LJU4802 ASSIGNMENT 2 SEMESTER 1

LJU4802 ASSIGNMENT 2 SEMESTER 1 LEGAL PHYLOSOPGHY ASSIGNMENT 2: DUE DATE: 7 SEPTEMBER CODE: STUDENT NUMBER: QUESTION 1. ANSERSWERS: 1.1. DEFINITION OF AFRICAN METAPHYSICS NOT FIND IN THE STUDY GUIDE , PRSCRIBED MATERIAL OR INTERNET. A philosophical definition is always brother in a sense that one should take into account the ontology and epistemology side of the concept to be defined. Having said that briefly I will define the Term African Metaphysical. Very Long ago, some talk of millions of year BC, God Jehovah the Leader of all creation according to Christian naturalist, created Adam and Eve as Physical been while he himself remain Spiritual and could not be seen thus the Metaphysical side of his Action. As History evolved Africa is said to be the cradle of Human Kind and still today is. That make us understand that the two people referred to supra where in Africa. Although Universalists said that there should not be an African metaphysics and a European Metaphysics . In one word , on should only say Metaphysic. Metaphysic therefore is that branch of philosophy that deal with the nature of existence, true and knowledge . Naturalists view the nature of existence as dual side namely the physical side which is seen and the unseen side which is spiritual or metaphysical 3, in one word , reality is dual. African Philosophy agrees with the aforesaid utterance of the Naturalists and in fact, finds themselves in this category of philosophers. It is in line of this view that African Metaphysics stems its origin. This socio-cultural influence on the gestation, germination and articulation of philosophical ideas is attested to by F. Hegel who avers that, men do not at certain epoch merely philosophize in general; for, there is a definite philosophy, with definite character, which arises among a people and permeates their spirit. This philosophy is contemporaneous with and a reflection of the people’s constitution forms of government, morality, social life, capabilities, customs and enjoyments 4 . This is relative to a people and coloured by their conceptions of life in which everything around them become meaningful. This then justifies and provides the basis for calling a philosophy or a metaphysics, European, Asian, Indian, African etc. 5 According to African Metaphysic, Man is next in the hierarchy of beings. Though the Africans differ as regards the constituents of man, but that man has a mortal body and an immortal soul is not debatable. The Igbo, for instance, believes that man has three components, namely, ahu- body, mkporu obi – soul and mmuo– spirit. Man, therefore for the Igbo is both a physical and psychical entity 6 . In the light of the aforesaid African Metaphysics view existence as having two sides namely the physical and the spiritual. In my personal view, African metaphysic is prone by various naturalists who believe that the true and eternal law emanate from the metaphysical or spiritual world and that morality is said to be from that realm and that any law without morality is not law. African Metaphysic also embraces this view, in the sense that the existence has two sides namely the spiritual and physical side of existence. For that reason, the ancestors are constantly invited to interfere among the living because they are seen as part of existence. African Metaphysics is therefore the belief that there is an existence from the African point of view which is dominated by characters, belief, social background, faith, and so on and that belief is more real than the physical part we see because God is greater than all, and all dead people are more than those who are alive and would not lie about what they see and experience every day in the invisible world. References: Onyenwenyi (1985) (Ozumba, 2004)