Journal of African Studies and Sustainable Development

A cursory glance at the metaphysical problems in philosophy reveals that they are perennial ones, which cannot be solved dogmatically. To this category belongs the question of, it is not surprising that the question of the nature of being. It has bordered the minds of philosophers from the ancient era to the present epoch. This enquiry was first set in an articulated motion by Parmenides when he argued that whatever is, is being. He further said that being is one, eternal and unchanging, meaning that whatever changes is not being. This notwithstanding, Heraclitus of Ephesus was chiefly famous in antiquity for his doctrine that everything is in a state of flux, as such, being is characterized by flux. Plato, while disagreeing with Heraclitus on his doctrine of flux, agrees with Parmenides that reality is eternal and unchanging, however, differs from Parmenides in arguing that being is multiple rather than one; and these are the forms in the Platonic World of Forms. Aristotle who defines Metaphysics as the study of ‘being qua being’ identifies being with God; it is therefore not surprising that in Aristotle, Metaphysics becomes theology. He defines being as the foundation and unity of all things. His definition of being leads to identification of being with God. This was a view that Aquinas would adopt in the Medieval Ages, and which Dons Scotus and William of Ockham would, however, oppose. Through the present work under review, Dr Jude Ifeanyi Onebunne adds his voice to the perennial discourse on the problem of being.

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