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METAPHYSICAL DUALISM IN EBOH: A PHILOSOPHICAL EXPOSÉ

Rev. Fr. John Justice Nwankwo, Ph.D
Department of Philosophy

Faculty of Humanities
Rivers State University, Nkpolu, Port Harcourt 

john.nwankwo@ust.edu.ng

ABSTRACT

Africa has come of age in critical studies. As a continent, Africa has developed various great 
minds in various fields. Writing about Marie Pauline Eboh's philosophy of dualism reveals 
Africa's greatness in the academic field. Eboh did not set out to write about metaphysical dualism 
but addressed various aspects of the human life both physically and spiritually. She had written 
extensively on the existence of earthly life and the reality of life beyond the physical world 
through the existence of the soul. Human beings live and die to live again. As such, in Eboh's 
philosophy, life does not end on earth but continues to eternity. She highlighted the African 
traditional belief of human existence and the survival of the soul after death and held that it takes 
the virtuous life to attain eternal rest after death. The study is an exposition of Eboh's position on 
the metaphysical existence of the human person and cautions them against the merits and 
demerits of eternity. It adopted a descriptive analysis method and concluded that Eboh's position 
on human existence is plausible, although not without some weaknesses. It recommends that 
Eboh's philosophy on metaphysical dualism should be received and more emphasis should be 
placed on her position, to assist young scholars to understand the metaphysical foundation of their 
existence. 

INTRODUCTION

Marie Pauline Eboh's philosophy on metaphysical dualism is found in a number of her works and 
expressed in several forms under different themes. In all her works, Eboh's concept of 
metaphysical dualism, unlike the popular Cartesian metaphysical dualism, expresses the dualism 
of human existence in different worlds and at different levels. Human life on earth is life at the 
stage of continuous becoming until it reaches its perfect state of living as a pure soul. As such, 
even in death, there is no loss universally. Life continues at a different level.   In her Introduction 
to Philosophy and Philosophizing, Eboh was descriptive in her position on metaphysical 
dualism. However, in her book titled A Tapestry of Folklores, Insights, and Proverbs, Eboh took a 
narrative approach to analyzing the concept of dualism. She also used the same analytic approach 
in two other books titled: Fables, Proverbs and Critical Thinking and Witty Tales and Proverbs 
for Moral Renewal in pushing her philosophy of metaphysical dualism. Using stories, fables, 
proverbs and folklores to express her position, Eboh showed how the life of the human person 
exists both in this temporarily life and in the life beyond. In all these works, Eboh expressed the 
idea of life as being both physical and spiritual. She upholds that life is transient and immanent. 
For her, death plays a big role in mediating between life at the physical level and life at the 
spiritual level. So, Eboh's metaphysical dualism dwells on the two spheres of existence of the 
human person; living bound here on earth and living beyond the phase of the earth. Eboh agrees 
that at the earthly level of living, the human person looks forward to a more fulfilling life that 
transcends the present life and either consciously or unconsciously yearns for it. Death becomes a 
very important point of breaking away from the limitations of this life and a medium to cling to 
the other form of life. 

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THE PHENOMENON OF DEATH IN EBOH'S PHILOSOPHY

Humanity has grappled with the phenomenon of death but it keeps eluding the full grasp of the 
human mind. Death is so unique that only a personal experience reveals its reality in full. Yet great 
minds have continued to delve into the reality of death. Unfortunately, no one dies to return to 
give reliable knowledge of what happens in/after death. All we know about it is from mere 
observations, yet death itself is non-extended and cannot be observed. She described death with 
certain characteristics like; death as a natural reality, death as a control measure (2011, p. 215), 
death as a journey (2011, p. 220), and death as a leveler (Eboh, 2011, p. 219).  In fact, during one 
of our verbal conversations, she said; “There is something that I always emphasize about death; 
uwa bu alaba aghara”, loosely translated as “Life in the world means the abandonment of 
everything at the point of death.”(Eboh, 21st May 2020, Personal Conversation).  Eboh posits 
that “…the earth is not really our home…. It is rather a marketplace where people ought to buy, 
sell and go home. Our home is the world of the ancestors and God.” (2011, p. 220). Death 
therefore becomes that journey that takes us to world of the ancestors and God. The Igbos say 
“Uwa abughi ebe obibi” loosely means “The earth is not a dwelling place” (Eboh, 2011, p. 220). 
For this reason, when one dies in Igboland, it is said ohapula which means “he or she is reported to 
have left” (Eboh, 2011, p. 220). Life is a journey and “Death, therefore, means going home” 
(Eboh, 2011, p. 220). The burial of the dead is therefore taking seriously, to bid the dying farewell 
and help his or her soul to rest in peace. To aid them in the journey, the dying is encouraged by all 
means to eat before dying, which in Christian praxis could be the same thing as Viaticum (food for 
the journey). Death is therefore not an annihilation but a transition to the great beyond. 

Yet, death is for all living things and therefore, a leveler for all of them. For this reason, “Death, 
according to Hegel, is 'an absolute lord' that levels all persons under its authority.” (Eboh, 2011, p. 
219). Each person owns his or her death and no one else can die another person's death. Therefore, 
“Death is the only event that a person owns alone; it is authentic because it is uniquely one's own” 
(Eboh, 2011, p.218). Once conceived, a person is qualified to die. 

THE IDEA OF LIFE AS UNIVERSAL, INDIVISIBLE, AND HOLISTIC IN EBOH'S 
METAPHYSICS

Metaphysical dualism is a philosophy that embraces the existence of life as universal, indivisible, 
and holistic. In the tenth Chapter of her book titled Introduction to Philosophy and 
Philosophizing, Eboh treated the topic “Life as Universal, Indivisible and Holistic.” (2011, p. 
203). Under this topic, life is treated as a collective whole irrespective of its form. Whether it is 
physical life or spiritual life, there is a common point of meeting called death. Eboh sees the 
various forms of life as the way in which it gradually evolves until it stabilizes in eternity. “Life is 
an enigma. It only unfolds itself in stages as it is being lived.” (Eboh, 2011, p. 203). Life actually is 
made up of different stages of its evolution. It is so complex that even death itself is part of life. 
Yet, life cannot be experienced except through the existence of beings. Speaking about life, Eboh 
states; “It presents itself as coming into being, developing, ripening and decay.” (2011, p. 203). 
Life therefore, transcends what we see with the physical eyes. Yet, “…it depends on physical 
forces for its sustenance, and that living things reveal through their pluralistic behavioural pattern 
that they operate not only synchronously, but also synergistically and symbiotically, thereby 
suggesting a web of life” (Eboh, 2011, p. 203). Eboh explained her idea of life as universal, 
indivisible and holistic through a logico-scientific approach as well as through African holistic 
concept of life. She continued that “Being an indivisible whole, therefore, life is, logically 
speaking, a singular universal.” (Eboh, 2011, p. 203). Being a whole means that living things 
exhibit similar tendencies that portray their state as living. Part of these traits is the fact that life is 

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metaphysical in all beings. “In addition, it is also a universal by virtue of the fact that it is a 
metaphysical entity that remains constant throughout a series of changes or changing relations.” 
(Eboh, 2011, p. 203). Thus, Eboh says; “Life reveals itself as a constant becoming and an 
inexhaustible, multi-faceted self-development that proceeds from the inside as opposed to the 
rigidity and opaqueness of lifeless bodies.” (2011, p. 204). Dynamism thus, forms part of the 
basic things observed in all living beings. In this immanent stage, life continues to reveal itself 
through a process of becoming, until it reaches its fulness of becoming in death. Better put: “The 
full richness of this life is restricted in every species to narrowly limited possibilities of change 
and it exhausts itself in withering and death.” (Eboh, 2011, p. 204). Nevertheless, through the 
process of reproduction, every species makes itself immortal.  A such, we could affirm that;

            All living things tend to follow an inherent logic of self-
consistency, and they manifest a sense of awareness in the ability 
to withdraw from stimuli that have deleterious effects on them and 
when complete avoidance of such environmental influences is 
impossible, they modify their behavior or structure so as to 
accommodate themselves to such influences. (Eboh, 2011, p. 
205).

To the last citation above, we have an introduction of withdrawal and adaption as parts of the 
characteristics of living things. Living things naturally, withdraw from discomfort and threats. 
Thus, life involves a chain of various manifestations by different categories of beings. Life 
involves a unification of living things through certain similar traits.

From the African perspective, Eboh portrays life as cyclic. She says; “African world-view is 
imbued with the awareness of the cyclic nature of life and with the synergistic rapport between the 
kingdoms of nature.” (2011, p. 206). This simply shows that life in living beings always has a 
point of meeting through the form of a cycle. “The African participates in the creation of the cyclic 
time; he prays to the genii of the earth and the sky, who create the season; the season, in turn, 
determines the time and the concomitant human activities.” (Emenyonu, 1990, p. 89). For this 
reason, Africans are traditionally termed as polytheists. They recognize the cyclic nature of life 
and the interactions of reality in general. Africans know quite well that in the chain of life, one 
circumstance leads to another. Pain leads to joy as happiness can also lead to sorrows. This is built 
on the fact that “Life is a creative power that has been coursing through the universe from time 
immemorial. It manifests cyclically and so does not end.” (Eboh, 2011, p. 207). Africans believe 
that once people are born, their perpetual death will only be if they failed to live a good life. This is 
such that even when they die, they will return through reincarnation. Africans also believe in 
metempsychosis, that is, the movement of the soul from one being to another. But in all these, 
Africans believe that there is only one source of life; God. “For the African, life flows from one 
source – God.” (Eboh, 2011, p. 208). As such life goes beyond the physical one to a greater one, 
being the spiritual one. It is only within the context of metaphysical dualism that African concept 
of life finds its basis.  

LIFE AS BOTH IMMANENT AND TRANSCENDENT IN EBOH'S THOUGHT

Life is as real as it can be perceived. It exists both within the scope of sensual perception and 
beyond what the senses can perceive. Eboh says that “Life is both immanent and transcendent” 
(2011, p. 203). In this present existence, life is comprehensible through what we can see, touch, 
hear, taste and feel. At this level, life is perceived through living things and can be manifested only 
by living things. As beginners in the study of living things, we were acronymically taught that the 
characteristics of a living thing could be represented by MR. NIGER D, where; M = Movements, 
R =	 Respiration, N	= Nutrition, I = Irritability, G	= Growth, E =	Excretion, R = Reproduction, 

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and D = Death. 

 Death, along with other characteristics, is a property of a living thing. However, death does not 
necessarily mean “…the end of life or a person or organism.” (Oxford, 2021, p. 1). It is cross over 
to another level of life. That is why life is not only immanent but also transcendent. “Life reveals 
itself as a constant becoming and an inexhaustible, multi-faceted self-development that proceeds 
from the inside as opposed to the rigidity and opaqueness of lifeless bodies” (Eboh, 2011, p. 204). 
For this reason, it is said that “All living things tend to follow an inherent logic of self-
consistency, and they manifest a sense of awareness in the ability to withdraw from stimuli that 
have deleterious effects on them ….” (Eboh, 2011, p. 205). But among other living organisms, 
human beings find it easy to adjust and this makes the human life dynamic. In its dynamic nature, 
human life looks forward to a higher level of existence called transcendental life. Life is 
transcendental because it goes beyond what the sense can experience to a more spiritual reality. 
This is what Eboh explained thus:

Life, in any organism, is unique and irreplaceable. It is one, and the 
organism either has or does not have it. Being an individual whole, 
therefore, life is, logically speaking, a singular universal…. In 
addition, it is also a universal by virtue of the fact that it is a 
metaphysical entity that remains constant throughout a series of 
changes or changing relations (2011, p. 203).

From this above cited quotation, death becomes one of those series of changes or changing 
relations that forms part of life. What Eboh means is that life, both at the immanent and 
transcendent phases form one reality. She explains this further while explaining the African 
holistic concept of life. According to her, “African world-view is imbued with the awareness of 
the cyclic nature of life and with the synergistic rapport between the kingdoms”. (Eboh, 2011, p. 
207).. For Africans, Eboh explains; “Life is a creative power that has been coursing through the 
universe from time immemorial.” (2011, p. 207). Therefore, for Africans, life is a cycle and 
manifests cyclically. This means that for Eboh and for Africans, life does not end in death and in 
fact, life does not end at all. As such, “African world-view categorizes humans into the living-
living, and the living-dead (ancestors).” (Eboh, 2011, p. 208). The use of the paradox “living-
dead” summarizes African notion of death. Speaking about death, Eboh maintains that “Rather it 
is a kind of bridge that links the world of the living-living with that of the living-dead (2011, p. 
208). She adds “it is noteworthy that under this bridge life continually flows uninterrupted. 
Necromancy and the doctrine of the immortality of the soul stem from here.” (Eboh, 2011, p. 
208). African concept of life, is therefore, in agreement with Tibetan's concept of the “Sutratma” 
which holds that life;

Is the direct stream of life, unbroken and immutable, which can be 
regarded symbolically as a direct stream of living energy flowing 
from the centre to the periphery, and from the source to the outer 
expression or the phenomenal appearance. It is the life. It produces 
the individual process and the evolutionary unfoldment of all 
forms ….. it is one and indivisible. It conveys the energy of life and 
finds anchor in the centre of the human heart and at some central 
focal point in all forms of divine expression. Naught is and naught 
remains but life (Eboh, 2011 209-210).

The realization that life is one, has driven various forms of evolution but unfortunately, evolution 
cannot go beyond the level of life on earth. Life proceeds from that central source and enlivens 
every living organism. Beyond human evolution lies life at the spiritual level. 

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DEATH AND THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL; EBOH'S CONCEPTION

Beyond discussing life as both immanent and transcendent, Eboh discusses the place of death in 
life and the immortality of the soul. Eboh's philosophy of the immortality of a person ensues from 
the possession of the soul. It is the soul that survives death and decay. The soul is the form and the 
body is the matter. The matter would die, decay and pass away. But the form persists. Eboh saw 
the immortality of the soul as fundamental to Gabriel Marcel's advocacy for fidelity to the dead. 
Eboh says; “for him, the dead die twice, first their natural death and second when they are 
forgotten by the living.” (2011, p. 225). For this reason, praying for the dead and wishing them 
well becomes important, to avoid the second death that evolves from forgetfulness. On the reason 
for the belief in the immortality of the soul, Eboh says; 

People ask: “What makes us absolutely sure that there is 
immortality” We believe in the immortality of the soul for many 
reasons, but perhaps the most convincing one in scientific age 
should be this scientific proof. The principle of persistence or 
conservation has it that nothing in the universe is ever lost, just as 
some spiritualists hold that nothing really dies. Whatever is, both 
was and shall be. (2011, p. 225).

Eboh's point therefore, is that, if nothing is really lost and nothing really dies, the human beings 
when they leave this physical world should therefore remain somewhere. The theory of 
conservation accepts that changes may occur or take place in a particular form of energy, but it 
still insists that the energy persist either in the old form or in the new form. For conservatists, the 
sum of energy in this world remains. This follows that even the energy of life still persists even if 
death occurs. It could persist in the old form but since death ends the old form, it therefore persists 
in the new form; that is life beyond physics. Eboh agrees thus with the science of conservation: 
“What science has discovered about the conservation of energy is only the physical equivalent of 
what religion has discovered about the immortality of the soul.” (2011, p. 226). Besides, the soul 
as an animating principle cannot die, since it is the basic source of animating life. Life therefore 
persists in the soul after death.  

AFRICAN STORIES ON METAPHYSICAL DUALISM

Eboh has several African tales that buttress her position on human dualism, but this discussion 
shall pick just two to show the versatility of Eboh's approach to this discourse.

A Discourse of the Philosophy of “The Mysterious Leaf” in Eboh's Metaphysics

The philosophy of “The Mysterious Leaf” is one of those ideas that Eboh raised from existing 
traditional short stories called “fables”. It speculated around “…a man who climbed trees very 
fast and with so much agility that people said he had the dexterity of the monkey in tree climbing.” 
92015, p. 27). “…his name was Eburuche” (Eboh, 2015, p. 28). On one occasion, Eburuche has 
an encounter that confirms that realities transcend what the eyes see physically. It is a social 
position that “from above, climbers observe many untoward things that people do below”. (Eboh, 
2015, p. 28). An Igbo dictum has it that “Diochi anaghi ekwucha ihe ohuru n'elu nkwu – A palm 
wine tapper does not say everything he sees from on top of the palm tree.” (Eboh, 2015, p. 28). 

Eboh narrates that “in ancient times most of the thieves caught harvesting other people's crops 
and stealing other people's livestock were mostly caught by tree climbers” (2015, p. 28). This 
showcases the vantage position one enjoys if enabled to tower above the normal level of ordinary 
existence. From such a vantage position, one is said to have a lot of experiences that buttress 
metaphysical dualism. It was an experience of that nature, according to Eboh that showed the 
relationship between earthly existence and spiritual existence. 

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One evening, as he was on top of a tree, Eburuche saw a person 
trudging towards an unusually tall palm tree. Such very tall palm 
trees are termed Nkwu agboro. He was not a familiar person. He 
stopped and stooped down by the foot of the palm tree. Eburuche 
remained motionless in order to observe what the fellow was up to. 
The stranger plucked particular leaves crushed them by rubbing 
them in between his palms in an anticlockwise direction. Then he 
squeezed the liquid into his eyes like drops and vanished instantly. 
(Eboh, 2015, p. 28). 

From this, one sees two levels of existence, facilitated by the manipulation of natural leaves. A 
philosopher has a lot of questions to ask about this. Is it the leaves that caused the vanishing of the 
stranger or the way it was squeezed? Is it a combination of both the leaves and the squeezing? 
Does the place where this occurred have any influence in the vanishing? However, the main thrust 
in this case is the fact that a person could exist both in the human form and can also vanish into a 
spirit. Eburuche was dazed by such experience. He wondered if it was a ghost or human, still 
pointing to different levels of existence and decided to explore his curiosity. He had to quickly 
come down after doing all sorts of things to be sure of what he experienced was real. On coming 
down, “he looked at the extraordinary leaves and did the same thing, which the fellow did and he 
began to see both men and the spirits of the dead whom he knew while they were alive.” (Eboh, 
2015, p. 28). So, it means that the leaves did not have the same effect on Eburuche as it did to the 
stranger. They rather opened Eburuche's 'inner' eyes and aided him to see things beyond what the 
physical eyes can see. Some of these leaves and their functions are best known to strong 
herbalists, diviners or soothsayers. The leaf used by the spirit is said to possess the capacity to turn 
spirits into humans for transactions and also to turn back into spirits. But its effect on Eburuche 
was the breaking down of the barrier preventing the normal human eyes to see realities beyond the 
physical realm. It must be stated that the existence of realities does not depend on human 
knowledge to be real. That will be tantamount to the erroneous teaching of the sophists that man is 
the measure of all things. A lot of realities transcend our sensible experiences. As an effect of the 
leaf, when Eburuche attends funerals, he saw both those living here on earth and those who had 
died. The act of seeing realities beyond the physical realm is described as a use of the third eye. 
Eburuche was said to be using his third eye which is not always common. The use of the third eye 
is more common among traditional medicine men and women.

However, the take-in of this work is to establish in this fable, the ideology of metaphysical 
dualism. Eburuche's experience remains original to him, irrespective of how it is doubted. For 
him to see realities beyond the physical realm, they need to exist first. Eboh herself says that “The 
folktale poses the issue of death, immortality of the soul and the nature of death.” (Eboh, 2015, p. 
30). She therefore sees death as a passage to immortality and bridge into the other world. 
According to her, “the experience of the tree climber depicts a dual world of the living-living and 
of the living-dead (Eboh, 2015, pp. 30-31).

She believes that the rites of passage where the living bid farewell to the dead and dead receive the 
living when they die posits dual worlds. She concludes that “it means there is life after death, and 
the two modalities of living are a continuum.” (Eboh, 2015, p. 31). This means that there is cross-
link between the metaphysical world and the physical world. So, the practice of necromancy by 
Africans is built on the philosophy of metaphysical dualism. 

The Idea of the Eagle's Roving Ghost Postulation in Eboh's Metaphysics

Another instance where Eboh exposes her philosophy of metaphysical dualism is in the tale of the 
Eagle's Roving Ghost. In her book A Tapestry of Folklores, Insights & Proverbs, Eboh narrated 

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the experience of the Nzu-visiting-visa offered to a visitor in the land of Iduu n'oba, to grant them 
free and unmolested passage through the land.  Nzu is the Igbo name for white chalk and was used 
to guarantee the goodwill of the people towards the visiting stranger. This was against the 
suspicion that was surrounding visitors who were strangers in the land. This practice was not only 
a mere social practice without metaphysical correspondence. “Similarly, people depended on the 
goodwill and collaboration of their communities to obtain their visas of welcome to the world of 
the ancestors.” (Eboh, 2013, p. 1). The people expressed such goodwill by organizing befitting 
funerals for the beloved dead persons, to aid their smooth passage in the spiritual world, and later 
reincarnation and return to this world. Eboh states that “Funeral obsequies served as rites of 
passage through mystical checkpoints.” (2013, p. 1). It is believed that befitting funerals accorded 
to the dead aided their reception into the company of the ancestors. Eboh, states that “…a person 
not accorded a befitting burial faced entry denial into the company of venerable ancestors.” 
(2013, p. 1). For this reason, you hear people who say that dead elders who did not have the benefit 
of benefitting funerals keep requesting for it from their family members. The reason for this 
request is to aid the dead rest in peace. The seriousness of this belief was so important that people 
who lacked loved ones made arrangements for them to be accorded befitting burials.

            Consequently, even childless widows diligently made provision 
for their burial by rearing domestic animals so that at their demise 
the community would find animals needed to perform the 
customary rites because nobody trapped in the no-man's-land 
between the land of the living and the community of venerable 
ancestors would enjoy eternal bliss. (Eboh, 2013, p.1).

From the foregoing, it is understood that beyond this physical life, there is another life that 
demands some efforts from us, in order to attain it. It is that other life that warrants all the efforts to 
give the dead a befitting burial. The philosophy of a good funeral is therefore built around the 
belief in the existence of another world beyond this physical world.

A tale is narrated of a King who died in a war with the animals in the latter's kingdom. And due to 
the form of death, he died (at war front with the animals), his body could not be recovered. The 
loss of his body deprived him of the befitting state burial that is due for him as a noble King. Thus, 
the Igbo proverb “Ọnwụ ama eze; Ọnwụ ama egbu-Death knows no king; Death knows not how to 
kill” (Eboh, 2013, p. 5) remains valid. Otherwise, the death of such a great figure attracted even 
the elements of nature such as the heavens that wept as rainfall, the gale that swayed the trees and 
buzzed the whole day to the point of deroofing houses, the cyclone that caused whirls of dust to 
swirl and dance to the point of billowing people's dresses and blowing gusty and dusty wind to 
mourn the departure of the King, the sun that refused to shine and the moon that did not eat its 
supper, the comets and meteor showers that appeared in the night sky, all marking the exit of the 
One Great Hero (Eboh, 2013, p. 5), suggest the greatness of the diseased whose corpse 
unfortunately could not be recovered. Indeed, death has no regard for wealth, fame and position. 
Otherwise, being royal and majestic, the King deserved a better form of death. It is obvious that 
“…the manner His Royal Majesty died in no way befitted his status.” (Eboh, 2013, p. 6). An Igbo 
adage has it that “Etie dike na' ala, anụ ụzụ ya-knock down a valiant and tremendous tumult is 
heard.” (Eboh, 2013, p. 6). This time around the story was different. The corpse of the King could 
not even be retrieved and the interment of His Royal Highness did not attract the pomp and 
pageantry, fame and publicity due him as the prominent and eminent personality that he was. This 
was an obstacle in the passage of the King into the ancestral world. Eboh puts it thus: “As a result, 
the late King could neither rest in peace nor join his ancestors. Like ụsụ kwụ n'ᴉga-the Bat that is 
neither bird nor land animal, the spirit of the late king was in limbo.” (2013, p. 6). Such a state 
lives no good taste on any tongue. The King was dead but not resting. “His spirit was earthbound 

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and so his ghost roamed round the kingdom and appeared to his subjects one by one so that 
nobody would say that it was a hallucination.” (Eboh, 2013, p. 6). Here, we not only see a dualism 
of the physical and spiritual world, but we also see a clear postulation of the existence of the soul 
and a sharp distinction between the soul and the spirit. The spirit is the animating power of 
consciousness whereas the soul is a pure spirit-being. The puzzling question of mind-body 
dualism now sets in. If we acknowledge the existence of the soul, how then does it interact with 
the body? René Descartes unsatisfactorily says the meeting point of the soul and the body is the 
pineal gland. When asked, is the pineal gland matter or spirit? If matter, how does it interact with 
the soul being a spirit? If spirit, how does it interact with the body? Eboh did not answer this 
question but went ahead to say that the subjects of the late king saw the soul of the late king with 
their own eyes and heard him with their ears.The people labored to find a possible solution to aid 
the soul of the King to rest in peace. The people could not abandon the soul of the king to keep 
roaming restlessly. A mock burial could not be celebrated to rest him because an Igbo adage says 
“Ugo chara acha anaghi echu echu-Mature eagle remains immaculate white, never dirty.”

CONCLUSION

Metaphysical dualism in Eboh's philosophy is different from metaphysical dualism in Western 
philosophy. Eboh approached metaphysical dualism from an African perspective of being, with a 
special interest in the human person. She has an expansive literature on the subject of both the 
ontological and cosmological dimensions of metaphysical dualism. She discussed metaphysical 
dualism both from the angle of being and the universe.  She concluded that the human person is 
composed of the body and spirit. The body covers all aspects of the human being that are visible to 
the physical eyes; the head, the neck, the trunk, the hands, the legs and so on.  On the other hand, 
the human person is also a spirit.  In the spiritual realm, the human person cannot be seen with the 
physical mortal eyes.  The spirit of the human person is composed of what we describe as spirit 
and soul.  Also, the research discovered that most African communities do not have a clear 
distinction between spirit and soul.  The research study came out with the discovery that the 
concept of the soul is newly introduced in African cosmology.  Hence, one can easily deny such 
African traditions as believing in both spirit and soul.  However, this study discovered that 
Africans believe in the soul which is also a spirit. As such, the modern-day African believes that 
the human person is a composite of body, soul and spirit. Whereas his body dies and decays at 
death, the soul and spirit persist in life after death. Instead, they believe that they return to the 
world beyond, from where it reincarnate into new bodies.  As such, life is recycled through 
reincarnations and people are encouraged to live well, living virtuously to enjoy eternity and 
perpetuity in the best possible form. But if the person is bad; especially if he indulges in stealing 
and murder and other dishonorable involvements, it is believed that except atonements are made, 
such soul is bound to roam in pains and unfulfillment.  Good living therefore becomes necessary 
for peace after death. Although, the philosophy of reincarnation lacks a lot to the critical mind, it 
however, supports the notion of life both on earth and beyond. The study, therefore, notices some 
interesting issues in African metaphysics and recommends that more attention should be given to 
it, to bring out the best from it. Eboh sets a pace that we should, therefore, follow to achieve great 
heights in African studies.

76

                                            Aquino Journal of Philosophy, Vol 4 Issue 3, December 2024.
ISSN: 2786-9792



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Rev. Fr. John Justice Nwankwo          Metaphysical Dualism In Eboh: A Philosophical Exposé

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