Indonesian philosophy

Indonesian philosophy is generic designation for tradition of abstract speculation held by the people who inhabit the region now known as Indonesia. Indonesian philosophy is expressed in living languages found in Indonesia (approximately 587 languages) and its national language Bahasa Indonesia, comprising many diverse schools of thought receiving influences of Eastern and Western origins, besides its indigenous, original philosophical theme.

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The term Indonesian philosophy originates from a title of book written by M. Nasroen, an emeritus professor of philosophy at Universitas Indonesia (one of major state universities in Jakarta) in which he traced philosophical elements found in Indonesian culture. Since then, the term has been popular and inspired many later writers like Sunoto, Parmono, Jakob Sumardjo, and Ferry Hidayat. Sunoto, who was one of deans of Faculty of Philosophy at Universitas Gajah Mada in Yogyakarta, used the term Indonesian philosophy to name that university?s new department called as Jurusan Filsafat Indonesia (Department of Indonesian Philosophy). The university has been graduating alumni and alumnae from that department, who major in Indonesian Philosophy to date.

Related Topics:
M. Nasroen - Universitas Indonesia - Jakarta - Sunoto - Parmono - Jakob Sumardjo - Ferry Hidayat - Philosophy - Universitas Gajah Mada - Yogyakarta

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The above-mentioned writers defined the word Indonesian philosophy differently and their definitions brought difference in its scope of study. M. Nasroen never clearly defined the word. He only stated that Indonesian philosophy was neither Western nor Eastern, as shown in the original concepts and practice of mupakat, pantun-pantun, Pancasila, hukum adat, gotong-royong, and kekeluargaan (Nasroen 1967:14, 24, 25, 33, and 38). Sunoto defined Indonesian philosophy as ?the cultural richness of our own nation?contained in our own culture? (Sunoto 1987:ii), while Parmono defined it as ?thought or reflections?which are bound in adat as well as ethnic culture (Parmono 1985:iii). Sumardjo wrote that Philosophy of Indonesian people has never been conceived of. Their philosophical conceptions must be sought after and found out of what they have done, and Indonesian philosophy lies in their daily-life behavior and factual result of their activities. Philosophy of Indonesian people lies within their pepatah-petitih, adat houses, adat ceremonies and rites, old myths, in their dress ornaments, their dances, the music they play, in their weapons, their social system, and so on. (Sumardjo 2003:113). Those four writers understood philosophy as a part of culture and didn?t contrast philosophy to cultural studies and anthropology. Coincidentally, Indonesian language (Bahasa Indonesia) initially has no word for philosophy as an entity separated from theology, art, and science. Instead, Indonesians have a generic word, that is, budaya or kebudayaan, which includes a totality of the manifestations of the life of a society. Philosophy, science, theology, religion, art and technology are at once manifestations of a society?s life, which are included in the meaning of the word budaya. Indonesians usually use word budayawan to call their philosophers (Alisjahbana 1977:6-7). Accordingly, to them, the scope of Indonesian philosophy only comprised those original notions of Indonesian cultural richness. This is understood by another researcher, Ferry Hidayat, a lecturer at Universitas Pembangunan Nasional 'Veteran' Jakarta, as ?the poverty of the scope?. If Indonesian philosophy only comprised those original ethnic philosophies, it would be very poor philosophy. He widened the scope of Indonesian philosophy so as to include the adapted and ?indigenized? philosophy receiving influences of foreign philosophical traditions. This article employs the latter definition.

Related Topics:
Culture - Cultural studies - Anthropology - Theology - Science - Religion - Art - Technology - Philosophers

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