The Concept of the Human Person in Igbo Philosophy: Individuality, Community and Transcendence in the Thought of Innocent I. Asouzu

Abstract

The concept of the human person occupies a central position in philosophical anthropology because it raises fundamental questions concerning identity, individuality, relationality, community, moral responsibility, and the meaning of human existence. In Igbo philosophical thought, the person is commonly understood not as an isolated, self-sufficient entity but as one whose existence is embedded in a network of relationships involving the individual, family, community, the spiritual order, and the wider cosmos. This paper examines the concept of the human person in Igbo philosophy through the complementary ontology of Innocent I. Asouzu, particularly his philosophy of Ibuanyidanda and the method of complementary reflection. Rather than presenting Ibuanyidanda as Asouzu’s original, complete theory of philosophical anthropology, the paper develops an anthropological application of his complementary ontology to the question of personhood. It argues that Asouzu’s emphasis on the mutual dependence and non-exclusivity of realities provides resources for reconceptualizing the human person as an existence constituted through complementarity, while preserving personal identity and agency. This study therefore uses the expression “being-in-complementarity” as an interpretive formulation for articulating the anthropological implications of Asouzu’s complementary ontology, rather than assuming it without qualification as a technical equivalent of Heidegger’s being-in-the-world or Mitsein. The paper further examines whether the transcendence associated with Asouzu’s ontology should be identified straightforwardly with indigenous Igbo conceptions of Chukwu, chi, ancestors, and other spiritual realities, or understood as a philosophical reconstruction shaped partly by his Christian and Western philosophical formation. The paper thus proposes Ibuanyidanda as a promising framework for reconstructing Igbo philosophical anthropology while acknowledging the interpretive and philosophical work involved in extending Asouzu’s ontology to personhood.