IGWEBUIKE AND BEING IN IGBO ONTOLOGY

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.