User:AKPAGAN
Philosophy of imagos/Philosophie des imagos (Philosophic theory brought into being in 2001 by a Togolese young thinker by the name of N.-A. Sélali Pierre AKPAGAN)
Philosophy of imagos is, as has been widely portrayed around in Africa, a giant philosophic breakthrough, one of a kind, that popped up on the campus of Université de Lomé (Togo) in the year 2001.
As it stands today, Philosophy of imagos has ten (10) books to its credit, of which seven (7) are written in French and three (3) in English. Have also been recorded as its works: expositions, press conference, lectures, which were all held or delivered on University campuses. In addition, articles, interviews, in the media in Togo, in Ghana, along with several reports on the continental radio “Africa N°1” broadcasting from Libreville (Gabon), are equally part of the track record of this young thought which has been making its way for ten (10) years now. The present theory happening in the field called “philosophy of mind” forged ahead with a new understanding of Nature, a new understanding of life, a new theory of the World, a new theory of knowledge, new inroads into logic, innovations in political philosophy, in ethics, in aesthetics, etc. This year 2011 has been scheduled for celebrating the tenth (10th) anniversary of the emergence of this philosophic innovation. In this connection, things now start off in this very month of October.
(This article is to be followed up soon with plenty interesting features, please!)
What is meant by imagos?[edit]
When University of Ghana, Legon, hosted Pierre AKPAGAN on March 29th, 2007 for a lecture, he had to face all the students of all levels of the Department of Philosophy assembled in the Political Science Conference Room. The topic of the discourse unfolded in Epistemology. Journalists who were in attendance at the lecture requested the lecturer after the lecture through further discussion to give them a breakdown whereby they could get around what they witnessed for nearly three (3) hours in the room.
With pleasure, Pierre AKPAGAN did his utmost to get across to them a couple of aspects of what he shared with his fellow students. To get the discussion started up, journalists put this question to Pierre AKPAGAN: What does imago mean? To begin with, I too wish to say here what imago designates.
The word imago is of Latin origin. It exists in English, in French and in German, to name but a few. It exists in Literature, in deep psychology, in psychoanalysis and in entomology. Whatever the area, the concept of imago has never designated the same thing; nor has it ever borne the same sense from one author to another one . But then, imago as philosophic concept had never existed until the emergence of the philosophy of imagos at Université de Lomé (TOGO) in the year 2001.
The then fever generated by the news of the birth of a new philosophic theory swiftly started to spring up from one end to the other of the University campus. The fever remained unabated and reached its apex in February 2002 and brought in a pressing need for open unrestricted discussion on the theory. At the request of the Department of Philosophy and with its assistance one exposition was held on February 28. The theory was said to have the makings of philosophic thinking, but in characteristics typical of Grecian philosophic thought. In the same year, specifically on October 29, on the same campus, Pierre AKPAGAN held a news conference upon the theory.
That said; let us go back over the concept. What does imago mean by the theory?
Before we start dealing with the definition, I long for your attention to make some pressing timely observations. On Friday, October 14, for the first time ever, since Internet access got introduced into our lands nearly twelve (12) years ago, I got a great surprise.
Observations[edit]
I alighted upon articles displayed on the Internet among which I could read this: “philosophie des imagos”! but also this: “articles universitaires relatifs à la philosophie des imagos”! My surprise was big, but I was equally shocked. This is a grave challenge I get to rise to. I therefore wish to make something clear to the fresh readership I begin to attract through this prestigious page allotted to me on en.wikipedia.org.
First: It was not until the emergence of philosophy of imagos on the campus of Université de Lomé (TOGO) in 2001 that people who busy themselves with philosophy, that is to say: professional philosophers, began to record imago as philosophic concept, strictly speaking. And thence, Philosophy of imagos.
Second: In France and French-speaking countries assembled, this sequence of terms exactly set like this: philosophie des imagos, never existed before. Take it from me! Up until the time when philosophy of imagos got propounded on the campus Pierre AKPAGAN (P. A.) never heard any of his respectable and respected lecturers (all trained in renowned overseas Universities, La Sorbonne included.) utter imago, just as a word at the very least. Never! As a matter of fact, during his first ever exposition of the theory his interlocutors just mixed up the gender of the word: “un imago” which is masculine, or “une imago” which is feminine; which one should one use? Whilst he was putting the finishing touches to his first book (La naissance du Noũς) P. A. consulted the ″Vocabulaire technique et critique de la philosophie″ of André Lalande (Editions Quadrige/Presses Universitaires de France; fourth edition “Qadrige”,1997). Therein imago as philosophic concept was non-existent. Nonetheless, the Latin word: imago was there, and was to give etymological reference to the philosophic concept of image. And said no further.
Thirdly: The continental Radio “Africa N°1” which has FM stations just relaying the same programmes at the same time across the continent, equally has one in Paris ( commonly called: Africa N°1-Region parisienne). Repeatedly in 2002 and 2004, Africa N°1 broadcast reports on “philosophy of imagos” and “the Togolese young philosopher” by the name of N.-A. Sélali Pierre AKPAGAN. In 2004 and 2005: Radio Togo (English service, and then French service) several times received P. A. in studio, live, and carried out afterwards repeat broadcasts. All these references are crowded into the international or overseas echoes or records of the theory.
Fourthly: In the year 2005, P.A. was back in Lomé after he completed nearly two-year philosophic research in Accra (Ghana). On July 1st he received Acceptance Notification from Université Paris IV, Paris Sorbonne to take up Master’s course in Philosophy of sciences. When P. A. applied to La Sorbonne, the much revered Mother of all Universities throughout France and which still stands up until now as the most prestigious of them all, the letterhead of the motivation letter of his application bore this mention: “Jeune universitaire togolais Fondateur de la philosophie des imagos”. Which is equivalent to this: "Togolese young academic Founder of philosophy of imagos”. La Sorbonne did not, if you permit me the phrase, turn P.A. out; but rather duly took time to examine the entire application file along with all the articles and interviews in newspapers from Togo, all of which bore references to the founder of philosophy of imagos. I guess the Admission Notification was not just based on the credits he might have got in the aggregate. Assuredly, the fresh and genuine philosophic endeavour P. A. was coming up with from a remote upcountry land of Africa, far away from the world well-known philosophic tradition Centres, played its role too.
Fifthly: As I am editing this page now, P. A. knows authorities on “philosophie des images” who are currently Fellows at La Sorbonne and across France, who know him too, who read pages of La naissance du Noũς. These specialists currently run international, otherwise, worldwide graduate school courses or postgraduate programmes. none of these respectable specialists of international renown or stature, ever told P. A. that he is wrong, that he be on bad tracks, nor that he be committing plagiarism, nor did they venture to file any lawsuit against his copyrighted books.
Sixthly: When University of Ghana, Legon, hosted P. A. on March 29, 2007, there was no polemic over “philosophy of imagos” nor over “founder of philosophy of imagos” as denominations. How might there have been one in so far as, as yet, very, very little was known of the denominations in question? Denominations that then had to say what they were all about.
Only from 2006 up until this year 2011 that P. A. has not been carrying anything to broadcasters. Instead of taking one’sime and leeway to properly probe into the remote depthP. A. might be leaping up from, some people mistakenly and obviously in bad faith choose to think that the man and the theory are just stepping forwards out of the blue, without precedents. The man, to the contrary, is not to give rise to a philosophic thinking in this year.
Observations (Part II.)
This is the first website ever with a page for public display that bears Pierre AKPAGAN’s name linked up with philosophy of imagos / philosophie des imagos. This page started off only eighteen (18) days ago. So, from October 10 up until now.
British and English-speaking intellectuals seem to be infallibly very accommodating and they even put up easily esteem whenever it comes to purely scholarly matters. P. A. repeatedly witnessed this over many years at Legon (in Ghana) during his stints, and through his relations and ties, and in the media therein as well. And so far so good, I am witnessing it on this very web page. Might I be suggesting that they be better than us for that? No, I mightn’t. Far be it from me to think that way. I rather believe that we are all equal citizens of this civilization, to the improvement and strengthening of which we each get to contribute. What I observe is simply that they are commonly more demonstrative in that regard. British and English-speaking intellectuals are better informed for they have the largest amount ever of scholarly records. Even right here on Wikipedia where people of all walks of life are encouraged and allowed for free to make their input they are also far ahead. As I am writing these observations now statistics on Wikipedia Home page show that English-speaking articles are very well in the lead. English-speaking people are initiators and are still in the lead in so many academic fields worldwide, that is to say all over the five continents. They have the largest records of scholarly works of today’s civilization. This is simply a matter of record. As anyone can see it for himself, for all that precious colossal intellectual wealth, for all those stockpiles of knowledge, for that fabulous treasure piecemeal pooled here and there and built up by the entire Humanity for its own sake, well, they do not belittle or underrate scholars coming from areas or languages different from their own, they hardly practise that kind of kangaroo interference, bellicose interference in scholarly findings as I am reporting it to you herein.
Just fifteen days ago, on the 13th October, I began editing on philosophy of imagos on a very reputable French page. My article was simply held up and then deleted; Uniform/Universal Resource Locator and the connected like-designed technologies never carried my page “saved” to display. I wrote one other article, this time: concise article well propped up with verifiable references. This one too got doomed, did not go on display, and disappeared shortly after. I was notified of deletion, namely that: I should not copy, and that my article should be verifiable. And that I am not allowed to open any new account, that I should keep editing but there.
Please, our ancestors perpetrated crimes upon crimes (persecution, unfair, unjust, crooked dishonest bans, mistaken censorship, etc.) against thinking men, theorists, scientists, inventors, and so on so forth (freedom of speech, freedom of thought, freedom of action, etc.). We their children of the twenty-first century, I dear say, ought to be cautious and learn from that sad appalling past that apologies are still being offered to today.
Those who keep standing in the way of scholars just as I report it here should bear well in mind that some day their own doings, machinations, and intrigues will catch up with them. We humans of today should learn to give the benefit of the doubt to philosophers and set out along with them, checking their findings and where the can lead us, for the remarkably systematic reasoning path they always ply.
How could you just rise to your feet today and say : you are the founder of philosophy of language? Every learned person in philosophy might equally leap to his feet and tell you point-blank that: “you are a liar” And he is right. Put me wrong, do fault me, if I lie to you. It is just simple like that. On the contrary, if you say that you wrote an article in connexion with philosophy of language, one can take one’s time to look into it. At the end of the day, if it turns out that your article has nothing to do with philosophy of language, and for that matter, someone packages you as a swine who indulges himself with wasting his own and other people’s time, that judge would be completely and utterly right. The very talking point I am driving herein is that: we get to bear well in mind that philosophy of imagos / philosophie des imagos emerged in 2001 and has become since then a kind of philosophic doctrine, if not, school of thought. So, any article reputed to be related to philosophy of imagos had better be expected to add something to our knowledge of philosophy of imagos. Please, this a purely academic business happening on a very prestigious, a very respectable and respected worldwide scene. Those who are displaying that sort of infatuation about the denomination of “philosophy of imagos” and its reaches had better take heed that they do not, by means of intrigues, mix up the mind of our readership that only just start s to make up itself. We are propounding our scholarly findings for free and democratic reading, with a view to contributing to better understanding of things. We should pour out our best, and make sure that we do not disrupt anyone.
I earnestly longed for sharing these observations with you forthwith, in the aftermath of P. A.’s unexpected shocking finding. The observations definitely prove to be a strong bulwark for our upcoming articles or entries onto this page. Thank you all for the attention you so kindly allocated to my defence.
Settling down to Excerpts from the Ghanaian daily: The Ghanaian Times[edit]
(From The Ghanaian Times, the whole page 14, (Friday, May 4, 2007) with the heading: “Legon hosts young philosopher”)
The Times Education: What is meant by imago?
Pierre Akpagan (P.A., in the following lines): The word imago is of Latin origin. It exists in English, in French and in German, to name but a few. It exists in literature, in depth psychology, in psychoanalysis and in entomology.
Whatever the area, the concept of imago has never designated the same thing; nor has it ever borne the same sense from one author to another one. But then, imago as philosophic concept had never existed until the emergence of the philosophy of imagos at Université de Lomé (Togo) in the year 2001.
And in the year 2002, at the request of the Department of Philosophy and with its assistance, one exposition was held in February where the theory was said to have the makings of philosophic thinking, but in characteristics typical of Grecian philosophic thought. Then, the same year in October, I held a news conference upon the the theory.
TE: What then does imago mean by your theory?
P.A.: My theory itself happens in the field called: Philosophy of mind, and more specifically in its compartment termed: Theory of knowledge. And still more precisely, in its compartment named: Metaphysical theory of knowledge.
Imagos designate pure spiritual parcels, but intimately cherished by Nature, that come into being through the occupation of human in human, or, roughly speaking, through the occupation of human in Nature.
Then, imago is not image, it is not idea, nor knowledge. But imago entertains direct or indirect ties with all these things.
TE: What may philosophy of imagos look like as a whole?
P.A.: Noustics (noustics and philosophy of imagos are synonymous) probes into life, into homo and into mind. Actually, I work on the earliest stages, earliest steps, of the kick-off of the spirit or mind within our species.
As you can see, let us say that intuitions, philosophic knowledge, and science data all along clash, conjugate, and forge ahead with this thought which affords a new understanding of human nature and architecture, a new understanding of Nature, and a new theory of knowledge.
TE: Does your theory have any keepings or affinities with other theories?
P.A.: To my way of thinking, philosophy is an artistic activity. Philosophy is art. It is the artistic expression of the ultimate organization and creation power in a given human. I evidently have affinities with Anaxagoras of Clazomenae. Anaxagoras of Clazomenae is a Greek thinker of the first half of the fifth century before Jesus Christ.
According to the statement of Plato and Aristotle, Anaxagoras was ‘the first philosopher of mind’ in History. I borrowed from him directly the concept of Noũς.
Noũς means mind, spirit, thought. But the Noũς in my system is not identical to his own. It has characteristics of that of Anaxagoras, but incorporates other characteristics and for that matter differs.
In my theory, the Noũς designates the metaphysical area delimited by the imagos, within which thinking happens. Then my theory of the Noũς is closer to the Anaxagorian theory of the Noũς than to Plato’s and Aristotle’s theories of the spirit. I also have strong affinities with Joseph Ludwig Wittgenstein. And a couple of other philosophers such as Avicenna, Francis Bacon, John Locke, Bertrand Russell, Martin Heidegger, Henri Bergson. There are equally keepings with some scientific thinkers in the Evolution field.
TE: Tell me how you came by the theory.
P.A.: It was in 1996 during a research I was conducting into Latin literature that I came across the term imago.
The word imago means image, picture, portrait, etc. The word struck me and captivated my mind. I soon got to know that it exists in biology. Thence I adopted the term and made it into a tool in my intellectual conquest. About one and a half years thereafter I adopted the concept of Noũς for the same philosophic probes.
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The reality of the Noũς per se was discovered between 1992 and 1994; and it remained for me to describe it, or to say it, philosophically. I proceeded gradually and, with time, everything was completed in the year 2000.
Philosophy of imago was born in the year 2000 and it popped before the Department of Philosophy the following year. My first book, which remains my masterpiece so far, was then the result of eight-year investigations in philosophy.
TE: Have you checked around to make sure there is no other theory identical to yours in the world?
P.A.: No two heads can think one and the same thing. Or to put this truism otherwise: no two heads can think one and the same thing in identical terms or sense. And we may have to recall here what is meant by ‘to think’. To think means: to usher in something new, to create something. High art achievements in History have never been of any repetition or replica.
TE: The lecture you gave at University of Ghana (Legon) was mainly focussed on your fourth work: ‘In the Beginning was no Logic’/Au Commencement n’était point la Logique’. Tell me briefly about this book.
P.A.: As you have seen, the book is in English, though its title is in both English and French. It is written in English but comprises in some places a couple of French quotations from other thinkers whose works are published in French.
We can also encounter in other places some little assemblages of French lines that are to meet nothing other than mere choice to express them through that channel.
As regards the Preface that consists in Part A in English, Part B in French and Part C in English, I could not find any better way than the way I set it. The book is the result of nineteen-month research essentially based at University of Ghana, Legon.
TE: How many major lectures have you given so far on the theory? P.A.: Three discourses so far. I do not really know which of them should be considered as minor or major. Each of these discourses held on my theory was well attended and the participation was satisfactory.
The first one was a conference on the campus in Lomé, at the request of the Department of Philosophy, in February 2002. The second was a news conference on the same campus in October 2002. The third, strictly speaking, is the first ever lecture I dispensed, which took place in the Political Science Conference Room at University of Ghana. Honestly, I was very pleased with it, as regards both my own input and the skilful dynamic participation of the audience that day.
TE: How can others, including researchers, scholars or academics contact you? P.A.: I am currently domiciled in Accra, and I can be reached at the following e-mail address: (for the time being I do not know whether displaying an e-mail address runs counter to the policy of en.wikipedia.org. I will take some time for further check. Thanks.)