ESSENCE AND EXISTENCE IN IGBO-AFRICAN METAPHYSICS: REFRAMING CLASSICAL ONTOLOGY WITHIN INDIGENOUS THOUGHT

Abstract

The goal of this article is to reinterpret the Western metaphysical distinction between essence and existence by engaging the metaphysical thought of the Igbo of Africa. Western metaphysics, especially the works of Thomas Aquinas, John Duns Scotus, and Martin Heidegger, have articulated the notions of what a thing is (essence), and that it is (existence), while Igbo ontology offers a more relational and dynamic perspective, where being is understood as a relational force, vitality, and communal participation. Utilizing Igbo concepts of chi, mmụọ, ike, and communal ontology, this paper argues that Igbo metaphysics conceives existence as a concrete relational vitality that is harmoniously aligned with the cosmos, rather than as an ontological abstraction. Primarily, the paper analytically outlines classical positions and creatively reformulates them with African metaphysical concepts. The argument is that Igbo ontology, unlike most African Gross Metaphysical Systems that offer reductive impersonal/non-personal analogues to Western Systems, offer a robust, richly personal metaphysical structure with vital forces, the essence of the Supreme Being (Chukwu), to harmoniously integrate essence and existence. The paper profoundly examines the thought constructs and systems of Africa and presents them as fundamentally the basis of their creative thought indigenous to their culture, the non-derivatiive nature of African Systems of Thought as it pertains to the knowledge of reality. Finally, the study posits the thought of the Igbo of Africa enhances the current discourse of being, contingency, and relational ontology by focusing on participatory existence, rather than the existence of mere abstractions.