Philosophy of the Dayak: A Comprehensive Study of Humanity, Nature, and Being. Ilustration: Iskandar Agung.
The Dayak Research Center (DRC) - JAKARTA I In Filsafat Dayak - Philosophy of the Dayak: A Comprehensive Study of Humanity, Nature, and Being, a team of scholars: Prof. Tiwi Etika, Ph.D., Dr. Patricia Ganing, Dr. Louis Ringah Kanyan, Dr. Wilson, M.Th., Masri Sareb Putra, M.A., Albertus Imas, M.A., and Alexander Mering, S.H. — delivers a pioneering volume that illuminates an intellectual tradition largely absent from mainstream philosophical discourse.
Published by Literasi Dayak (April 2025), this 386-page tome is nothing less than a cultural and academic milestone.
A Landmark Work: Philosophy of the Dayak — A Comprehensive Study of Humanity, Nature, and Being
The book, introduced by Prof. Tiwi Etika, and edited by Masri Sareb Putra, stakes an ambitious claim: that within the indigenous wisdom of the Dayak people lies a robust, living philosophical system — not merely folklore or oral tradition, but a coherent and reflective worldview that merits scholarly attention in its own right.
Dr. Stefanus Masiun, Rector of the Keling Kumang Institute of Technology, captures the gravity of the publication in his foreword. He notes that Dayak philosophy, long encoded in rituals, language, and embodied practices, had remained largely implicit — surviving as "tacit knowledge" rather than explicit academic theory. Until now. In Masiun’s words, the book "does not merely fill a void; it opens an entirely new path to understanding identity and indigenous wisdom long obscured in silence."
The authors tackle seven core branches of philosophy — ontology, cosmology and cosmogony, ethno-numerology and logic, ethics, aesthetics, epistemology, and the history of thought — with painstaking care and scholarly rigor. Yet the text refuses to be merely academic. It is also profoundly existential, born of lived experience, and rooted in the soil and spirit of Borneo.
A Philosophy from Within
One of the book’s greatest strengths is its authenticity. Rather than approaching the Dayak as exotic subjects through an outsider’s lens, the authors write from within the culture itself. Their analysis is not imposed but emergent — grown from the Dayak people’s own metaphors, symbols, and practices. This inside-out methodology grants the work a rare kind of philosophical integrity.
Dayak ontology, as outlined here, is striking in its poetry: being is understood through the dynamic balance between humanity, nature, and the spiritual realm. Cosmology and cosmogony frame the universe not as a backdrop for human action, but as a sacred, interconnected text in which humans are a mere thread in a greater tapestry.
The book's exploration of Dayak ethno-numerology and logic is particularly compelling, revealing systems of thought that are neither Aristotelian nor linear, but that offer their own rationalities — equally intricate and profound. Ethics, meanwhile, are presented not simply as rules or prohibitions but as lived sensibilities: a deep-seated fear of disharmony, a profound respect for the unseen.
In aesthetics, the Dayak conception of beauty is revealed as inseparable from function and spirituality: carvings are prayers; songs are repositories of knowledge; dances are invocations. The Dayak epistemology, similarly, challenges the modernist notion of "knowledge as mastery." Here, to know is to participate, to enter into relationship — whether with plants, animals, spirits, or the land itself.
Finally, the history of Dayak thought — a narrative too often neglected or erased — is painstakingly reconstructed. From the ancestral custodians of oral tradition to today’s young indigenous intellectuals, the Dayak philosophical spirit emerges as dynamic and evolving, rather than static or "primitive."
A Foundational Text for Future Scholarship
More than a cultural artifact, Philosophy of the Dayak positions itself as a "babon" — a foundational text — for any serious student, policymaker, or activist seeking to engage with Dayak realities beyond stereotypes. It bridges indigenous wisdom and formal academia without sacrificing the integrity of either.
The editors and contributors have created a book that is not only monumental but, as Masiun writes, "revolutionary." It represents an offering and a challenge: to recognize indigenous thought not as peripheral, but as central to the global intellectual landscape.
At a time when philosophy departments around the world are wrestling with calls for decolonization and diversification, Philosophy of the Dayak arrives as both a beacon and a corrective. It reminds us that profound philosophical inquiry does not belong to the West alone, nor to the written tradition alone, but can arise wherever people grapple with the nature of being, the mystery of existence, and the ethics of life together.
Reading this book is not merely an academic exercise. It is a profound encounter — with a living philosophy that sings, mourns, builds, and believes.
-- Rangkaya Bada
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