Beyond Fractured Epistemology: A Discourse of the Idea of Personhood and Personalism in Igbo and Yoruba Moral Systems

The fundamental argument of this paper is built around the importance of de-emphasising the use of Western moral categories as found in personhood and personalism in addressing moral and practical issues in some parts ofAfrica; specifically, among the Igbo and Yoruba ethnic groups of Nigeria. Essentially, personalism as an ethical theory promotes the value and dignity of human beings which makes it an attractive moral theory that is likely to he applied universally to moral issues. However; there are some dangers in the universal applicability of the theory, as knowledge of certain moral issues is perceived by different societies and cultures. As an instance, the African conception of the human person as represented in the Igbo and Yoruba moral systems has no strict categorical difference between the transcendental, spiritual and the material, as it is in the Western conception, which emphasises the material, the functional and the physical dimensions. It is, therefore. to he seen that a discourse of this sort is pertinent and instrumental in providing the values and needed framework to interrogate the myriad of problems faced in the African continent.