Between Secrecy and Openness in Knowledge Development in Africa and the West by Aoiri Obaigbo on Facebook

[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

Before Greece lit the torch of Western thought, it kindled its flame in the temples of Egypt. The flow of ancient knowledge came south to north. And that migration of wisdom still holds a mirror to our modern impasse.

The ancient Greeks travelled to Egypt, eager to absorb the vast knowledge and culture developed by the Africans. Many of Greece’s celebrated thinkers spent considerable time in Egypt to study and learn. Plato is believed to have studied there for thirteen years, and Pythagoras spent over two decades initiated into philosophy, geometry, and medicine. Thales, considered the first Greek philosopher, spent seven years in Egypt, and Hippocrates, often called the father of medicine, is said to have recognised the Egyptian polymath Imhotep as a true pioneer of medical science. In fact, the theorem commonly associated with Pythagoras had been employed by the Egyptians in constructing the pyramids well over a thousand years before Pythagoras was born.

Plato admired Egyptian pedagogy, praising it for cultivating attentiveness and moral character in students. He reportedly encouraged his own disciples to go to Egypt to study under its great minds. The Greek historian Herodotus, often referenced as the father of history, famously referred to Egypt as the cradle of civilisation. After visiting the country, he described the native Egyptians as having dark skin and woolly hair.

In Egypt, knowledge was considered sacred and inseparable from the spiritual realm. To access certain domains of learning, individuals had to be initiated into specific religious or mystery cults. The culture treated intellectual pursuit as something divine, to be safeguarded by the spiritual elite. The Greeks, by contrast, gradually moved towards separating scientific inquiry from religious practice. This shift opened knowledge up to a broader public and allowed it to evolve without shackles.

A knowledge system encased in religious ritual and secrecy tends to prioritise preservation over innovation. It clings to tradition, fearing corruption, rather than embracing experimentation and questioning. While this reverence once helped to protect and elevate knowledge, over time it can harden into dogma, stifling curiosity and invention.

The secularisation of knowledge in the Western tradition allowed for continuous critique, rediscovery, and reinvention. It encouraged scientific scepticism and created a culture of sharing ideas rather than concealing them. That open intellectual environment became fertile ground for breakthroughs that reshaped technology, medicine, and modern life.

Let’s look under the hood at what we know about Hippocrates and the evolution of medicine in ancient Greece. After his time in Egypt—where healing was deeply yoked to temple initiation and religious rituals—Hippocrates is believed to have established a more empirical and systematic approach to medicine on the island of Kos.

The medical facility associated with him, the Asklepieion of Kos, was indeed a temple complex, but it marked a significant shift. While still dedicated to the healing god Asclepius, it functioned as a centre for clinical observation, diagnosis, and training. Hippocrates and his followers began to strip away the mystical elements of healing, focusing instead on natural causes and treatments for disease. This was revolutionary.

The Asklepieion became a prototype for future hospitals: it had areas for patient care, teaching, and even early forms of medical documentation. The Hippocratic Corpus, a collection of texts attributed to Hippocrates and his school, reflects this rational, observational approach to medicine.

So yes, while the structure retained the form of a temple—perhaps to ease the cultural transition—it was, in practice, a secularised space of learning and healing, a clear departure from the Egyptian model. That move arguably laid the groundwork for the scientific method in medicine.

It’s a powerful example of how cultural borrowing, when paired with innovation, can catalyse a paradigm shift.

Meanwhile, societies that have clung to sacralised systems of thought often find themselves grappling with arrested intellectual development. When truth is guarded by gatekeepers and progress is seen as transgression, the inventive impulse becomes not just neglected but actively strangled.

My point is that we need a new epistemology—one rooted in heritage but open to experimentation and critical inquiry.

We cannot inherit greatness by merely preserving its ashes—we must ignite its fire anew. Until we liberate knowledge from priesthoods and open the doors of innovation, our past will remain a monument, not a movement. The time has come to rethink, reframe, and rebuild. Just imagine the mental burden on the mind that's structured like the ai video.

#ReclaimingHistory

#DecoloniseKnowledge

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#UnchainTheMind

#knowledgeispower 

#RewriteTheNarrative

#OpenSourceWisdom

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