire oeuvre scientifique s'il se coupait du passé gréco-latin. Dans le même ordre d'idée, les faits culturels africains ne retrouveront leur sens profond et leur cohérence que par référence à l'Egypte.^79(*)

As such, any study about philosophy in Africa could refer back to mother Egypt in order to find its roots, just as any serious study in philosophy in Europe goes back to Greece to find its roots also. It is therefore important for us to give a review of Egyptian philosophical thought since it helps us throw more light on negro-african philosophical thought:

Puisque la pensée philosophique égyptienne jette une lumière nouvelle sur celle de l'Afrique Noire, et même sur celle de la Grèce « berceau » de la philosophie classique, il importe de la résumer d'abord, de manière à mieux faire ressortir, par la suite, les articulations souvent insoupçonnées, autrement dit les emprunts. Cette manière de présenter les faits en respectant la chronologie de leur genèse et leurs liens historiques vrais, est le moyen le plus scientifique de retracer l'évolution de la pensée philosophique et de caractériser sa variante africaine.^80(*)

The history of philosophy will therefore be more truthful if only it begins with Egypt. Referring back to Egypt enables the researcher to retrace the evolution of philosophical thought and to characterize its African version.

As Diop tells us, Egyptian cosmogony attests that the universe has not been created ex nihilo, on a given day and that there has always existed an uncreated matter having no beginning and no end. This is just what the Apeiron of ANAXIMANDER is all about. This primitive matter also contained the law of transformation, the principle of evolution of matter across time, also considered as divinity: kheper. It is the law that will actualise the essences, the beings that are first of all created in potency before being created in act: the theory of reminiscence in Plato and, matter and privation, act and potency in Aristotle.

In fact, we are going to see the contribution of Egyptian thought to the development of philosophy in Greece. When we read Plato in the Timaeus, there are many similarities between Egyptian cosmogony and Platonic cosmogony.

The world according to Plato is made from a perfect model, immutable, in opposition to the perpetual becoming of matter: coming to birth and passing away, which is the materialisation of imperfection itself. The Demiurge, the worker who creates sensible beings, has his eyes always fixed on its model which is the absolute idea, perfect, the eternal essence, and which it copies.

Let us consider one text of the Timaeus of Plato, which helps us see the influence from Egypt:

[...] Or, on peut, à mon sens, faire en premier lieu, les divisions que voici. Quel est l'être éternel et qui ne naît point et quel est celui qui naît toujours et n'existe jamais ? Le premier est appréhendé par l'intellection et par le raisonnement, car il est constamment identique. Quant au second il est l'objet de l'opinion jointe à la sensation irraisonnée, car il naît et meurt, mais n'existe jamais réellement.^81(*)

According to Diop, we can recognize in this passage of Plato in the Timaeus, the archetypes of all future beings in the Egyptian noun, already created in potency while waiting to be actualised thanks to the work of the kheper, god of becoming, or law of perpetual transformation in matter. Egyptian cosmology is essentially a philosophy of the becoming, more than two thousands years before HERACLITUS and all the other Presocratics.

Plato's vision of the world was largely influenced by Egyptian cosmogony. It is full of optimism, in opposition to the European pessimism. This is what Cheikh Anta Diop maintains when he says:

La cosmogonie platonicienne est imprégnée d'optimisme par opposition au pessimisme indo-européen en général. Il s'agit, de toute évidence, d'un héritage de l'école africaine. On montrait encore au temps de Strabon les logements des anciens « élèves » Platon et Eudoxe, à Héliopolis, en Egypte, où ils passèrent treize ans à étudier les diverses sciences, la philosophie, etc. Chaque initié ou élève grec était tenu d'écrire un mémoire de fin d'étude sur la cosmogonie et les mystères égyptiens, quelle que fût la branche d'étude.^82(*)

From this remark of Diop, we see that Plato and many other Greeks like ARISTOTLE, studied in Egypt and it is in Egypt that they were initiated to philosophy. As such, any Greek thought in antiquity, from the poet Hesiod, at the beginning of the seventh century before Christ, to the Presocratics and Aristotle, bears the marks of Egyptian cosmogony:

Toute la pensée grecque antique, depuis le poète Hésiode au début du VIIè siècle av. J.C. jusqu'à Aristote lui-même, en passant par les présocratiques, porte les marques des cosmogonies égyptiennes [...] Nous retrouvons chez Aristote [...] les concepts de la cosmogonie égyptienne, rajeunis, embellis peut-être, mais toujours reconnaissables : la théorie des contraires de l'école hermopolitaine, la création en puissance et en acte, la forme pure, c'est-à-dire l'essence éternelle, l'archétype, comme réalité dernière et cause finale de l'évolution du monde, tout nous renvoie à l'Egypte.^83(*)

Indeed, the history of philosophy has to be rewritten and DIOP unveils the truth that had been lying hidden by the western world. From his research, it is clear that philosophy is not Greek in its essence as Martin HEIDEGGER could assert or that the Negro has a prelogic mentality, as LEVY-BRUHL and the other representative of European imperialistic and racialist theses such as HEGEL maintained. In ancient philosophy, we can establish a great influence from Egypt. Many concepts used by Plato and Aristotle are referring back to Ancient Egypt.

In the light of the Civilization of the Universal, it is important to rebuild a certain self-esteem in the hearts and minds of Africans, by showing them that they have offered much to other civilizations and that they still have to work hard in order not to play a figurative role in the dialogue of civilizations. We acclaim the work of Cheikh Anta Diop in giving back to Africans a certain pride that could give them the momentum to strive to develop their civilization, referring back to ancient Egypt. It is clear from this section of our work that the contribution of Africa in sciences, in art, in religion and most of all in philosophy cannot be measured.

Léopold Sédar Senghor goes a step further, by showing that African civilization has been assimilated by the western world as from the end of the 19^th century. This is to show the important role that Africa has played so far in the dialogue of civilizations. Senghor avers:

[...] depuis la fin du XIXè siècle et la révolution épistémologique, scientifique, littéraire, artistique qui l'a marquée, l'Europe, l'Euramérique plus précisément, a commencé d'assimiler les civilisations que l'on disait « exotiques ». Et celles-ci d'assimiler, inversement, la civilisation euraméricaine. Et l'on sait, pour m'en tenir aux arts en général, que, sans les vertus de la Négritude, ni la sculpture, ni la peinture, ni la tapisserie, je dis ni la musique ni la danse ne seraient ce qu'elles sont aujourd'hui : les expressions déjà, d'une Civilisation de l'Universel.^84(*)

In fact, the Civilization of the Universal consists in accepting one another in our values. It is a coming together to share what we have as valuable in our cultures. It proves once more that humanity needs each and every one of us. This passage of Senghor shows that the Civilization of the Universal is a process of assimilation of what is valuable in the other culture: Europe assimilating African values in art, music, dance, sculpture, arts in general and Africa on the other side, assimilating the values of European civilization. He then insists on the fact that without the value of the expression of African personality throughout the world, by means of arts, music, dance, sculpture, painting and so on, would not be what they are today: the expression of the Civilization of the Universal.

CONCLUSION

Léopold SEDAR SENGHOR fascinated by the writings of Pierre TEILHARD DE CHARDIN, adopted and adapted the latter's thoughts on the Civilization of the Universal. Senghor considers from his reflections on the works of Teilhard de Chardin that Africa has an important role to play in the Civilization of the Universal: to reforge the unity between man and man because man is central in African relationships. Africa occupies a place of pride in Senghorian adaptations and it is legitimate of course. Senghor considers that Africa has something to offer in this rendez-vous which consists in giving and receiving and at the same time, it will also at benefit from it. This is what comes out from Richard Laurent OMBGA's analysis:

L'avènement de la Civilisation de l'Universel lui (Senghor) semble donc à la fois salutaire et inéluctable. Elle sera salutaire pour l'Afrique qui pourra véritablement s'enrichir au contact des autres en leur volant pour ainsi dire le secret de leur puissance et pour l'Euramérique qui pourra réapprendre le sens de l'humain. Elle sera le carrefour du donner et du recevoir.^85(*)

Above all, Senghor's adaptation of Teilhardian views implies some imperfections and this is why we will occupy ourselves in the next chapter to attempt evaluating the implications of Senghor's considerations on the Civilization of the Universal.

CHAPTER THREE

EVALUATION OF SENGHOR'S HUMANISM

INTRODUCTION

After seeing how Léopold Sédar Senghor considered the Civilization of the Universal and the role that Africa is called to play herein, basing himself on the writings of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, our purpose in this chapter is to evaluate the adaptation of the Teilhardian ideas on the Civilization of the Universal by Senghor in an African setup. We would like to analyse the implications positive, and negative of Senghor's humanism. In effect, we set ourselves the task in this chapter to attempt philosophizing in the ethnological work of Senghor. Senghor actually affirms that there are certain values that Africa is called to present to the rest of the world as its contribution to the building up of the Civilization of the Universal. Nonetheless, his work seems to be losing sight of the political and economical situation of Africa and to remain an ideology of glorification of the African past. Africa is suffering from neo-colonialism and from underdevelopment. After evaluating his humanism, we are going to ask ourselves whether there are actually some values that have proven to be universal in Africa so much that they can serve humanity as a whole. How can the local in terms of values become global, universal?

III.1. POSITIVE IMPACTS OF SENGHOR'S

HUMANISM

III.1.1. Pan-African Unity

Pan-Africanism is an expression made up of two words: «pan» from the Greek, meaning universal, and «Africanism», meaning something that is characteristically African. Pan-African Unity is the union of Africa as a whole; it is a movement that tends to unite African nations, to build up among Africans a certain solidarity in order to enable them face the western world.

The Negroes, scattered on the face of the earth after the slave trade, had a global vision of Africa, considered as the sole continent of blacks. All considered Africa as their common fatherland. If such an ideal was kept, then the African unity of Senghor or better of Kwame NKRUMAH would have been realised. The intention to gather all the Negroes of the world is good but how could such an idea be realised?

In the context of the Civilization of the Universal, Senghor`s view is that Africa has to be united in all its structures and cultures in order to be able to lead the other cultures. Pan- African unity is important because it does not reject the influences from other cultures. It seeks to unite Africans while at the same time allowing them to be open to the ideas of other cultures.

Léopold Sédar Senghor maintains pan-African unity as an ideal worth striving for. He remains sufficiently realistic in not wishing to build an illusory pan-Africanism at the expense of the necessary nation unity which must remain the first step. In addition, Senghor considers that continentalism is a kind of self-sufficiency which is an impoverishing factor in as much as it limits both creativity and cross-fertilization of ideas with other cultures. In present times, we have moved forward from OUA (Organisation de l'Unité Africaine) to the African Union and much still has to be done in order that that unity may be more effective and in order that it may bear lasting fruits.

3.1.2. The Revalorisation of African Traditional Values

In view of the Civilization of the Universal, we consider that there should be a black consciousness among Africans, the recognition and the desire to establish a community feeling among Africans. All this demands African solidarity. Africans should, as a people, share not only their material wealth, but also their spiritual values, their joys and their sufferings.

The traditional African heritage of placing the community over individual interests gives them a great advantage over Western cultures in the process of building up new solidarity structures to replace the obsolete ones. In this way, because of these values of solidarity and love, Senghor could assert that African cultures are more likely to help in leading others towards the Civilization of the Universal.

Kenneth KAUNDA gives us the following characteristics that shape the personality of the African:^86(*)

· He enjoys meeting and talking with people for their own sake and not merely for what they are doing, what class they belong to or for their productive usefulness.

· He is patient with trials and is used to his dependence on Nature. He is forgiving and his anger usually does not last long. This is shown graphically in the speed with which he has overcome his resentment at having been for so long under colonial domination. He does not, at least generally, keep a grudge against Whites for having degraded him for so long, provided of course that Whites respect him and his human dignity.

· He loves rhythm, music and dance, all of which are physical expressions of man's life force. Emotion actually characterises the Negro-African.

· Finally, the African is an inveterate optimist: his contact with and faith in people lead him to believe that in the long run, he will succeed in whatever he does.

These characteristics of the African form a much more natural basis for humanistic attitudes than the life style of Europe and America, where machines and gadgets, the time-clocks and statistics, the political structures and the ideologies are often more important than the people at whose service they ought to be used.

With regard to the necessity of revalorising African cultural traditional values, Négritude will appear as an ideology aiming at fighting cultural dependence built by colonisation and neo-colonialism. This is what Pius ONDOUA expresses in the following words:

Les faits sont clairs: la colonisation et sa perpétuation à travers la néo-colonisation ont instauré l'ère de la dépendance culturelle. C'est donc dans le cadre de cette dépendance culturelle et dans le but de liquider cette dépendance que surgit l'idéologie du socialisme-négritude de L.S. Senghor. L'auteur a d'ailleurs pris soin de reconnaître que l'Europe, en propageant en Afrique, sa civilisation rationnelle, scientiste, matérialiste et athée, avait désorganisé la société traditionnelle négro-africaine «en tarissant les sources mêmes de sa civilisation ».^87(*)

As such, Négritude encourages the revalorisation of African cultural values, because of the bad effects of colonialism which enhanced cultural dependence on the colonial master.

3.1.3. Against Inferiority Complex and Depersonalisation

We agree with Senghor that the African has to fight against the inferiority complex and that colonisation has helped in forging this complex in the Negro; but we will not totally free the Black man from the guilt of forging in him the inferiority complex because despite the side effects of colonialism, the African himself worsens the situation of this inferiority complex and split personality. In this light, Ferdinand CHINDJI-KOULEU affirms:

Le Nègre doit prendre ses responsabilités devant l'histoire. L'innocenter comme le fait le mouvement de la négritude, c'est le rendre passif, et par conséquent, c'est lui rendre un mauvais service. Rejeter toutes les fautes de la colonisation et de l'esclavage sur l'homme blanc seul, c'est continuer à cultiver le mythe du Nègre-bon-enfant, incapable d'accéder au statut adulte. L'esclavage des Noirs a été rendu possible par les Africains eux-mêmes, car ils ont accepté de vendre leurs frères. Et la faiblesse de leur technologie a permis la colonisation.^88(*)

The Black man actually has to face history and to accept his responsibilities. Instead of pushing the blame to the slave trader or the coloniser, he has to acknowledge that he is, at least partly, responsible for his inferiority complex because slave trade was also made possible by Blacks who accepted to sell their brothers, and colonisation was just the fruit of a weak technology.

The Negro also carries the blame of his depersonalisation because he always strives to be someone else, not himself. According to Frantz FANON, such a striving is a tragic and forlorn illusion. Fanon insists:

The black man wants to be white. The white man slaves to reach a human level...For the black man there is only one destiny. And it is white...but the white man is sealed in his whiteness, the black man in his blackness.^89(*)

It is thus true that we cannot find our identity by dreaming of becoming what we are not, by escaping from our identity. Even though caused by racism and colonialism, the inferiority complex in the African can be solved through a change in mentality. What we ought to fight is the attitude of not accepting one's own identity as black. In effect, Aimé CESAIRE observes that the Negro-African tends to reject himself and his whole ancestry which has made him into what he is. Let us listen to Césaire's expression of this denial of self:

[...] And those tadpoles which have hatched me form my extraordinary ancestry. Those who invented neither gunpowder nor compass, those who never knew how to tame steam or electricity, those who explored neither the seas nor the heavens but knew to its furthest corners the land of suffering. Those who knew only the voyages of uprooting, those who became flexible by their genuflections, those who have been domesticated and Christianized, those who have been inoculated with degeneracy, tam-tam of empty hands, innate tam-tam of resounding wounds, burlesque tam-tam of dried-out betrayals. ^90(*)

In effect, nobody can give another man an identity; one cannot even help him to find it; it is something personal: by helping him, one only succeeds in making him find a spurious identity, one which is and remains an appendix of that of his «benefactor». One can only remain oneself by oneself. Albert LUTHULI makes a similar point when he says:

It was no more necessary for the African pupils to become Black Englishmen, than it was for the teachers to become White Africans...I remain an African, I think as an African, I speak a an African, I act as an African.^91(*)

With much more regret, Ebénézer NJOH MOUELLE deplores this sorrowful state characterising the underdeveloped African. He presents the underdeveloped African as someone who is disorientated.^92(*)

In effect, the underdeveloped African is mentally and culturally disorientated and this leads to his depersonalisation. It portrays a lack of self-identity in the African, an inferiority complex vis-à-vis the European and the American cultures. In fact, the African is neither himself nor is he a European or an American; he suffers form a duality which affects his inward self.

As Njoh Mouelle observes, underdeveloped Africa is full of people wearing masks. Most Africans do not want to accept their culture as Africans and at the same time, unfortunately, they cannot be what they want to be. Most Africans feel that they have a culture which is inferior to that of Westerners.

Most Negroes who have lived in Europe and returned to their original environments convey the impression that they have added something to themselves, or that they have completed a cycle in their lives. They return literally full of themselves. Some cannot even speak their vernacular; they do not even want to listen to it and forbid it in their homes. This is because they want to feel superior; they think that the European culture is the best. Even those who have never travelled by plane or by sea claim to appreciate Western cultures locally, through the intermediary of boasting elite, television and other forms of media. This is reflected in the way young people dress, the type of films they enjoy, the type of music they like to listen to and to dance. Most of them consider the fact of speaking their vernacular very shameful and even when they speak English or French in public, they will endeavour to change the tone of their voices in order to imitate the white man's accent.

Inferiority complex reflects itself in Africa even in the domain of economics. In our markets, in order to sell an item at a high price and more easily, some sellers go as far as writing on locally made or even manufactured articles: `made in England', `made in Italy', or `fabriqué en France', `fabriqué au Canada', `made in USA' and so on. This will attract those who feel that God was so unjust that He created them Black Africans and those who feel that their culture is inferior and who spend their lives desiring with all their might to go to the above-mentioned countries and others. Ebénézer Njoh Mouelle wonders at this inferior mentality when he asserts:

Si à Yaoundé ou à Douala le commerçant se sent obligé, pour vendre ses oeufs camerounais ou ses poulets camerounais, d'y coller des étiquettes indiquant : « oeufs de France », « poulets de Normandie », c'est précisément parce que son compatriote de retour de France lui a inoculé la honte voire mieux le dégoût de ce qui est local au profit des « merveilles » d'Europe.^93(*)

We thus notice that the elite contribute a lot in the formation of the inferiority complex in their fellow brothers and this is why one would prefer to buy items that bear the stamp of a foreign trade mark.

In the light of the Civilization of the Universal, each culture, each race has to preserve its identity when seeking unity with others. Africans are therefore called upon to remain what they are, think as Africans, speak as Africans and act as Africans; while at the same time accepting those values that will enhance their identity and not lessen it. To contribute to the building up of the Civilization of the Universal, we need to accept our culture first, then choose what is good in other cultures and inculcate such values in an African personality, not trying to become like Europeans or Americans. Let us acknowledge our identity as Africans and value it.

III.2. NEGATIVE IMPLICATIONS

OF SENGHOR'S HUMANISM

Léopold Sédar Senghor's adaptation of Teilhard de Chardin's views on the Civilization of the Universal brings about some negative impacts. We consider these negative implications of Senghor's understanding of the Civilization of the Universal as side-effects because they are almost unavoidable in Senghor's adaptations. They are not the first objectives of Senghor's writings, but since these are negative implications, they have to be pointed out.

III.2.1. Ethnocentrism

Ethnocentrism is the belief in the intrinsic superiority of the nation, culture, or group to which one belongs. From our considerations of Senghor's adaptation of Teilhard de Chardin's views on the Civilization of the Universal, it appears that Senghor gives way to ethnocentrism. He considers that Africa is, from the point of view of her traditional value of communion of love, capable of leading all other cultures in the process of panhuman convergence. He thereby makes the African culture superior over all other cultures. Senghor gives us the impression that African culture is the best as far as relationships are concerned because of its characteristics of love and hospitality.

Is Africa actually the best example to follow as far as human relationships are concerned? What about corruption, the dishonesty in the management of the common good; superstition, the irrational behaviour that tears families up; the quest for power, which causes tribal and national wars, thus destroying human relationships in Africa? Perhaps the pre-colonial state was better than the present situation, as far as relationships are concerned, but this is no longer the case and instead of going back to the past to enjoy past glories, we urgently need to consider the present situation of Africa. What can Africa do to come out of underdevelopment in order not to be always at the receiving end; in order to have something to offer to the Civilization of the Universal, Globalisation? Answering this question will be completing what Senghor left undone and this will be the aim of our next general conclusion.

III.2.2. No Revolutionary Praxis

Senghor forgets the revolutionary praxis in his consideration of the Civilization of the Universal. In effect, he loses sight of the political situation in Africa in his days. The Négritude movement is supposed to be a global praxis, based on culture and accepting the political and the economic situation of Africa. It is the conclusion that Claude SOUFFRANT reaches when he asserts:

Le mouvement de la Négritude devrait être une praxis globale incluant le culturel mais intéressant tout autant le politique et l'économique. Un mouvement inspirant une politique orientée vers la promotion effective et non pas seulement affective des masses.^94(*)

The Africans in British settled territories for example, did not have the cultural hang-ups of their francophone brothers. They had managed to retain most of their cultural identity. Even today, in our country, we testify to the fact that there is a great sense of tradition and that many cultural and traditional values are being kept in the western territories of our countries. The problem of these British settled territories lay in their political independence and their economic self-sufficiency and justice. In other words, Négritude remains within the arena of ideas and theories, but it forgets the necessary revolutionary praxis which alone can change the situation in Africa.

The fundamental task today for Africans is their liberation and this is not going to take place only in speeches that proclaim the values of glorious past of Africa or the greatness of our African cultures. Africans are faced with neo-colonialism, they are highly indebted, they are poor and they need to come out from this underdevelopment. It is good and even dignifying to say that Africa has something to offer to the dialogue of civilizations, but this offering will never be substantial if the problems of Africans are not taken into consideration first of all by themselves through a constant effort to apply new technologies to their situations and secondly by the westerners who are called to lend a helpful hand by cancelling debts and sponsoring activities in view of development in Africa. Frantz Fanon stresses this fact when he says:

It is around the people's struggles that African-negro culture takes on substance and not around songs, poems or folklore...I say again that no proclamation concerning culture will turn us from our fundamental task: the liberation of the national territory; a continual struggle against colonialism in its new form; and an obstinate refusal to enter the charmed circle of mutual admiration at the summit.^95(*)

III.2.3. The Glorification of the Past

Léopold Sédar Senghor sets himself the task to glorify the past of Africa to the detriment of the present situation and the future of Africa. Senghor goes back to Ancient Africa in order to show, as a reaction to the degradation of the African image by the Westerner, that Africans had a glorious past and that we are called to go back to that glorious past in order to exhume the bodies of past glories. Again FANON maintains that Négritude for all its glorification of cultural and traditional African values neglects the socio-economic realities which are far from the romanticised ideals. He says inter alia:

All the proofs of a wonderful Songhai civilization will not change the fact that today the Songhais are underfed and illiterate, thrown between sky and water with empty heads and empty eyes.^96(*)

Above all, we reject the inherent paternalism in the romanticised past of Africa because it tries to console Africans with baubles of culture while depriving them of genuine human value and civilization in the midst of their difficulties and their day-to-day experiences. The past of Africa, before the slave trade or before colonisation, was certainly good, but it was also empty of the fruits of technology and technoscience. We cannot go back to the past, we are living the present and we ought to think about the future. Colonialism certainly helped in destroying most of our traditional values, but at the same time, and this is something great, it enabled Africa to benefit from the results of scientific research to make life easier and more agreeable. We all enjoy moving by car, by air, using the mobile phone, navigating on the Internet, in brief, we get pleasure from the new companions brought to us by the scientific culture in so far as they work for our wellbeing.

III.3. THE CIVILIZATION

OF THE UNIVERSAL AND NEGRITUDE

A reflection on the Civilisation of the Universal in the writings of Senghor could not be void of any consideration of what Senghor is mostly associated with: the Négritude movement. In effect, it is this movement that is at the centre of the Civilisation of the Universal because it insists on the values of the negro-African race, values that are supposed to be preserved and to be revalorised in order to have an active contribution in the dialogue of cultures. We thought it important to clarify this movement in the light of the Civilisation of the Universal, in order to bring forth its value.

III.3.1. What is Négritude?

Négritude is a common word and has been used for a long time. It would be difficult to cite all of its meanings. Like many important ideas it has been criticized, often with simplifying arguments. It is necessary to recall once again that schools of thought are never pure mental constructions that soar above realities. Négritude occupies a particular place due to its unusual themes. It would be true to say that it is the product of a given historical context. A philosophical approach to the concept of Négritude implies, therefore, a preliminary explanation of its socio-historical content. From this point of view, we must remember that the term "Négritude" mainly refers to the black race; the concept reflects a more general reality of historical development. The black man could not make a partial, isolated, and closed history in himself, just as universal human history cannot be limited to an arithmetical sum of the history of peoples and races.

As a concept of the authenticity of the Negro-African personality, Négritude was born at the beginning of the 1930s as a direct reflection of the contradictions of the colonial politics instituted by modern powers in the economic, social, and cultural arenas. These seeds, however, get lost in the subsoil of the primitive accumulation of capital, during the era of the slave trade and colonial commerce. Négritude happens, therefore, to be a concept that synthesizes the steps that determined modern economy: the slave trade, marking its beginning, and imperialist colonization being its zenith. On the basis of these key elements, modern economic structures were to shape the great articulations of modern history on a universal scale. The real history of first contacts between Western and African civilizations shows that what people from black Africa collectively experienced was enslavement and colonization by bourgeois European nations, what Aimé CESAIRE would later name as the common destiny of the black race. It is mainly under these circumstances that the mythical conception of the black man as racially inferior and without cultural past developed among Europeans. It is paradoxically in the cultural quarrel that the strength of Negro-African people lies against the European commoner nations which, in order to exploit them, degraded them to subhuman.

Senghor comes back to the definition of what Négritude is several times, not only in Liberté I: Négritude et Humanisme, but also in Liberté III: Négritude et Civilisation de l'Universel. Indeed, he gives several definitions of this concept, depending on what aspect of it he wants to insist on. First, Senghor considers Négritude as the expression of African personality, distinguishing the Negro personality from the white personality. He says:

La Négritude, c'est ce que les Anglophones désignent sous l'expression de «personnalité africaine». Il n'est que de s'entendre sur les mots. Car pourquoi ceux-ci auraient-ils lutté pour l'»indépendance» si ce n'était pour recouvrer, défendre et illustrer leur personnalité africaine? La Négritude est, précisément, le versant noir de cette personnalité, l'autre étant arabo-berbère.^97(*)

Here, Senghor insists on the differences that exist between Africans who are Negro in the sub-Sahara and those that are Arabs in the northern part of Africa. All are Africans, but all did not experience racism at the same level; though they have the same personality. Négritude seems to be the black expression of this personality.

Négritude is also the expression of African cultural identity, as the collection of black cultural values as they are expressed in life, in institutions and in the works of black people. Senghor affirms:

La Négritude, c'est l'ensemble des valeurs culturelles du monde noir, telles qu'elles s'expriment dans la vie, les institutions et les oeuvres des Noirs. Pour nous, notre souci, notre souci unique a été de l'assurer, cette Négritude, en la vivant, et, l'ayant vécue, d'en approfondir le sens. Pour la présenter au monde, comme une pierre d'angle dans l'édification de la Civilisation de l'Universel, qui sera l'oeuvre de toutes les races, de toutes les civilisations différentes- ou ne sera pas.^98(*)

Through the Négritude movement, Africans are called to preserve their cultural identity expressed in the cultural values inherent in their being as Africans in order to present it to the rest of the world as the corner stone of the Civilisation of the Universal which is the work of all races, all civilisations and all cultures. Hence, Négritude is not racism, Négritude is humanism:

La Négritude, c'est donc la personnalité collective négro-africaine. Il est plaisant d'entendre certains nous accuser de racisme, qui prônent, à l'envie, la « civilisation gréco-latine », la « civilisation anglo-saxonne », la « civilisation européenne ». [...]Ne sont-ce pas d'éminents Européens -un Maurice Delafosse, un Léo Frobenius -qui nous ont parlé d'une « civilisation négro-africaine » ? Et ils ont eu raison. Nous nous sommes contentés de l'étudier -en la vivant -et de lui donner le nom de Négritude. [...]La Négritude n'est donc pas racisme. Si elle s'est faite, d'abord raciste, c'était par antiracisme, comme l'a remarqué Jean-Paul Sartre dans Orphée noire. En vérité, la Négritude est un Humanisme. C'est le thème de ce premier tome de liberté. ^99(*)

In fact, Senghor insists on the fact that the movement which had come to be known as Négritude is what some Westerners considered already as negro-African civilization which Senghor studied by experiencing it. SENGHOR then devoted the first volume of his masterpiece to prove that Négritude is not racism and that it is instead a form of humanism which comes to build up the human convergence with the other civilizations. Négritude is neither racialism nor self-negation. Yet it is not just an affirmation; it is rooting oneself in oneself, and self-confirmation: the confirmation of one's being. It is through its moral law and its aesthetics, a response to the modern humanism that TEILHARD DE CHARDIN had already prepared. The negro-African civilization has been enriched by the contributions of western civilization and has also helped in enriching it. As such, Négritude favours the Civilization of the Universal because it is open to other civilizations.

III.3.2. Négritude in the light of the Civilization of the Universal

We have seen with Senghor that the Négritude movement is not racism but rather humanism. It then favours the coming together of all civilizations in order to build up the Civilization of the Universal which is also founded on humanism.

Nevertheless, Négritude is marked with ethnocentrism which seems almost unavoidable. The Civilization of the Universal accepts the humanistic character of Négritude but it rejects ethnocentrism because no race, no civilization, is supposed to claim superiority over others. We have seen with TEILHARD DE CHARDIN that all human races are complementary and that each race has something to contribute to others.

Furthermore, if Négritude is the ideology behind the valorisation of the black race, there are also ethnocentric tendencies inherent in globalisation as it presents itself today. If we are condemning ethnocentrism as far as Négritude is concerned, we are also condemning the auto-theorisation of the western world, the rich countries on the poor countries of the third world. Even if the western civilization has proven its worth as far as technosciences are concerned, ameliorating the conditions of life and facilitating communication among all the citizens of the planetary village, it has no right to play the master over the rest of the world. The war in Iraq, for example, is an expression of the will to power which characterises the richest countries. These rich countries have many things to learn from the third world, especially from Africa where the sense of respect of nature, for example, is very strong and where the ecological conscience is well sharpened.

In an article entitled «Globalisation or Westernisation?» Godfrey B. TANGWA criticises this instinct of domination of western civilization on the other civilizations, thus westernising the world instead of making it a table of dialog, a rendez-vous of giving and receiving. In effect, he begins by defining globalisation in these terms:

Globalisation, as a descriptive process, has been made possible and inevitable by advances in science and technology, especially in loco-motion and communication technologies. The net result of these advances has been increased contact between the various peoples and cultures that populate the world. Thanks to this state of affairs, the world is today, unlike yesterday, aptly described as a `global village'. This villagisation of the world should have as one of its logical consequences the slow but sure transformation of the world into a `rainbow village', by analogy with our appellation of South Africa, in our optimistic moments, as the `Rainbow Nation'. Resistance to this aspect of the process of globalisation, exemplified in the savagery with which persons from some parts of the globe are sometimes forcibly excluded from some other parts, cannot but create a lot of tension within the process. Modern technology, in general, and locomotion and communication technologies, in particular, are, of course, inventions of the Western world which have been very effectively used, inter alia, in colonising and dominating peoples in other parts of the world.^100(*)

And he goes further to point out the risk of westernisation in the global village when he asserts:

Globalisation, as a prescriptive process, arises from increasing awareness of both the diversity as well as interdependence of the various parts, peoples and cultures of the world. Globalisation in this sense, is essentially a moral concept. Underlying such blueprints of globalisation as the Biodiversity Convention and the Human Genome Project, are clear ethical impulses, concerns and imperatives. But between globalisation as a descriptive process and globalisation as a prescriptive ideal, there is a difference which involves the danger that globalisation might end up as or, in fact, might not and never has been more than, mere Westernisation, given the history and reality of Western industrial-technological power, colonisation of non-Westerners, domination and insensitivity to all things non-Western.^101(*)

Finally, he defines Westernisation in these terms:

The spirit of omnivorous discovery which the Industrial Revolution engendered and made possible in Europeans guided them to all parts of the globe where they discovered peoples and cultures so different from theirs that they felt reluctant to qualify them as `human'. From then on, Europeanisation (Westernisation) of other peoples and cultures appeared naturally in their eyes as humanisation and civilisation. It is in this way that both altruistic and egoistic motives became mixed and confounded in the relationship between the technologically very advanced Western world, peoples and culture and other (technologically less advanced) worlds, peoples and cultures. Since the Industrial Revolution, technology has been propelled to great heights by Western commerce and the profit motive, by war and the will to dominate, by pure epistemological and scientific curiosity, as well as (occasionally) by the altruistic urge to improve human well-being. In this process, Western culture has developed the penchant for patenting, monopolising and commercialising any of its so-called discoveries and a nach for spreading and promoting its ideas, vision, convictions and practices under the guise of universal imperatives of either rationality or morality which ought to be binding on all human beings who are sufficiently rational and moral.^102(*)

Indeed, Europeanisation is to be fought because it is founded on the will to power of the western world, technologically developed, and based mainly on egoistic motives marginalising the third-world, less technologically developed, in the dialog of civilizations. As a bioethician, TANGWA goes a step further in expressing the enduring danger of Westernisation at the level of biotechnology, thus affirming inter alia:

Today, biotechnology, an aspect of Western industrialized culture, is capable of manipulating or modifying the genes of living organisms. This raises many ethical problems, some relating to biodiversity and the environment in general. Bioethics owes its own development to awareness of the seriousness and magnitude of these ethical problems which cannot leave any culture indifferent, no matter its own level of technological development. Africa, for instance, which presents remarkable biodiversity, against the background of which human values and attitudes different from those of the Western world have developed, cannot be indifferent to the problems raised by biotechnology. It is possible for global ethics to emerge, provided globalisation does not simply translate in to Westernisation.^103(*)

III.3.3. Senghor the Oxymoron

Early enough, Léopold Sédar Senghor was put in contact with western civilization through the help of formal schooling. He arrived in Europe when people doubted about the authenticity of its moral values. The Négritude movement is born from the contact with western civilization. Aliou Camara expresses these influences in these words:

Le socialisme de la Négritude ou la Négritude socialiste se devait d'intégrer toutes les valeurs physiques et métaphysiques négro-africaines afin de s'ouvrir aux apports fécondants des autres civilisations rationnelles, matérialistes, dans une symbiose dynamique pour la construction de la Civilisation de l'Universel. Dès lors, après l'interprétation du socialisme français, une relecture de Marx-Engels s'est imposée pour une adaptation du matérialisme dialectique athée à la théologie de Pierre Teilhard de Chardin et à la métaphysique négro-africaine.^104(*)

As such, after the interpretation of French socialism, Senghor adapted Marx and Engels' atheist dialectic materialism to the theology of Teilhard de Chardin and to negro-African metaphysics. From the influences he received, Senghor will present himself as a cultural Métis, fruit of several influences.

First, Senghor recognises that he was influenced by the French socialism and he remains grateful as he says: « Formé aux disciplines de l'Europe, je ne suis pas le fils ingrat qui bat sa mère. »^105(*) In effect, Senghor was introduced to French socialism by French intellectuals such as Claude de Saint-Simon, Charles Fourier or Etienne Cabet. Their aim was to fight against the effects of economic liberalism accompanying industrial revolution in their days. They contested the capitalist system of production which only helped in abusing of the rights of workers.

Secondly, in order to go a step further fromthis socialism, in the atmosphere of colonial revendications, Senghor had to orient his socialism to Marxism because the alienation of the Negroes in front of colonial masters presented some similarities with the struggle of proletariats against the bourgeoisie. As such, he would then be open to MARX and ENGELS, saying:

L'exploitation des pays d'outre-mer est sans contredit l'illustration même de la thèse Marxiste de l'aliénation. Elle est l'exploitation de la valeur travail par la valeur capital, de l'homme colonisé par l'homme colonisateur.

L'homme colonisé est d'abord aliéné par rapport à la nature, c'est-à-dire son sol, devenu stérile et comme mort. Il est aliéné par rapport au produit de son travail puisque son pouvoir d'achat, sa valeur de travail diminue, tandis qu'augmente le travail sous sa forme de production. Enfin, l'homme colonisé est aliéné par rapport à son travail lui-même, puisque celui-ci n'est plus ce qu'il était en Afrique noire, un rite et une source de joie par la force du rythme et du chant. ^106(*)

Here Senghor adapts the Marxist theory of alienation to the African context, a context marked in that period by colonialism where the negro felt alienated first from his soil which had become dead because of exploitation, secondly from the product of his work which is not priced at its just value; and finally, the colonised is alienated from his work because it has undergone modifications, void of rhythm and song. And so, Senghor's African socialism, rooted in Marxism, aims at giving back the soil, the product and the soul to the colonised, thus rendering him his personality which had undergone many changes because of colonisation.

Thirdly, despite the fact that Senghor's socialism is rooted in the Marxists' dialectics, he felt the need to go above it. This is what Aliou Camara explains when he says :

[...]pour le visionnaire Léopold Sédar Senghor, la Pierre d'angle de l'édification du socialisme africain trouve sa démarche originale dans le fait que le Marxisme n'est pas une vérité absolue qui s'adapte à toutes les situations sociales. Il fallait donc dépasser le socialisme dogmatique pour proposer une relecture négro-africaine de Marx et Engels, spiritualisée par la théorie teilhardienne de la convergence panhumaine.^107(*)

Hence, Senghor will go a step further by considering the writings of Teilhard de Chardin on the Civilization of the Universal. He will then adopt and at the same time adapt the views of the Jesuit priest, geologist, palaeontologist, anthropologist and phenomenologist on the panhuman convergence. To the atheist materialism of KARL MARX, Senghor will oppose the spiritualised materialism rooted in the Teilhardian view of the world. He says: « Au matérialisme athée, nous, négro-africains opposeront le matérialisme spiritualiste ».^108(*) Basing himself on Teilhard de Chardin, Senghor will consider that the symbiosis of civilizations leads to the Civilization of the Universal, panhuman convergence, the ultimate stage of evolution. This is how Africa will be assigned a particular role in rebuilding the unity of man and nature, man and his fellowman and man and the absolute.

From these tripartite influences, Senghor clearly appears to us an oxymoron because he seems to unite things that appear as opposite. In a country where Islam occupies the 90% of the population, Senghor was a Catholic president. He celebrated the victories of Négritude and at the same time he got married to a French White woman. And if it happened to him to integrate foreign values, it was never to the detriment of his own personality; it was never for his alienation or depersonalisation. Gervais MENDO ZE expresses the richness of the work of Senghor in the following words of appreciation:

L'oeuvre de Senghor est en somme une espèce de polyphonie, marquée par une diversité et une richesse de sons pluriels qui s'élèvent, se heurtent, se croisent, s'entrechoquent, se percutent, se bousculent, se coulent, d'abord rageusement, ensuite plus mystérieusement, enfin se cristalisent dans une symphonie harmonieuse. Senghor, en réalité, a réussi la synthèse de ses ambiguïtés. Ce patriote africain, qui se cherchait pourtant des racines espagnoles, a réussi à fondre ses contradictions apparentes dans une sorte de pierre précieuse philosophale. Et contrairement à Samba Diallo de L'Aventure ambiguë, ballotté entre les valeurs occidentales et africaines et victime de ses contradictions, Senghor lui, jaillit en virtuose de la symbiose dont la stupéfiante disponibilité intellectuelle est célébrée par tous et par nous aujourd'hui.^109(*)

CONCLUSION

Finally, the work of Senghor appears as a synthesis of apparent contradictions. Placed in the midst of Western and African values, Senghor remains himself, accepting what is good in the western world and at the same time valorising still the virtues of African cultural values. He appears as an example to follow for Africans who tend to lose their identity or their personality because of the influence of the western world. That has been also one of the aims of our work, to fight against the inferiority complex, the dual personality and the depersonalisation which is gaining ground in the lives of most young Africans. They are called to go back to their cultures in order to know them, in order to live them and in order to express them while discerning between good and bad foreign values, accepting what is good in other cultures and rejecting what is wrong. They should for example accept the benefits of the scientific culture, avoiding technophobia, and at the same time, they should reject practices such as abortion, homosexuality or the changing of sex which are becoming part of daily life in Europe and America. Also, they are called to fight against superstition, which is developed and expressed in African traditions, and avoid practices such as excision, which is still found in some cultures.

GENERAL CONCLUSION

IV.1. The Actuality of Teilhard de Chardin and Senghor

The actuality of Teilhard de Chardin could be considered in relation to the conception of science today. Accepting the complexity of science, he actually moves us to perceive the urgency of a total synthesis of the sciences today. This is what Paul-Bernard GRENET expresses when he says:

Le mérite de Teilhard est d'avoir aperçu l'urgence d'une synthèse totale des sciences. Intellectualisme, universalisme, esprit de synthèse, - voilà des qualités que les besoins et les habitudes de notre temps risquent de nous avoir fait perdre. Teilhard peut nous guérir de ce « technicisme » qui nous destine à « faire », et non à contempler ; de ce « pragmatisme » qui nous borne à un horizon accessible ; de cet esprit de « spécialisation » à outrance qui nous met des oeillères [...] Il est un certain nombre de réalités, ou de vérités, ou tout simplement de notions que Teilhard pour son compte a retrouvées, et qu'il nous invite à récupérer d'urgence.^110(*)

There are indeed many realities and many truths that the thought of Teilhard de Chardin urges us to recover despite the spirit of technicism, pragmatism and specialisation which characterises our times.

The actuality of Senghor clearly comes into view when one considers the complexity of his thought and his personality. He appears as an example to follow as far as the acceptation of the positive values inherent in foreign cultures and foreign civilizations is concerned and the preservation of our own values in order to present them to other peoples as our cultural identity. In a world that is running the risk of being westernized, it is important for peoples to keep their identity in order not to be diluted in the universal. The Négritude movement and its African socialism is founded on three pillars: Marxism, Teilhardism and the values of negro-african culture. All young Africans are called to accept what is good in other cultures without negating their own identity as Africans.

IV.2. African Art, Industrialisation and Globalisation

Senghor's considerations of what the contribution of Africa should be to the building up of the Civilization of the Universal remains within the arena of ideology. The revolution that is needed has to consider the need for industrialisation in Africa and its socio-economic development for an active participation in globalisation. The African vision of the world does not suffice to prove Africa's importance in the dialogue of cultures. It is relevant to complete the vision of the world with African traditional art which can be valuable as far as the place of Africa is concerned in globalisation. Globalisation implies industrialisation and as such, we cannot just limit ourselves within the arena of cosmogony. We can move further through negro-african art.

Engelbert MVENG avers that the development of civilizations is related to the contribution of negro-african art in several dimensions as he says:

Le développement de la Civilisation de tous les peuples ne peut se passer de l'apport irremplaçable du génie créateur négro-africain, non seulement dans l'art, la littérature, la musique, la danse, la philosophie, la religion, l'organisation de la vie de l'homme en société, l'exploitation et la distribution des biens matériels et spirituals, mais également dans les progrès de la science et de la technologie. Il y a un apport original que seuls les peuples négro-africains pourront apporter à la science et à la technique universelles qui risquent d'être à jamais amputées si nos peuples démissionnaient devant l'Histoire.^111(*)

As such, negro-african peoples are supposed to develop their creative genius as far as art and other related activities are concerned instead of becoming consumers of the products of science and technology elaborated by developed countries. In this light, Mveng affirms:

Pour être modernes, ni les Russes, ni les Chinois, ni les Japonais ne se sont contentés d'acheter aux Occidentaux leurs produits manufacturés. Ils ont créé à leur tour leur propre industrie et leur technologie fondées sur l'originalité de leur génie créateur. Que serait finalement l'industrie mondiale, de nos jours, sans les audaces et les ambitions de la technologie Russe, Chinoise et surtout Japonaise ?^112(*)

Hence, the world industry is enriched with the contributions and the efforts of many peoples. Africa should not remain at the receiving end, consuming western and other foreign technologies. Negro-african peoples should see to it that they enhance their traditional artistic activities in order to present their genius to the rest of the world:

La technologie de demain sera encore plus riche, l'industrie plus adaptée aux problèmes concrets des hommes, quand l'Afrique apportera sa note originale au concert des peuples qui maîtrisent la technologie et l'industrie. Voilà pourquoi, en abandonnant totalement leurs traditions artistiques et technologiques, les peuples négro-africains commettraient un véritable crime vis-à-vis de l'humanité. C'est en effet grâce à la connaissance profonde de ces traditions que nos peuples pourront non seulement mieux saisir la complexité et l'originalité des techniques étrangères, mais encore qu'ils pourront découvrir ce qui leur manque pour correspondre à nos besoins particuliers.^113(*)

The technology of the future will be richer and more adapted to concrete problems of peoples when Africa will mark it with its originality. It is then necessary to appreciate local artistic activities and to see how they could partake to the global. How can what is made locally be accepted globally? The problem lies on competition at the international level. Locally manufactured items are supposed to be competitive in order to be globally appreciated. In this vein, the Jesuit priest says:

L'argument qui veut que toute tentative d'une technologie ou d'une industrie locales en Afrique soient vouées à l'échec, faute de capitaux suffisants au départ, et faute surtout d'un marché qui rende une telle entreprise rentable, n'a rien d'irréfutable. Il n'y a plus, de nos jours, d'industries exclusivement locales. Le problème est une question de compétition à l'échelon international. Un peuple qui arrive à produire des articles originaux, dont les qualités techniques sont égales ou supérieures à celles des autres articles de même type, trouvera toujours des clients et des débouchés. L'industrie automobile européenne ou américaine n'a pas empêché l'industrie automobile japonaise de conquérir le marché mondial. A l'heure où naissent les ensembles économiques africains, nos peuples doivent envisager avec audace la possibilité de promouvoir leurs industries propres, et pour en assurer la qualité, ils doivent prendre le risque d'affronter la compétition internationale.^114(*)

For this reason, there is the necessity of promoting local industries in order to bear the risk of presenting the fruit of their work to the international community in order to evaluate their competitiveness.

The problem is not only one of economic and industrial competition. The political aspect of the problem becomes more relevant with the coming forth of the phenomenon of globalisation. States should not lose their sovereignty and their autonomy when faced with the domination of colonial masters. Neo-colonialism indeed needs to be fought with the last energy because it tends to destabilise the poor countries and therefore diminishes their chances of partaking in the competitiveness of values be them moral, cultural, economic and political. The principles of equality of States are supposed to be taken into consideration in order that all may be given the chance to present the values inherent in their cultural identity to the rest of the world.

Above all, traditional technology must be given serious consideration because it is not an obstacle to industrialisation and because it can certainly bring forth undeniable contributions for an effective participation in the rendez-vous of giving and receiving.

IV.3. The Civilization of the Universal: Myth or Reality?

The Civilization of the Universal lays the principles or the interaction of civilizations, the dialogue of cultures. Above all, in a world which is convergent and fast becoming a planetary village, it is difficult to conceive such a village without the chief of the village. This is why the Civilization of the Universal appears unrealistic and even as a utopia. It remains an ideal as the war of classes in society will never end, it will continue to change in form: master/slave, bourgeois/servant, the western world/the third world. The first words of the Manifeste du parti communiste of KARL MARX describe this situation of inequalities in society, which appear to be natural. In the rendez-vous of giving and receiving, there are certainly many inequalities but this is not the end, much could still be done in order to build a dialogue which is not only balanced, but also just.

In the final analysis, although it may seem utopical and unrealistic, the Civilization of the Universal has been gradually taking place in our days under the form of globalisation. TEILHARD DE CHARDIN, from his examination of the past as a geologist and palaeontologist, could postulate this movement of totalisation. In Europe, it has been taking roots: cultures are becoming aware of their duties towards one another. The European Union is an example of unity in diversity. In Africa, much still needs to be done as far as the African Union is concerned. SENGHOR has raised our awareness to the fact that through our traditional values, we have something to offer in this process of the Civilization of the Universal. Nevertheless, his Négritude movement proves to be mostly theoretical because it seems to overlook the present situation of Africa, the challenges of our days: poverty and underdevelopment. Despite this fact, this movement remains meaningful. Any important action must arise from an ideal or an ideology. Our work is just an attempt to consider the complementarity of civilizations, showing that no civilization is supposed to consider itself as the universal civilization. There is no civilization be it African or Western which is to claim superiority over others, all civilizations are called to come together in synthesis acknowledging their differences and admiring reciprocally their values. This is why as we condemn abortion and homosexuality legalised in most of the Western rich countries, we also condemn excision which is still practised in African countries in the name of tradition. Our world today seems to be running fast towards its westernisation, through the ideology of neoliberalism in politics and economy, destabilising poor countries. The world certainly needs a better form of globalisation, one which respects the sovereignty of states, their autonomy and their specificities. We would like in this vein to end with these words of Hubert MONO NDJANA:

La leçon est donc entendue, à savoir la nécessité d'échapper à l'hégémonie occidentale. Non en toute spontanéité et en toute inconscience, mais en connaissance de cause : pour reconstruire l'identité perdue de l'Afrique et la faire entrer ainsi, en parfait équilibre, en toute indépendance et en toute souveraineté, dans la civilisation du Troisième millénaire. ^115(*)

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

5.1. MAIN SOURCES

SENGHOR, L.S.,

TEILHARD DE CHARDIN, P.,

-Pierre Teilhard de Chardin et la politique africaine, Seuil, (Paris, 1962).

-Liberté I, Négritude et Humanisme,

Seuil, (Paris, 1964), 446 pages.

-Liberté II, Nation et voie africaine du socialisme, Seuil, (Paris, 1970).

-Liberté III, Négritude et Civilisation de l'Universel,

Seuil, (Paris, 1977), 578 pages.

-Liberté IV, Socialisme et planification,

Seuil, (Paris, 1983).

-Liberté V, Dialogue des cultures, Seuil,

(Paris, 1993).

-Le phénomène humain, Seuil, (Paris, 1955),

348 pages.

-L'apparition de l'homme, Seuil, (Paris, 1956),

376 pages.

-La vision du passé, Seuil, (Paris, 1957),

392 pages.

-L'avenir de l'homme, Seuil, (Paris, 1959),

406 pages.

-The Phenomenon of Man, Wall, B., (tr.),

(New York, 1959), 318 pages.

-Hymne de l'univers, Seuil, (Paris, 1961),

-The Future of Man, Norman, D., (tr.),

(New York, 1964), 332 pages.

-Building the Earth, Dimension Books,

Lindsay, N., (tr.), (USA, 1965), 126 pages.

-Ecrits du temps de la guerre (1916-1919),

Bernard Grasset, (Paris, 1965), 448 pages.

TEILHARD DE CHARDIN, P.,

-The Appearance of Man, Cohen, J.M., (tr.),

(New York, 1965), 286 pages.

-Man's place in nature, Collins, Hagues, R., (tr.), (London, 1966), 124 pages.

-The Vision of the Past, Cohen J.M., (tr.),

(London, 1966), 286 pages.

-Science and Christ, Collins, Hague, R., (tr.),

(New York, 1968), 230 pages.

5.2. SECONDARY SOURCES

BRAYBROOKE, N.,

CAMARA, A.,

CESAIRE, A.,

CHINDJI-KOULEU, F.,

CUENOT, C.,

DIOP, C.A.,

FANON, F.,

GRENET, P.B.,

Teilhard de Chardin, pilgrim of the future, Library book, (London, 1965), 128 pages.

La philosophie politique de Léopold Sédar Senghor, L'harmattan, (Paris, 2001), 144 pages.

Cahier d'un retour au pays natal, Présence Africaine, (Paris, 1956), 94 pages.

Négritude, philosophie et mondialisation, Clé,

(Yaoundé, 2001), 328 pages.

-Teilhard de Chardin, écrivain de toujours, Seuil, (Paris, 1938), 192 pages.

-Teilhard de Chardin, Colimore, V., (tr.),

Helicon Press, (London, 1965), 492 pages.

-L'unité culturelle de l'Afrique noire, Présence Africaine, 2è édition, (Paris, 1982), 220 pages.

-Civilisation ou Barbarie, anthropologie sans complaisance, Présence Africaine, (Paris, 1981), 526 pages.

Black skin, white masks, Markmann, C., (tr.),

Paladin, (Great Britain, 1970), 174 pages.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin ou le philosophe malgré lui, Beauchesne, (Paris, 1960), 262 pages.

HUTTINGTON, S.,

LINSCOTT, M.,

LUBAC, H. D.,

MENDO ZE, G.,

MVENG, E.,

MONO NDJANA, H.,

NJOH MOUELLE, E.,

NTSOBE, A.M.,

ONDOUA, P.,

OMGBA, R.L.,

RAVEN, C.E.,

RIDEAU, E.,

RUCH, E.A., (ed.),

SMITH, W.,

Le choc des civilisations, éditions Odile Jacob, (Paris, 1977).

Teilhard Today, (Rome, 1972), 114 pages.

Teilhard explained, Buono, A., (tr.),

(New York, 1968), 116 pages.

« Le mythe Senghor », in Vounda Etoa, M., (ed.), (Yaouné, 2003), pp.9-11.

L'art et l'artisanat africains, Clé, (Yaoundé, 1980), 164 pages.

Beauté et vertu du savoir, leçon inaugurale, éditions du Carrefour, (Yaoundé, 1999), 150 pages.

De la médiocrité à l'excellence, Clé, (Yaoundé, 1998), .... Pages.

« Civilisation universelle, civilisation de l'universel : l'actualité de Senghor » in Vounda Etoa, M., (ed.), (Yaoundé, 2003), pp.197-198.

« Le socialisme-Négritude de L.S. Senghor- notes critiques », in Annales de la Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaines, séries Sciences Humaines, VoL. IV, n°1, (Yaoundé, Janvier 1988), pp.3-36

« Identité culturelle, civilisation de l'universel et mondialisation », in Vounda Etoa, M., (ed.), (Yaoundé, 2003), pp. 43-52.

Teilhard de Chardin, Scientist and Seer, Collins, (London, 1962), 222 pages.

La pensée du Père Teilhard de Chardin, Seuil,

(Paris, 1965).

African Philosophy, Officium Libri Catholici,

(Rome, 1981), 412 pages.

Teilhardism and the new Religion, Rockford,

(Illinois, 1988), 254 pages.

TANGWA, G. B.,

VOUNDA, E.M., (ed.),

"Globalisation or Westernisation? Ethical concerns in the whole bio-business." Paper prepared for the Fourth World Congress of Bioethics, Tokyo, 4-7 November, 1998, in Bioethics, Vol.13., n°3, july 1999, pp. 218-226, 8 pages.

-English Summary of "Technologia genetica y valores morales una opinion Africana" in [e-mail], 6 pages.

Le siècle de Senghor, Actes du colloque international des 16 et 17avril 2003 à Yaoundé,

Presses Universitaires (Yaoundé, 2003), 200pages.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Dedication...................................................................................................................ii

Acknowledgement......................................................................................................ii

Résumé..........................................................................................v

Contents.........................................................................................vi

0. GENERAL INTRODUCTION...............................................10

0.1. Aim of study.......................................................................................................10

0.2. Why these two authors........................................................................................11

0.3. Method of study..................................................................................................12

0.4. Clarifications.......................................................................................................13

0.4.1.The Civilization of the Universal....................................................................13

0.4.2. Teilhard de Chardin........................................................................................14

0.4.3. Senghor...........................................................................................................14

CHAPTER ONE

THE CIVILIZATION OF THE UNIVERSAL

IN TEILHARD DE CHARDIN ....................................15

INTRODUCTION........................................16

I.1. The notion of totality in Teilhardian metaphysics.......................................17

I.1.1.The problem of the one and the many..............................................................19

I.1.2. Omega: the point of universal convergence....................................................21

I.1.3. The attributes of the Omega point...................................................................23

I.1.4. The ultra reflection..........................................................................................24

I.2. The foundations of a racial morality...............................................................25

I.2.1 Unity in unanimity. .........................................................................................26

I.2.2. Unity in diversity.............................................................................................27

I.2.3. Complementarity of Races in totalisation.......................................................29

I.2.4. Unity and not Identity.............................................................................30

I.3. The present situation and mutual duty of races..............................................32

I.3.1. The conflict situation.......................................................................................32

I.3.2. A step towards union.......................................................................................33

I.3.3. A reliable hypothesis.......................................................................................34

I.3.4. The value and significance of human totalisation.................................35

CONCLUSION........................................................38

CHAPTER TWO

TEILHARD DE CHARDIN ADOPTED AND ADAPTED

BY SENGHOR..................................................39

INTRODUCTION....................................40

II.1. The foundations of Senghor's Civilization of the Universal........................41

II.1.1. The complementarity of human races.............................................41

II.1.2. The Negro-African race..............................................................42

II.1.3. The effects of colonisation...........................................................42

II.2. Senghor's African Socialism........................................................44

II.2.1. An Inventory of Traditional Values...............................................44

II.2.2. An Inventory of Western Civilization and its impacts on Africa..............44

II.2.2.1. The Inferiority Complex in the African........................................45

II.2.2.2. The Split of Personality...........................................................46

II.2.3. An Inventory of our African Resources..........................................46

II.3. The Negro-African vision of the world..........................................48

II.3.1. The Concept of Being....................................................................48

II.3.2. The Concept of Nature...............................................................50

II.3.3. The concept of World................................................................51

II.3.4. The Concept of God......................................................................52

II.3.5. The Concept of Man.................................................................52

II.3.6. The Concept of Time................................................................53

II.3.7. African and Teilhardian views.....................................................54

II.4. The Negro-African role and contribution to the Civilization..............56

II.4.1. Senghor's ideal society............................................................56

II.4.2. The Communal Dimension of Love in Africa..................................59

II.4.3. Africa and Civilization............................................................61

II.4.4. Africa and Sciences.................................................................61

II.4.5. Africa and Art.......................................................................65

II.4.6. Africa and Religion................................................................67

II.4.7. Africa and Philosophy.............................................................69

CONCLUSION......................................................74

CHAPTER THREE

EVALUATION OF SENGHOR'S HUMANISM.....................75

INTRODUCTION.........................................76

III.1. Positive impacts of Senghor's humanism....................................77

III.1.1. Pan-Africanism.....................................................................77

III.1.2. The Revalorisation of Traditional values........................................78

III.1.3. The fight against the Inferiority Complex........................................79

III.2. Negative impacts of Senghor's humanism.....................................84

III.2.1. Ethnocentrism.......................................................................84

III.2.2. No Revolutionary Praxis..........................................................85

III.2.3. The Glorification of the Past......................................................86

III.3. The Civilization of the Universal and Négritude.............................88

III.3.1. What is Négritude?......................................................................................88

III.3.2. Négritude in the light of the Civilization of the Universal.......... ..........91

III.3.3.Senghor the Oxymoron.............................................................94

CONCLUSION...........................................98

4. GENERAL CONCLUSION..............................99

4.1. The actuality of Teilhard de Chardin and Senghor.................................99

4.2. African art, Industrialisation and globalisation....................................100

4.3. The Civilization of the Universal: myth or reality?........................................102

5. SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY............................104

5.1. Main Sources...........................................................................104

5.2. Secondary Sources....................................................................105

* ¹Richard Laurent Omgba, « Identité culturelle, civilisation de l'Universel et Mondialisation », in Marcelin Vounda E., (ed.), le Siècle de Senghor, Yaoundé, 2003, p. 47.

* ² Paul-Bernard Grenet, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin ou le philosophe malgré lui, Paris, 1960, p.5.

* ³ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Hymne de l'univers, Paris, 1961, p. 151.

* ⁴ Claude Cuénot, Teilhard de Chardin, écrivain de toujours, Paris, 1938, p. 71.

* ⁵ Claude Cuénot, Teilhard de Chardin, London, 1965, p. 377.

* ⁶ Wolfgang Smith, Teilhardism and the New Religion, USA, 1988, p. 66.

* ⁷ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Le phénomène humain, Paris, 1955, p.270.

* ⁸ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin in Cuénot, C., Teilhard de Chardin, London, 1965, p. 377.

* ⁹ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Future of Man, New York, 1964, p. 127.

* ¹⁰ Mary Linscott, Teilhard today, Rome, 1972, p. 37.

* ¹¹ Teilhard de Chardin, in Cuénot, C., Teilhard de Chardin, London, 1965, P. 297.

* ¹² Pierre Teilhard de Chardin in Cuénot, C., Teilhard de Chardin, London, 1965, p. 375.

* ¹³ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, in Cuénot, C., Teilhard de Chardin, London, 1965, p. 112.

* ¹⁴ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Phenomenon of Man, New York, 1959, P. 256.

* ¹⁵ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Phenomenon of Man, New York, 1959, P. 271.

* ¹⁶ Ibid., p. 259.

* ¹⁷ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Future of Man, New York, 1964, p. 76.

* ¹⁸ Id.

* ¹⁹ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Future of Man, New York, 1964, p. 77.

* ²⁰ Id.

* ²¹ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, La vision du passé, Paris, 1957, P. 297.

* ²² Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, La vision du passé, Paris, 1957, P. 288.

* ²³ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Le phénomène humain, Paris, 1955, pp. 271-272.

* ²⁴ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, in Cuénot, C., Teilhard de Chardin, London, 1965, P. 301.

* ²⁵ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, in Cuénot, C., Teilhard de Chardin, London, 1965, P. 302.

* ²⁶ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Ecrits du temps de la guerre (1916-1919), Paris, 1965, p. 195.

* ²⁷ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, La vision du passé, Paris, 1957, P. 294.

* ²⁸ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, La vision du passé, Paris, 1957, p.294.

* ²⁹ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, La vision du passé, Paris, 1957, P. 295.

* ³⁰ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Future of Man, New York, 1964, p. 118.

* ³¹ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Building the Earth, U.S.A., 1965, p. 6.

* ³² Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, L'avenir de l'homme, Paris, 1959, PP. 159-160.

* ³³ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Future of Man, New York, 1964, p. 129.

* ³⁴ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Future of Man, New York, 1964, p. 130.

* ³⁵ Ibid., p. 133.

* ³⁶ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, L'avenir de l'homme, Paris, 1959, P. 160.

* ³⁷ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Science et Christ, New York, 1968, p. 94.

* ³⁸ Id.

* ³⁹ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, L'avenir de l'homme, Paris, 1959, P. 160.

* ⁴⁰ These are titles of two of Teilhard de Chardin's works: The Vision of the Past and The Future of Man.

* ⁴¹ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, L'avenir de l'homme, Paris, 1959, P. 13.

* ⁴² Charles Raven, Teilhard de Chardin Scientist and Seer, London, 1962, p. 75.

* ⁴³Richard Laurent Ombga, « Identité culturelle, Civilisation de l'Universel et Mondialisation. » in Marcelin Vounda E. (ed.), Le siècle de Senghor, Yaoundé, 2003, pp. 47-48.

* ⁴⁴ Ferdinand Chindji-Kouleu, Négritude, Philosophie et Mondialisation, Yaoundé, 2001, p. 196.

* ⁴⁵ Léopold Sédar Senghor, in Ruch, E., (ed.), African Philosophy, Rome, 1981, p. 225.

* ⁴⁶ Eyeama Ruch, (ed.), African Philosophy, Rome, 1981, p. 225.

* ⁴⁷ Kenneth Kaunda, in Ruch, E., (ed.), African Philosophy, Rome, 1981, p. 238.

* ⁴⁸ Kenneth Kaunda, in Ruch, E., (ed.), African Philosophy, Rome, 1981, p. 238.

* ⁴⁹ Frantz Fanon, Black skin, White Masks, Great Britain, 1970, p. 12.

* ⁵⁰ Léopold Sédar Senghor, in Ruch, E., (ed.), African Philosophy, Rome, 1981, p. 226.

* ⁵¹ Léopold Sédar Senghor, in Ruch, E., (ed.), African Philosophy, Rome, 1981, pp. 226-227.

* ⁵² Jude Thaddeus Mbi, Ecclesia in Africa is us, Yaoundé, 2004, pp.70-71. [The words are underlined by the author]

* ⁵³ Id.

* ⁵⁴ Jude Thaddeus Mbi, Ecclesia in Africa is us, Yaoundé, 2004, pp.70-71

* ⁵⁵ Ibid., p. 72.

* ⁵⁶ Jude Thaddeus Mbi, Ecclesia in Africa is us, Yaoundé, 2004, pp. 78-79.

* ⁵⁷ Jude Thaddeus Mbi, Ecclesia in Africa is us, Yaoundé, 2004, p. 81.

* ⁵⁸ Ibid., p. 86.

* ⁵⁹ Jude Thaddeus Mbi, Ecclesia in Africa is us, Yaoundé, 2004, p. 88.

* ⁶⁰ Ibid., pp. 91-92.

* ⁶¹ Léopold Sédar Senghor, Liberté I: Négritude et Humanisme, Paris, 1964, p.38.

* ⁶² Léopold Sédar Senghor, in Ruch, E., (ed.), African Philosophy, Rome, 1981, p.233.

* ⁶³ Léopold Sédar Senghor, Liberté I : Négritude et Humanisme, Paris, 1954, pp.28-29.

* ⁶⁴ Ibid., pp., 29-30.

* ⁶⁵ Léopold Sédar Senghor, Liberté I : Négritude et Humanisme, Paris, 1954, pp.29-30.

* ⁶⁶ Léopold Sédar Senghor, in Ruch, E., (ed.), African Philosophy, Rome, 1981, p.234.

* ⁶⁷ Cheikh Anta Diop, Civilisation ou Barbarie, Paris, 1981, p.307.

* ⁶⁸ Cheikh Anta Diop, Civilisation ou Barbarie, Paris, 1981, p. 340.

* ⁶⁹ Ferdinand Hoefer, in Cheikh Anta Diop, Civilisation ou Barbarie, Paris, 1981, pp. 342-343.

* ⁷⁰ Cheikh Anta Diop, op. c it., pp. 343-345.

* ⁷¹ Ibid., p. 353.

* ⁷² Cheikh Anta Diop, Civilisation ou Barbarie, Paris, 1981, p. 354.

* ⁷³ Ibid., p. 360.

* ⁷⁴ Cheikh Anta Diop, Civilisation ou Barbarie, Paris, 1981, p. 362.

* ⁷⁵ Cheikh Anta Diop, Civilisation ou Barbarie, Paris, 1981, p. 364.

* ⁷⁶ Ibid., p. 422.

* ⁷⁷ Cheikh Anta Diop, Civilisation ou Barbarie, Paris, 1981, pp. 420-421.

* ⁷⁸ Cheikh Anta Diop, Civilisation ou Barbarie, Paris, 1981, pp. 416-418.

* ⁷⁹ Cheikh Anta Diop, Nations nègres et Culture, Paris, 1954, P. 169.

* ⁸⁰ Ibid., p. 388.

* ⁸¹ Timaeus 28., in Cheikh Anta Diop, Civilisation ou Barbarie, Paris, 1981, p. 425.

* ⁸² Cheikh Anta Diop, Civilisation ou Barbarie, Paris, 1981, p. 426.

* ⁸³ Ibid., p. 450.

* ⁸⁴ Léopold Sédar Senghor, Liberté III, Négritude et Civilisation de l'Universel, Paris, 1977, p. 44.

* ⁸⁵ Richard Laurent Omgba, « Identité culturelle, Civilisation de l'Universel et Mondialisation. » in Marcelin Vounda E., (ed.), Le siècle de Senghor, Yaoundé, 2003, p.48.

* ⁸⁶ Kenneth Kaunda cited in Ruch, E, (ed.), African philosophy, Rome, 1981, p. 238.

* ⁸⁷ Pius Ondoua, « Le Socialisme-Négritude de L.S. Senghor - Notes critiques » in Annales de la Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines, Yaoundé, 1988, p.26.

* ⁸⁸ Ferdinand Chindji Kouleu, Négritude, philosophie et mondialisation, Yaoundé, 2001, p. 128.

* ⁸⁹ Frantz Fanon, Black skin, white masks, Great Britain, 1970, p. 12.

* ⁹⁰ Aimé Césaire, cited in Ruch, E., (ed.), African Philosophy, Rome, 1981, pp. 66-67.

* ⁹¹ Albert Luthuli, cited in ibid., p. 197.

* ⁹² Cf. Ebénézer Njoh Mouelle, De la médiocrité à l'excellence, Yaoundé, 1998, p. 43.

* ⁹³ Ebénézer Njoh Mouelle, De la médiocrité à l'excellence, Yaoundé, 1998, p. 43.

* ⁹⁴ Claude Souffrant cited by Aliou Camara, La philosophie politique de Léopold Sédar Senghor, Paris, 2001, p.51.

* ⁹⁵ Frantz Fanon cited in Ruch, E., (ed.), African Philosophy, Rome, 1981, p. 189.

* ⁹⁶ Ibid., p. 168.

* ⁹⁷ Léopold Sédar Senghor, Liberté I, Négritude et Humanisme, Paris, 1964, p.8.

* ⁹⁸ Léopold Sédar Senghor, Liberté I, Négritude et Humanisme, Paris, 1964, p.9.

* ⁹⁹ Ibid., p.8.

* ¹⁰⁰ Godfrey B. Tangwa,"Globalisation or Westernisation? Ethical concerns in the whole bio-business." in Bioethics, Vol. 13. n°3, Oxford, july 1999, p. 219.

* ¹⁰¹ Godfrey B. Tangwa,"Globalisation or Westernisation? Ethical concerns in the whole bio-business." in Bioethics, Vol. 13. n°3, Oxford, july 1999, p. 219.

* ¹⁰² Ibid., p. 220.

* ¹⁰³Godfrey B. Tangwa, English Summary of "Technologia genetica y valores morales una opinion Africana" p. 1.

* ¹⁰⁴ Aliou Camara, La philosophie politique de Léopold Sédar Senghor, Paris, 2001, p. 55.

* ¹⁰⁵ Léopold Sédar Senghor, Liberté I : Négritude et Humanisme, Paris, 1964, p. 11.

* ¹⁰⁶Léopold Sédar Senghor, Liberté II, Nation et voie africaine du socialisme, Paris, 1970, p. 135.

* ¹⁰⁷ Aliou Camara, La philosophie politique de Léopold Sédar Senghor, Paris, 2001, p. 59.

* ¹⁰⁸ Léopold Sédar Senghor, Liberté I : Négritude et Humanisme, Paris, 1964, p. 356.

* ¹⁰⁹ Gervais Mendo Ze, « Le mythe Senghor », in Marcelin Vounda, E., (ed.), Le siècle de Senghor, Yaoundé, 2003, p. 11.

* ¹¹⁰ Paul-Bernard Grenet, Teilhard de Chardin ou le philosophe malgré lui, Paris, 1960, p. 31.

* ¹¹¹ Engelbert Mveng, L'Art et l'Artisanat africains, Yaoundé, 1980, pp. 151-152.

* ¹¹² Ibid., p. 152.

* ¹¹³ Engelbert Mveng, L'Art et l'Artisanat africains, Yaoundé, 1980, p.152.

* ¹¹⁴ Engelbert Mveng, L'Art et l'Artisanat africains, Yaoundé, 1980, pp. 155-156.

* ¹¹⁵ Hubert Mono Ndjana, Beauté et vertu du savoir, (leçon inaugurale), Yaoundé, 1999, p. 139.