Philosophy and Eschatology: A Quest for Truth and Meaning

Abstract

Do philosophy and eschatology have anything in common? In an age when philosophical naturalism is taken as a norm especially among some philosophers of the Anglo-American tradition, does it not seem out of place to put philosophy and eschatology side by side? Is eschatology not merely a utopic thinking? These are some of the questions that might come to mind when the notion of eschatology is raised within philosophical circles? <i>Prima facie</i>, it seems that philosophy and eschatology are two contradictory disciplines or outlooks on reality since philosophy primarily relies on the critical use of human intelligence and reason whereas eschatology has religious overtones and thus is a theological discipline. This would seem so in an age in which philosophical naturalism is on the rise. However, a critical consideration would show that philosophy and eschatology are not as distant from each other as they might seem from a superficial analysis. If philosophy and eschatology are not mutually exclusive, then where does their convergence lie? Ultimately, both philosophy and eschatology search for truth and meaning in human existence because, ultimately, both philosophy and eschatology examine the entire meaning of human existence or, as it is put in popular parlance, they are concerned with the question of human destiny. So it is not out of place to argue that philosophy ultimately is eschatological thinking. In this paper therefore, it is argued that there is a mutual complementarity between philosophy and eschatology and that the primary locus for an adequate understanding of the intrinsic relation between philosophy and eschatology is the question of the existential meaning of the human person. I will contend that it is because the ancients considered philosophy to be eschatological thinking that some ancient thinkers viewed philosophy as a spiritual exercise and preparation for one’s death. In fact, the understanding of philosophy as eschatological thinking is manifest at least implicitly from the ancient through the mediaeval to the modern era. Furthermore, I argue that it is because of the complementarity between philosophy and eschatology that philosophical theology or philosophy of religion is still relevant till today. Finally, whether eschatology is considered from a Christian point of view or from the viewpoint of African religions, it is must be understood as a search for the meaning of human existence by seeking the connection between two fundamental questions, namely, the question concerning the human person and that concerning God.