An Ontological enquiry into the Anatomy of Dispute, Conflict and Violence in Contemporary Africa

Abstract

This work is a philosophical analysis of the phenomenon of dispute, conflict and violence in contemporary Africa. There is no doubt that our world today is generally afflicted, confronted and challenged by various forms of dispute, conflict, violence and wars—civil or international wars. In this, Africa is not exempted; for there are various forms of dispute, conflicts and violence in many countries of Africa—East, West, North and South. Efforts have been made from diverse quarters to arrive at the possible causative factor(s) of this phenomenon of violence—culturally, socially, psychologically, commercially and even technically. Unfortunately, none has come from the ontological angle. The ontological side is one side of the general philosophical approaches. However, it is the most challenging of all because it involves going into the metaphysics of the problem. Based on this therefore, this paper is an attempt to go beyond the empirical conclusions of experimental sciences on the phenomenon of conflict and violence that based their findings solely on empirical researches. To achieve this, the work adopts the thoughts of some leading philosophers on conflict and violence. The method of the work is analytic. Its conclusion is that although dispute, conflict or violence appears inevitable in human affairs as it seems to be an inherent deficiency in human nature burdened with many needs but with little or slender resources to meet them, certain principles are possible to make humans overcome them.