ABSTRACT
Ancient philosophy has, for the most part, focused particularly around the history and philosophies of the pre-Socratics, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, with broader representations of some other non-Greek philosophical traditions such as the Chinese, Indian and Iranian philosophies. However, distinctive Eurocentric bias has blatantly disregarded the poignant place of African philosophy in the pedagogy of ancient philosophy. Thus, this chapter argues for recentring ancient Egyptian philosophy and, by extension, African philosophy in the study of ancient philosophy. The chapter, firstly, traces the historical originality and rich elements of philosophy that ancient Egypt possesses, serving as the theoretical springboard for the emergence of Greek philosophy. The chapter argues that the task of shifting the origins of philosophy from Greece to Ancient Egypt is paradigm-shifting. To argue for this importance, the chapter further tackles the objections raised by Mary Lefkowitz against “Afrocentrism”. Finally, the chapter’s argument for reclaiming the cultural and historical originality of Egyptian philosophy holds ideological implications in epistemic justice and in a greater contextual reading and appreciative study of ancient philosophy and the origins of philosophy.
