AQUINO Journal of Philosophy

The question, ‘the meaning of life’ is one that throws humans into deep reflection on what life means or what it should be. Like everywhere else around the world, the African thoughts on the meaning of life is linked to, associated with and in particular places, it revolved around death, of course there are other factors but this emerges prominently. In African worldview, death is the demise from life as we know it to, an afterlife. The question that this inevitable event brings to mind is, ‘what is the essence of our labour and emotions invested in living if it ends in death’? Further complicating the matter is the fact that one’s specific time length is not given nor guaranteed. This paper has several aims which includes enunciating the African perspectives on the meaning of life with reference to the position of death in this ‘meaningfulness’ or ‘meaninglessness’ as we shall see and also to take our minds to reflect on what the ‘absence of death’ would add to Life’s meaning. Employing hermeneutic and conversational methods, the study interrogates whether a life without death would enhance or diminish the quest for meaning.

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