| Indonesian Philosophy |
Article Index for Indonesian |
Website Links For Indonesian |
Information AboutIndonesian Philosophy |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT INDONESIAN PHILOSOPHY | |
| indonesian culture | |
| philosophy | |
| philosophy by region | |
|
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. 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, 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. SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT There are seven schools of thought developing in Indonesia. The categorization of schools is first based on the originality that a certain school contains (like 'ethnic school'), secondly based on the influence of great world philosophies that a particular school absorbs and adapts to Indonesian philosophy (such as 'Chinese school', 'Indian school', 'Islamic school', 'Christian school', and 'Western school'), and lastly based on a historical chronology (such as 'the post-Soeharto school'). The following is a sketch of the Indonesian schools of thought and their main philosophers. Ethnic school This school takes Indonesian ethnic philosophies as its source of inspiration. Its assumption is mythologies, legends, folklores, the way an ethnic group builds its house and holds its ceremonies, literature it keeps, the epics the ethnic group writes, all bases foundation of its philosophy. This 'philosophy' cannot change; it remains the same, from the beginning to the end of the world, and it is also 'the Good'. It guides every member of the group to the origin of group creation on earth (in Javanese, ''sangkan'') and the ''telos'' of the life the group reaches to (in Javanese, ''paran''), so the member cannot go astray. This school preserves Indonesian ethnic philosophies which are original, since the philosophies had been hold tight by ethnic members before they were encountered with later foreign philosophical traditions. Most of the school’s proponents assume that today’s Indonesian people are in the position of being blind to their original values. Jakob Sumardjo, for instance, argued that most of today’s Indonesians ''…forget to preserve their original values'' and ''…forgetting the past, forgetting the origin, they are like amnesiac people...'' who ''…ignore their own national history…'' (Sumardjo 2003:23, 25). Consequently, they are ‘alienated’; estranged from ‘their mother cultures’ (Sumardjo 2003:53). The failure of Indonesian educational policy, to Jakob, is brought by this ‘blindness’ to Indonesian original culture (Sumardjo 2003:58). Therefore, the necessary task of this school of philosophy is to seek after, recall and revitalize the ethnic original values, since the values are ‘mothers’ (''lokalitas ialah ibu manusia'') and people are ‘fathers’ of existence (''balita ialah bapak manusia'') (Sumardjo 2003:22). The following are some philosophical notions which this school advocates: =Adat For this school of thought, '' Adat '' plays very important role. ''Adat'' is the main inspiration for ethnic philosophers, as it is the intellectual legacy which belongs to a particular ethnic group. ''Adat'' is inherited from an ethnic's forefathers to later generations of the ethnic group. Indonesians believe that ''adat'' is not a human creation, but the spirits and supernatural powers ruling the community. This ''adat'' is very different from what Englishmen call ''tradition'', ''custom'' or ''convention'' today. Its meaning is not simply wider, but more particularly goes far deeper. It includes everything Englishmen call ''law'' nowadays; and it goes much further than law in determining the needs and the actions of individuals and the community. It ordains the ceremonies of marriage, birth and death, the times and the methods for sowing rice, building a house, praying for rain, and many other things. Economics, politics, philosophy and art all come within its sphere. Indeed from one point of view, ''adat'' is simply a social expression of the community religion, in as much as it is not a human creation, and in its exercise men are still constantly watched over by the spirits and supernatural powers ruling community. Because the ''adat'' which regulates the entire life of the community is dominated by spirits and supernatural powers, that communal life is inevitably static and deeply conservative. Its roots lay in the obscurity of the past, when the ancestors laid down the adat once and for all, or as Minangkabau people say: ''It doesn't crack with the heat or rot in the rain.'' In such an environment the word 'old' has a special significance, denoting something venerable, sacred, powerful and full of wisdom (Alisjahbana 1961:13-14). =Myths of Origin Among intellectual legacy which the ''adat'' inherited to Indonesians is a set of myths of origin of creation. The myths are sung (and only recently written) in important ceremonies held on special occasions of birth, death, marriage, Harvest Festival , and so on. The Dayak-Benuaq tribe of East Kalimantan , for example, has a set of myths known as ''Temputn''. This ''Temputn'' tells myths of origin of universe, world and sky, human and animal creation, plants, water, fire, rain, death, ancestor origin, and some social taboos (Michael Hopes & Karaakng 1997:1-19). According to ''Temputn'', far before humankind had been created, they were two families who inhabited the sky. Of the raw materials used by the ‘sky families’ to create the earth and the sky, finally the first human came into being. He was married to a woman, who was his own daughter, and had many children, some of whom later became ''seniangs''--group of spirits who live in the heavens, responsible for the policing of the most important moral affairs and they are in charge of ''adat'' guardians. The ''seniangs'' can inflict punishments (curses) on the ‘incestuous’. Their children were not only the human race and spirits, but also animals like wildcats of the forest, bears, ancestor of deer, the pigs of the forest, forefathers of monkey, ancestor of bees, snakes, and many others (Michael Hopes & Karaakng 1997:29-41). =''Pantun'' '' Pantun '' is original kind of poem created by Indonesians. It is a four-line poem that consists of two parts; the first two lines are called as ''sampiran'' and the second two lines as ''isi''. The ''sampiran'' always provides an analogy for the ''isi'', and it symbolizes a Macrocosm for a Microcosm . As the Mythology went, humankind was made of materials from which 'the sky families' created the sky and the world, and ''pantun'' reflects this belief very clearly. The ''sampiran'' represents 'the sky and the world', while the ''isi'' signifies 'the humankind'. Both between ''sampiran'' and ''isi'' there must be Logical Correspondence , as they both are symbols of harmony of the nature and humankind (Sumardjo 2002:296-324). Below is an example of ''pantun'': |
|
|