Abstract
“Life is a mystery” is a saying that most people are familiar with. The mysteriousness of life consists, among other things, in its unpredictability despite efforts and developments in science and technology. Indeed paradoxes and contradictions abound in every facet of life to an extent that some would be inclined to subscribe to nihilism, fatalism or catastrophism as the primordial reality. This is implied in Heraclitian “flux”, the dialectic of Hegel, the “nothingness” of Sartre, etc. The logical implication of these positions would be the meaninglessness of life. But is life really meaningless? Can something positive come out of the negative events in the world like violence, conflict and war and so on? Could the myriads of violence in Nigeria, for instance, caused by Boko Haram in the North East, in the East by Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOS) and in South-South by Niger Delta Avengers be beneficial in the long run? In other words, could something positive be ensued from these obnoxious situations? These are the concern of this paper which examines the Hegelian dialectics that apparently accepts the co-existence of paradoxes and contradictions as complementary realities resulting in a synthesis. However, this paper believes that the synthesis will only lead to a better state of affairs if premised on affective humanism as an ontology.
Highlights
“Life is a mystery” is a saying that most people are familiar with
Paradoxes and contradictions abound in every facet of life to an extent that some would be inclined to subscribe to nihilism, fatalism or catastrophism as the primordial reality
Is life really meaningless? Can something positive come out of the negative events in the world like violence, conflict and war and so on? Could the myriads of violence in Nigeria, for instance, caused by Boko Haram in the North East, in the East by Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOS) and in South-South by Niger Delta Avengers be beneficial in the long run? In other words, could something positive be ensued from these obnoxious situations? These are the concern of this paper which examines the Hegelian dialectics that apparently accepts the co-existence of paradoxes and contradictions as complementary realities resulting in a synthesis
Summary
There is a famous saying among Nigerians that “life is full of ups and down”. The reality of the saying is so glaring that it has become an axiom. Akpabio in the world from time till today exhibit this complementary nature of existence to such an extent that some are inclined to think of complementarity as an ontology This was the position of Heraclitus who saw “change” as the arche-type of reality and Hegel who believed that “contradictions, tensions, paradoxes, oppositions and reversals are at the heart of all thought and even realty itself” (Lawhead, 2002). Hegel following his dialectic insists that “truth is multifaceted and each set of oppositions points to higher, more encompassing viewpoints” (Lawhead, 2002) It is within this understanding that violence that is usually regarded as an unpleasant phenomenon; a state of affair with devastating consequences to the political, social, religious and economic life of a people and a nation, which is undeniably part and parcel of the world order is examined in this paper. This paper seeks to find out if violence of any kind and magnitude can be of any benefit to any country at all talk less of a developing nation like Nigeria? This is the kernel of this paper
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