An Ethiopian Thinker Challenges A Giant of
Western Philosophy
By Fikre Tolossa, Ph.D. - In a book
Entitled, "Gorfu Contra
Nietzsche", published by the
prestigious Vantage Press
located at 516 West 34th
Street, New York, NY 10001,
G. E. Gorfu, an Ethiopian
thinker, poet and writer, the
son of Zemenfeskedus Abreha, a thinker and writer by
his own right, has exposed the philosophy of Frederic
Nietzsche, the German writer who had influenced Hitler
and other Nazis and Fascists tremendously. Most of us
know Nietzsche as the author of the philosophical
allegory, "Thus Spoke Zarathustra." G. E. Gorfu delved
into the bulk of his works over the course of many years
and has unlocked their quintessence.
According to Mr. Gorfu, Nietzsche is not even close to
being a philosopher, as Western scholars contend,
since he condemns and negates intellect and reason
and hails instinct and emotions contrary to the nature of
philosophy. By quoting some of the writings of Hitler and
Dr. Goebbels, his Minister of Propaganda, Gorfu
proves that the principal mentor of the two Nazis, is non
other than Nietzche, a lunatic who masked his Satanic
views in religious aphorisms and literary allegories.
My first reaction when I saw the title of Mr. Gorfu's
critique of Nietzsche, was a sense of bafflement. I said
to myself: "How dare he criticize an idol of Western
philosophy!" But then I thought over it again, and asked
myself, "Why not, if he has all the facts?" To
demonstrate that Nietzsche is not a phillosopher worth
his salt, Gorfu uses a tool of philosophy: syllogism. By
presenting a thesis, anti thesis and synthesis, he
successfully demolishes the very foundation upon which
rests Nietzsche's "philosophy".
I put the word "philosophy" in quotation marks because
Mr. Gorfu has now convinced me that Nietzsche is not
indeed a philosopher, a lover and seeker of truth, who
argues logically and arrives at unavoidable conclusion.
To mention Nietzsche's main ideas, at the core of his
thoughts are his assumptions that the Aryan race is
superior to other races, that evil is good, that the
courageous and powerful should rule the weak, that the
aristocracy is the "uplifter" of the arts, and as such, of
man himself, that the law elevates man to a higher
realm, and that science destroyed myth and poetry, and
consequently, should be rejected.
To refute Nietzsche's assertion that the Aryan race was,
civilized, noble and superior to other races when it
invaded Europe, Gorfu traces the root of the Aryans to
their Barbaric origin in Central Asia before their arrival in
Western and Central Europe. After arguing forcefully
that if they were noble or of high class with stable
economic and social conditions they would not have
migrated to Europe from Asia in search of a better life,
he proves that they were wild nomads and Barbarians
who, on the contrary, destroyed the existing civilization
of Western and Central Europe. He writes, "The pages
of history books recount in great detail the Dark Ages
when the barbarians began the long invasion of Europe,
the burning and looting of all they could lay their hands
on and the destruction of that which they could not take
with them.
What grounds, if any, did Nietzsche then have to call
these poor, misery-driven, marauding rats a noble race?
Was there anything worth in their migration or in their
later actions when they arrived in Europe to deserve the
adjective noble? All that is written about their invasion of
Europe is but murder, theft, rape, looting, and burning.
Should this be what a philosopher considers noble? It is
even named as the Age of the Barbarians, the 'Dark
Ages.'" (pages 13 & 15). Ridiculing Nietzsche's absurd
idea that evil is good, Gorfu reacts thus, "How is one to
understand statements like, 'What is evil? Precisely that
which is Good...' or 'good men never tell the truth...' Can
such utterances be taken seriously, and how can we
take one who makes such utterances as a man of
philosophy, a real philosopher, indeed, a major
philosopher?... "If good men never tell the truth, only
liars would then qualify as 'good men,' and this is
precisely what Nietzsche wanted by his inversion of
values.
And, of course, he himself would be at the head of that
list of 'good men' - I mean 'good liars, imprudently
shouting at the top of his voice, 'Pereat mundus, fiat
philosophia, fiat philosophus, fiam!' Which means, Let
the world perish, but let philosophy live, let the
philosopher live, let me live! (P. 79.)
Courage and power should not rule this world, argues,
Gorfu. "We neither think nor believe that courage has
accomplished the real great things in this world. The few
words that come from the lips of wise people, the few
drops of ink that flow from the pen of a single wise man,
may give the world far greater good than all the rivers of
blood that have flown from the swords of many
courageous kings, emperor, or generals... "For far too
long man has been too powerful for his own good and
best interests. Man has used that power to rape the
world and his fellowman in the most hideous manner.
The cities destroyed, the people killed, the libraries and
books burnt, one can go on and on; all these are
evidences of man's use of power without knowledge...
(p. 80-81.)
Challenging the German "philosopher's" theory of 'will to
power', Gorfu states that, it is the very thing which
Nietzsche calls weakness which has proved to be the
strength, for example, of the Israelites. "Their belief in
their God Yahweh, their ascetic ideals and moral values,
their recorded history books, these alone kept them
going. Indeed, isn't the Old Testament a book of cries
and agonies?... The strength of that small people lay not
in the power of their individual heroes, rather in their
cries of despair, collected in the form of a book. These
cries and tears were the actual means of their salvation."
(p. 82)
When and how on earth did the aristocracy be come the
source and innovators of the arts, questions this
Ethiopian thinker. "All true art, music, science and
technology, poetry, philosophy, and theology by which
the 'elevation of man' has to be judged has come from
the poor, the destitute, the downtrodden, who are one
with the steam of life, those who have suffered pain and
grief, heartbreak and frustrations, despair and
triumph...(p. 88)
Contrary to Nietzsche 's views, Gorfu declares that the
law does not uplift human beings to any heights. The
only time it lifts them up is when it hangs them on a
piece of wood! "True, the law uses the whip, the
stretching wheel, iron collars, torture racks, thumb
screws, branding irons, and the hanging rope, as well as
the sword, in order to access the human spirit and
emotions... The law never heals. It exacerbates..." (p.
92) As for Nietzsche's opinion goes that science
destroys myth and poetry, Gorfu states that the German
professor was biased against and afraid of science
because it would expose the shallowness of his
philosophy.
"Nietzsche never addressed himself to the intellect in
any of his books. His appeal was to the emotion and the
"will" of a people. This he did because he knew he
would not stand a chance if he used an intellectual style
to present his ideas. His lies would be exposed
thoroughly under a direct examination. For this reason,
he chose twisted parables and aphorisms instead of
dialectics and formal logical argument." (p. 104) At the
end of the book, Gorfu acknowledges Ethiopian
philosophers and nobles who have cherished real
philosophical ideas and achieved a much higher moral
standard, than the so-called European philosophers and
nobles praised and adored by Nietzsche.
Here, it becomes evident that Mr. Gorfu is not without a
unique philosophical and moral background. As a matter
of fact, his father was the scholar who translated the
treatise of Ethiopia's greatest philosopher, Zera Yaekob,
and of his disciple, Woldehiywot. Being analytical and
critical minded, Gorfu's father, Aleka (a scholarly title)
Zemenfes Kedus Abreha, wrote a book against some of
the ill-practices of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. The
clergy imprisoned him for this and banned his books
until Emperor Haile-Selassie released him after having
heard the arguments of Aleka Zemenfes Kedus Abreha
and the clergy in an open public debate.
G. E. Gorfu grew up reading such philosophical books
and listening to philosophical, moral and religious
discourses held between his father and other Ethiopian
scholars. Obviously, their views and the books he has
read in childhood have played a pivotal role in his
mental and emotional developments. There is no doubt
that his fertile Ethiopian background has contributed to
the formation of his original insight absent in Western
scholars, which has enabled him to see Nietzsche from
a different vantage point. The fact that he examined
Western philosophy, history and literature
independently, i.e., without being tied or having
allegiance to any particular philosophical or literary
circles, has, in a way, helped him to arrive at his own
logical conclusions.
Gorfu Contra Nietzsche, is read easily, and even has the
flavor of an artistic work. Being a poet and a novelist first
and foremost as evidenced by his two volumes of verses
in Amharic and Tigregna languages as well as in his
novels, G. E.Gorfu was equipped with the right literary
tools to unravel the poetic veil with which Nietzsche has
wrapped his venomous ideas and thoughts. If he sounds
vulgar and offensive at times, it is because he is
employing the same tactic which Nietzsche himself had
applied to attack his contemporaries and philosophers of
old. On his way of demolishing the philosophy of
Nietzsche, he lashes at and reveals the hypocrisy of the
Protestant Martin Luther, Rousseau, Karl Marx and
Lenin from a moral position which many Westerners find
hard to comprehend.
If I have any remark to make about Gorfu's book, it is
more on the form than on the substance. This is in
regard to the editing. Some of the ideas have been
repeated unduly throughout the work. The book could
have been shorter probably by 15 pages (It is now 163
pages) if those repetitive ideas were condensed. For
instance, there is an obvious redundancy on page 120.
Nietzsche's rejection of science is stated two times on
the same page with strikingly similar words and phrases.
The same idea recurs on pages 104 and 105. My only
disagreement with the author as far as content is
concerned, is his characterization of Moses while
leading the Hebrews in the Sinai desert after they fled
from Egypt. Gorfu says, "...a power-hungry demagogue -
Moses... There he worked out a plan of insurrection and
escape for the slaves. The plan took him some forty
years to perfect... For his pains Moses achieved what he
always wanted to achieve: namely, he became a leader
and a ruler over a people..."(p. 9)
In the first place, Moses was never interested in power.
When God appeared to him in a fire in the bush and
offered him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, he refused
the offer giving lame excuses until he enraged God. In
fact, he was pushed by God to undertake such a hard
task. He had accepted his lot as a shepherd and father
in the house of Jethro, his Ethiopian father-in-law when
he was called by God. He was leading a humble and
quiet life. He never dreamed of returning to Egypt, let
alone to plan out an insurrection.
He hated to be a leader of ungrateful and rebellious
people. He complained on several occasions to God
about his difficult position. He even begged God to
relieve him of his duty. He also said to Him: Have I given
birth to them that I should bear with them so much?
Apart from this, Gorfu's interpretation of the condition of
the Hebrews in the desert is interesting and even
original. Overall, his perception of both the New and Old
Testaments is profound.
He quotes Jesus often to put across his ideas. He
provides his own definition of a philosopher completing it
with Jesus' words of wisdom, "You shall know them by
their fruits..." The thesis itself ends with the Epistle of
Saint Paul to the Ephesians, 6:12. I commend this book
strongly. I even advise the publishers to have it
translated into as many European languages as
possible, including, of course, German. Gorfu Contra
Nietzsche is a rare book which good libraries should
possess and universities use as a text-book. For those
who would like to read it, it is possible to order it from
Barns and Nobles, or Amazon books on the web, or from
the publisher at (800) 882-3273. It's ISBN is 0533127319.
03/2000