A CRITIQUE OF ASOUZU’S CONCEPT OF IBUANYIDANDA PHILOSOPHY EXAMINED IN THE LIGHT OF CONTEMPORARY NIGERIAN SOCIETY

Abstract

This paper examines Asouzu’s conceptualization of ibuanyidanda philosophy as an integrative philosophy of social movement and cultural rebirth. It is aimed at addressing the contemporary Nigerian challenges of socio-political and economic development. Nigeria as a country has been bedeviled by myriad of fundamental problems such as corruption, abject poverty, hunger, food crises, ethno-religious crises, herdsmen-farmers’ clashes, religious fundamentalism, socio-cultural chauvinism, poor economic growth and political instability. Rousseau’s views influenced Asouzu’s standpoint of complementary reflections. This paper is analytic in explaining the conceptual frameworks of Asouzu’s ibuanyidanda philosophy. Asouzu’s concept of ibuanyidanda philosophy is a theoretical framework for African communalistic experience. The African communalistic experience reveals African democratic setting. It is the philosophy of culture, “belongingness principle”and fundamental wholeness. It represents the need for ethical objectivity and universal dialogue. Ibuanyidanda philosophy represents the fact that human beings are major drivers of their immediate environment and they are masters of their socio-political, ethical, cultural and physicoexistential world. It reflects the need for cultural rebirth, moral answerability and the normative expectation of human relationship. It demands the need for authentic human existence. Ibunayidanda philosophy represents universal humanism. It is an integrative philosophy that calls for good will, good governance, purity of intention and a good sense of social justice. Finally, it calls for the beneficial scheme of social cooperation and mutual understanding among rational persons. It is an existential reflection of positive social integration of African society.