IGWEBUIKE AND BEING IN IGBO ONTOLOGY

Ikechukwu Anthony Kanu

Abstract


Metaphysics, as a branch of the discipline of philosophy, concerns itself with the
determination of the nature of being- the meaning, structure and principles of whatever is
insofar as it is. Being, therefore, remains a fundamental question within the parameters of
enquiry in metaphysics right from the Pre-Socratic period to the Contemporary Era. The
study of the categories of being in African metaphysics has occupied the desks of African
philosophers, as they have tried in various capacities to move away from the abstract
perspectives of being dominant in western philosophy to a substantive and concrete idea of
being. This piece is a contribution to the ongoing being-project in African metaphysics. It
studied the different dimensions of the categories of being with particular attention to the
modality of being as a category of being, since it is the centre of discussion. Having
discussed Igwebuike as the unity of the African philosophical experience, this study
discovered that the centrality of Igwebuike profoundly relates to its place as the modality
of being. To be from the perspective of Igwebuike is to be with the other and in the company
of the other. To be outside of this is alienation.

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