By Godwin Sogolo

In explaining these events, a scientist would seek to identify: how a poison caused the death of the child; how a virus caused the Ebola outbreak, and how brake failure caused the motor accident. The scientist would then proceed to examine in detail the causal processes involved in each case. Science sometimes invokes notions such as chance or luck – which, in reality, may amount to an admission of ignorance.

A witchcraft explanation would introduce the notion of human agency and address questions such as: “Why did the poison cause the death of this particular child rather than another”? “Why did the Ebola outbreak affect some individuals and communities, while leaving many others untouched”? “Why did Mr A’s vehicle suffer brake failure, resulting in a fatal accident, particularly on a road safely used by many others”?

Thus, even though scientific and witchcraft explanations are directed at the same event, each is seeking to explain different aspects of it such that the two sets of explanation provide a more comprehensive understanding of the event. Scientific and traditional explanations need not always be logically incompatible. An event may have several causes, depending on the aspect of it under investigation and the kind of question being asked. It follows, therefore, that witchcraft appears irrational only from a scientific perspective. Within their respective contexts, scientific and witchcraft explanations are rational, compatible, and complementary, offering different dimensions of explanation for the same event.

The distinctions made so far between a scientific explanation and a supernatural explanation are important in understanding African conceptions of health and illness. Orthodox modern medicine generally focuses on bodily organs, physiological processes and identifiable pathological agents, whereas traditional African healing adopts a holistic conception of health, encompassing physical, psychological, social and spiritual well-being.

Illness in Africa involves, not only bodily malfunction but also poverty, unemployment, infertility, hunger, conflict and strained relationships that impair normal social and productive functioning.

Consequently, traditional African healing processes integrate the physical, spiritual, socio-psychological and even moral dimensions of illness. It is true that orthodox modern medicine also recognises non-physical influences, as demonstrated by the concept of placebo effect, whereby a patient’s beliefs and state of mind can affect treatment and healing.

The remarkable advances in modern science and technology – including Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) – do not fundamentally alter the distinct explanatory roles of science and witchcraft. However sophisticated the new technologies may become, they mainly explain patterns, mechanisms and causal connections – how events occur – but they can hardly answer the culturally and existentially significant question of why a particular event happened to a particular person or community at a particular time.

AI may greatly expand the scope and precision of scientific explanation, but it does not, by itself, replace the culturally embedded framework through which traditional African societies interpret personal agency, misfortune, moral responsibility and the meaning of particular events. The issue, therefore, is not whether Africa must choose between AI and witchcraft, but whether we recognise that they operate at different conceptual levels and address different kinds of questions.

Witchcraft belongs to the metaphysical domain, though its beliefs and practices have real social consequences. Our perceptions of witchcraft are not static; they evolve with changing social conditions. Like other human institutions and practices, our understanding of witchcraft-related beliefs and practices can be reformed to correct misconceptions and curb abuses.

Finally, witchcraft should not be regarded as an obstacle to Africa’s scientific and technological development. Belief in supernatural agencies exists in virtually all societies, including modern Western societies, without necessarily preventing scientific advancement. Indeed, many Africans who have contributed significantly to modern science and technology were raised in communities where witchcraft beliefs remain deeply entrenched.

The causes of Africa’s underdevelopment must therefore be sought elswhere – in political, economic, institutional, educational and other structural conditions – rather than simply in the persistence of witchcraft beliefs. A colleague wondered the other day why we in Nigeria were discussing witchcraft when Elon Musk and his team in the United States were preparing to revisit the Moon. My response is that science and witchcraft can coexist in Africa, just as science coexists with all forms of religion in the United States, because they operate within different conceptual domains and serve different purposes.

The problem with witchcraft in Africa is not the phenomenon itself, but our perceptions and understanding of it. From a psychological perspective, witchcraft could be interpreted as the projection of the evil we harbour in our attitudes and conduct – evil that calls for moral reform. More importantly, witchcraft must neither be dismissed as mere irrationality nor treated as an inferior arm of science. Rather, it belongs to a conceptual framework distinct from that of modern science and serves distinctive explanatory, social, and moral functions.

Ultimately, the more productive approach is to examine the coherence, implications and practical consequences of witchcraft beliefs rather than seek to prove or disprove their existence. Whatever position one adopts on the reality of witchcraft, it is important to recognise the devastating consequences that accusations of witchcraft can have for individuals and communities in Africa. A critical and humane approach therefore requires that no person be persecuted, tortured or killed merely on the basis of an unverified witchcraft claim.

Sogolo is an emeritus Professor who has taught and conducted research in Philosophy for over five decades – at the University of Ibadan, Cardiff University of Wales and currently at the National Open University of Nigeria. He also served as a member of the Editorial Board of The Guardian Newspapers in the 1980s and 1990s.