Man by his very nature is an inquisitive being. The innate desire, says Aristotle, is both for pragmatic motives and for the sake of knowing. Man wants to know and conquer the realities around him and beyond him. But has not been able, even to unveil the mysteries of his own being “existence.” These various obscurities of man to himself, varied concepts and images of man have been presented according to various ages as below.

The concept of freedom is an analogous one, predicated in different ways to beings of very different types. The various forms of attribution depend, to a certain extent, not by defining the same specific content, but by indicating formal relation, which remains the same. This relation can be put negatively or positively. Negatively, freedom means being free from the relation of not being bound to a given being or law, of being independent from something and of not being determined by a g... read more

Man by nature it has been said is an insatiable being. He is never satisfied and fulfilled within any particular state. He wants always to move beyond his present condition and consequently realize himself in the ultimate end. In other words, man seeks to transcend himself in all his activities. Man is never a static and motionless being that remains constant at any particular position. He is rather gifted with those qualities that make him an active being full of potentialities and capabilities... read more

Aristotle in the commencement of his “Metaphysics” wrote: “pantes anthropoi tou eidenai oregontai phuse”[1] (all men by nature desire to know). This existential passion or desire is quite innate and intrinsic in man. Due to that irresistible urge in man to know, he involves himself in a curious and inquisitive search into the reasons for his existence. Perhaps Socrates realized this fact and so maintained, “an unexamined life is not worth living”[2].

With the Becconian dictum ‘knowledge is power”, scientist have gone the extra mile on how to improve the environmental condition and then revamp the quality of human life. Now, we witness a great and extraordinary progress in Bio-technological sciences and medicine. This great advancement in medicine and biotechnological sciences has given human beings new pattern of life. However, these efforts of the scientists and biotechnologists have paved ways for extension of scientific researches on ... read more

The social contract theory, nearly as old as philosophy itself, is the view that person’s moral or political obligations are dependent upon a contract or agreement between them to form a society.1 On the mention of the term contract, then, what comes to mind immediately is agreement. The New Webster Dictionary of the English Language defined the term ‘contract’ as “an agreement or a covenant”.2 On the other hand, Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy defines social contract as a basis for le... read more

It is undeniably clear that coming across any written work with this kind of topic stirs up numerous varied notions in people’s minds. The views of an Igbo man who comes across this topic is bound to be different from that of a European. So will it also be, with any member of the external world not directly affected by this topic. One might see it as a liberation philosophy, another might see it as an attack on what is European, and another still, might see it as a defensive means appl... read more

The problem of good and evil in the world of ours has become questionable. Good and evil without doubt have constituted lots of discomfort, havoc and other problems in human life. Consequently, so many thinkers of different epochs have contributed in one way or the other according to their own understanding, to unravel this dilemma. Nevertheless, throughout the different periods starting from ancient era to contemporary era, the problem of good and evil have continued to occupy the minds of phil... read more

In the anal of history, quest for meaning as a quest for knowledge has remained an existential fact in every human endeavour. Hence, it propelled man’s meaning-attaching trait which satisfies his concept of existence. Philosophy as it were has been the vanguard of such innovation traceable from the time of Thales. More still, events and time have rolled out trajectories of philosophy that now constitute different field of studies. Most of these fields hold man as an object of inquiry. All th... read more

While trying to echo Max Weber’s definition of state, C.W Mills categorically defined politics as a struggle for power and the ultimate form of power is violence.[1] This equation of power and violence seems to corroborate the earlier postulations of the Chinese dictator Mao Tse-tung that power grows out of barrel of gun.[2] The attentive consideration given to the relationship, if any between power and violence was heightened when the existentialist philosopher J. P Sartre while writing the ... read more

Every individual is a child of his time. It is not easy for one to escape the influence of his epoch or contemporary world. Hegel himself is not innocent of this. His historical judgments and moral evaluations were in fact as much conditioned by time, place and personality, as those of other philosophers. However, in virtue of the nature and scope of our topic, this portion will rather concentrate more on the de facto German political condition which presented itself glaringly before Heg... read more

Are we not often at times shocked by the discovery that what we thought was certain is later proved dubious and false? If this be a regular occurrence, is it not the case that we may become suspicious of all claims to certainty? But then, the history of human opinion rightly forms the most fertile source material for the development of any theory of knowledge. Yet, no theory or belief has proved so full of absurdity, that it lacked its own disciples. The history of science is itself replete with... read more

Ever since the marriage between the Northern and Southern Nigeria became a reality, Nigerians have made several attempts to preserve this marriage; but constantly, it has nearly broken up. No doubt Ojukwu said that; Since Nigerians took their own destiny into their own hands, every national intercourse has borne the sterile aspect of a coitus interruptus-a primitive method but very effective in preventing the birth of a new nation.[1]

Today in Nigeria, leadership in all facets of our life - government, industry, education, church and what have you - has come to be the hub of the country’s problem. Chinua Achebe summarized it thus in his book “The Trouble with Nigeria” that, “the problem with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership.”[1] In a global level, Oyebola minced no words when he said in his, “Blackman’s Dilemma” that, “very poor leadership appears to be the Blackman’s greatest prob... read more

The inability of man to satisfy his limitless needs arising from his self-insufficiency drives him to seek the service of others in the society. Hence, the origin of the state is traceable to the fact that man naturally is a social being who cannot but live in the society comprising of other men. It is only in the society that man can realize his being and attain the goal of his existence. Therefore, the state exists for man and not man for the state, since man creates the state. In this regard,... read more

Generally speaking, one of the earliest observations we make in life is that the desire to explore the unknown to further our knowledge and understanding is a fundamental characteristic of being human. Thus, to boldly go into the unknown is also what each of us does in the course of our development. Psychological studies have found out that human development is both the most fascinating and most complex science we have. No wonder then, Piaget pointed out that “… life is a continuou... read more

This thesis has to do with the problem of freedom in man’s realization of authentic existence in the existentialist philosophy of Jean Paul Sartre. Looking at this topic, certain basic questions readily come to mind. These may include: What is freedom? Is man actually free? What do we actually mean when we talk of freedom? This thesis is devoted to an attempt to answering these questions and a whole lot of others.

The term Priesthood is one of the oldest institutions of mankind all over the world. The reason is certainly associated with the religious propensities of man. Man is however religious by nature, “Homo Religiosus”. Man’s preoccupation with Sacred, which Rudolf Otto described as… “A mystery inexpressible and above creatures”1. Mysterium tremendium. – a mystery which attract and repels, must have accelerated the growth of priesthood in human society. So many social scientists are n... read more

The modern world is characterized by violence, riots, wars, terrorism, and abortion, which constitute threats to the peaceful co-existence of men. Analysts have strived to bring out solution to the problem in their various capacities. Both the advocates of peace and terror, theists and atheists explicitly or implicitly speak and write about conscience and its place in the pursuit of particular causes. Hence the notion of conscience is a point of interest to all. The term cons... read more

Kant in virtue of his education has a vivid appreciation of the unparallel excellence of moral value. In his ethical theory, Kant sets out to discover and justify the supreme principle of morality and the foundation on which the whole structure of moral law must rest if it is to be valid as a genuine law of duty. On his part, he has nothing to do with utilitarianism or with any doctrine which gives to morality a purpose outside itself. The basis on which his entire ethics rest are; Goodwill, dut... read more