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A PHILOSOPHICAL ANALYSIS   
OF DEATH IN ESAN CULTURE 

 
 

 
 

Abstract 
This study is a metaphysical inquiry into the phenomenon of 

death in Esan culture. It begins by expositing the Esan 

understanding of death and how it constitutes mystery. It 

argues that in Esan, the question of ‘the why of death’just 

like ‘the why of life’ and ‘the why of birth’, philosophically 

speaking, does not admit any satisfactorily answer. 

Thereafter, the study discussed the Esanconception of the 

causes of death. It examined the epistemological and logical 

status of some of these causal beliefs among the Esan people 

and with reference to some other cultures. It argues that 

although some claims to afterlife seem rational and 

convincing; any claim to knowledge of absolute certainty of 

the hereafter is epistemologically suspicious since there is 

no valid epistemic intersection of this world and the assumed 

world after. Although the Esan do not conceive any 

contradiction in their beliefs in afterlife and reincarnation, 

but logically speaking, such belief suffers logical infelicity 

since it defies the logical laws of thought. However, the study 

also argues that just like any affirmation, any denial of 

certain knowledge of afterlife experience conversely rests on 

logical fallacy of ‘argumentum ad ignorantiam’. It 

concludes that death and the belief in life after death have 

practical moral implications on the living. In the course of 

inquiry, the engagement attempts simultaneously, an 



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excursion into comparative discourse with some other 

cultures. 

 

Keywords: Esan, Phenomenon of death, Mystery, Causes of death, 

Afterlife, Philosophical implications. 

 

Introduction 

This study is about death, its causes and philosophical implications 

in Esan culture. Esan isone of the three major ethnic groups in Edo 

state Nigeria. The word ‘Esan’refers to the person, the people, the 

culture, the land and the geography of Esan. Fundamentally, the 

concept of death is a metaphysical phenomenon among the people 

of Esan. It is an event which must occur in one’s life without waiver. 

It is also a game which does not admit any replay. The people of 

Esan, like humans beings in other cultures, have the insatiable 

instinct of survival. This is why they are perplexed with the mystery 

and inevitability of death and its final precedence over material 

existence. They asked questions about birth, life and death. The 

Esan answers to the “why of death”, just like the answers to “the 

why of birth” and “the why of life” do not yield any holistic 

ontological satisfaction; attempted answers are maximally quizzed 

in fables. The answers, just like the questions themselves open 

Pandora’s Box. Despite these seeming irresolvable puzzles, it is 

philosophically wise and potent to attempt some intellectual muscle 

flexing, though not to completely eliminate the bizarre, but at least, 

to serve as palliative to the inquiring minds with unquenchable thirst 

for knowledge about these issues at hand. To do this, thestudy 

attempts a discussion of the Esan’s attitude toward death and the 

dead, and their understanding of the causes of death. The people’s 

beliefs about death and its causes are subjected to epistemological 

and logical scrutiny; and despite the limitations, these beliefs 

influence their moral practice and disposition to both the living and 

the dead in their daily living. The study adopts expository method 

as well as the methods of conceptual and critical analyses. We shall 

begin this analysis with the attempt to understanding the notion of 

death in Esan. 

 



A Philosophical Analysis of Death in Esan Culture     |      159 
 

 
 

Understanding the Concept of Death in Esan Culture 

Death as a phenomenon is an irreversible cessation of life. In Esan, 

it “is regarded as a transition from one state of existence to another.  

It is the last of the rites of passage that a person has to go through 

on earth (others being birth, puberty, marriage)”.1 Deaths are 

believed to be caused. This causality is a constitutive part of Esan 

ontology. Even for empirical misfortunes, the Esan, just like many 

other African cultures would believe that they are caused by some 

agents for some purpose(s). And just like some other cultures too, 

the Esan people believe that at any stage an individual dies, it is 

caused for a purpose. This is why death is not only conceived as bad. 

It also suggests that one ought not to die. Ironically, the Esan people 

like people in some other cultures also believe that death is 

inevitable. Death is an unavoidable experience which awaits 

everyone. It is therefore onerous for everyone to live a good life here 

and await the next. Although it is an unavoidable phenomenon, the 

peoples’ belief and attitudes towards death epitomizes their 

willingness to continue life ad infinitum. This desirability reflects 

the belief that life is good despite its challenges and death is 

bad.Segun Gbadegesin2 argues that in some African societies, using 

the Yoruba as instance, there is no desireto perpetuate all lives ad 

infinitum. 

Partly because of the conception that life is good, the Esan 

people mourn for the dead grievously and strenuously too. 

Mourning the dead is not premissed on the cessation or forfeiture of 

benefits derived from the deceased for this would be egoistic, but on 

feelings. The Esan empathize the dead. His or her absence in the 

scheme of things, the vacuum which his or her demise created, his 

uniqueness and irreplaceability make his or her death deeply felt.  

Although death is inevitable, people fear death and weep for 

the dead because of human frailty, fear of the unknown and the 

agony sometimes exhibited by the dying, and so on. When people 

see other people die in agony and groaning, they fear the pain of 

death since it also awaits them. When it comes, no excuse, no 

appeal, no sympathy is necessary. Despite all the beliefs which they 



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have about death and the hereafter, epistemologically speaking, no 

one really knows exactly what lies beyond the physical universe. 

Indeed, philosophically speaking, for the people, death is a mystery.  

Why death? This is a question that deserves answers in the course 

of this study. 

 

Death as Mystery   

The Esan question of the “why of death” cannot be satisfactorily 

answered. Attempted answers are maximally quizzed in fables. 

Where they are existential, they cannot satisfy any ontological 

yearning. The attempt to satisfy this yearning requires answers to 

the why of birth and the why of life? These, like the first question are 

also bereft of any satisfactory answer outside religious terrain. It 

may, therefore, be the case that any attempt to unravel the mysteries 

of birth, life and death are futile and absurd. Or it may be that human 

finitude about knowledge and wisdom is incapacitated in unraveling 

these meanings or answers to these ‘why’ questions.  

 The wise and the foolish, rich and poor, king and slave, good 

and evil have death as a common fate awaiting them.   

 The Boethius question, in his The Consolation of 

Philosophy3,regarding why good people suffer and why evil men 

flourish, is pre-eminent in Esan belief pertaining death. The wise, 

the good, the strong, the productive may die young while the foolish, 

evil, weak and counterproductive may die old. This is also a 

mystery. This mystery is couched in Esan dictum as: Omon non men 

bhuunuiseeman. This literarily translates into ‘a sweet soup is never 

sufficient for pounded yam’.What this means is that‘what is 

beneficial does not last’. The question again is why death? What 

causes death?  

 

Causes of Death In Esan Culture 

The analyses of the ontological sources of death constitute the focal 

point of this session. In the African traditional understanding and 

explanation of the causes of death,even when death results from 

natural causes, such causes are believed to have ontological 

underpinnings; hence, they are always ascribed with ontological 

connotation. On this view, such death occurrences are always 



A Philosophical Analysis of Death in Esan Culture     |      161 
 

 
 

attributed to some non-natural causes. This is because, among 

theEsan people, the belief that there is nothing without a cause has 

a firm root. No smoke without fire. For example, there are some 

physical or accidental sources of death such as death resulting from 

accidental gun discharges, collapsing toilets, felling from palm trees 

or other trees, and so on. Deaths arising from such occurrences are 

ascribed with some ontological interpretations. It is only such 

explanations that remain meaningful and satisfactory among the 

people. Even when death results from fighting or death by deliberate 

shooting, it is believed that the killer’s sense of reason was distorted 

or marred to commit such crime, or that his victim was already killed 

but was only tele-guided for perfection in physical manifestation in 

the hands of the supposed killer. This is why the Esan would either 

say: eba lulu non – ‘it is what has been done’, or oiyiaboabo – ‘it is 

not ordinary’. This is partly why people abhorred and eschewed 

physical fight to avoid a person already killed having his 

predicament fulfilled in their hands. But when this happens, the Esan 

would say oikayukhe, which means ‘he was dead already’.  

Ontologically, deaths arise from different sources, which 

among others, include both malevolent and benevolent agents and 

beings such as: 

 

Witches and Wizards: Witchcraft or wizardry is a concrete 

phenomenon in Esan cosmology; it is a constitutive part of her 

discursive universe. Witches and wizards are believed to operate 

mysteriously at night in coven where they convene, make decision 

and perfect their plans, and the consequences of which manifest in 

concrete reality. They are also believed to cause some deaths in Esan 

through the use of evil magic. They prey on human beings for meal 

or kill them to thwart their foreseen outstanding andexemplary 

destiny, or as a revenge or punishment to their relatives, or on 

account of the victim due to malice. The belief in witchcraft and 

their evil machinations is not limited to Esan people; it is a pervasive 

belief in Africa and beyond. While writing about Africa, Orubu 

submits that:  



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[i]t is believed that witches and wizards can 

“contribute” fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters to 

the coven feasts as demanded. It has been suggested 

(or rather, speculated – mine) that for coven 

members to get promoted in the hierarchy, they must, 

as a rule “contribute” a soul for the witch 

festival….Thus, when a person dies, no matter how 

old he may be, it is believed that a witch or wizard is 

responsible4 

 

Diabolic Persons: The existence ofdiabolicpersons seems to be a 

characteristic phenomenon of almost all existing community in 

Esan. They are usually very few in numbers, and found among the 

male folks mainly. In most cases,they are wretched but dreaded 

member in the community. The source of their power remains a 

mystery. Diabolic persons can mysteriously cause death of both 

innocent people and those whom they believe trespass their 

boundary. They may also be hired by those who do not have the 

power to do so, for the same purpose. They are malevolent like 

witches and wizards. Apart from causing death, witches and 

wizards, and diabolic persons can inflict pains and injuries on their 

victims and swap or downturn their destinies. While some of these 

effects can be counteracted, some cannot. They attack their victims 

with magic, juju and through manipulation of nature. Like the Esan, 

the Yoruba and Ibibio peoples of Nigeria, among others, believe that 

magic powers can be used to harm an individual and also to cause 

his death. Magic manipulations are powerful and potent and are 

often used or procured by medicine men to achieve evil effects. 

“Magical preparations may be placed on the door steps of an 

intended victim. Similarly, such preparations may be sprayed on his 

or her garments to achieve the desired results”.5They may also be 

spread on the footpath of the intended victim or sprayed on air and 

specifically teleguided to him for intended purpose. According to 

Orubu, “[i]t is also believed that dogs, snakes, and rats may be sent 

to bite and to inflict death on a person. Even lightening may be sent 

to strike down an enemy”.6Other measures can be adopted. In any 



A Philosophical Analysis of Death in Esan Culture     |      163 
 

 
 

case, some rituals are performed so that the deceased can avenge his 

death.  

 

Evil Consequences: Death may also occur as a result of the evil 

deed(s) of the individual, to restore the disharmony which his sinful 

act(s) distorts in the ontological balance in the community or 

elsewhere. Such sinful acts include adultery, incest, murder, 

contempt of deities and some other acts that are considered 

sacrilegious and desecrating in the community. In this case, the Esan 

people would say ebo lulu gbo ole, or ole tobolegbeegbole which 

means, ‘it is what he did that killed him’ or ‘he killed himself’. Death 

may also occur as a result of ontological evil of relatives particularly 

of parents and of the entire community. 

 

Deities: Deities are also believed to be responsible for some deaths. 

Similar to the point just analysed, the death of an individual may 

result from the vengeance of deities due to either the wrongdoings 

of the individual, his family or his community. When such death 

does not result on account of the sin of the individual, an 

appeasement is made to the deities for forgiveness to prevent other 

occurrences. Even when it results on the account of the deceased, 

appeasement can still be made to waive off the consequences for 

him in the hereafter and to insure other member of the family or 

community, as the case may be, from committing such crime. The 

duty of the deities is multi-directional. It is not only to enforce 

vengeance; they also protect. Just like in most African communities, 

the deities are believed: 
 

to protect all the people in the locality. It also takes 

vengeance on evil doers for offences and crimes 

committed in secret. People may swear by the deity. 

In fact, individuals may be tried before the deities for 

various offences. It may thus be invoked to find out 

the guilty party. It is believed that the local deities do 

their work by causing the death of offenders7 

 



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Such deities in Esan, among the litany of others include idigun, 

ukhuekhie, omonruare, obiemenandedion. When offence is detected 

before death, appeasements are made; and when accepted the deity 

concerned may relent in anger and abort vengeance. Whether in 

Esan or elsewhere, some deities are believed to be more lenient or 

more temperamental than others.   

The justices of deities can sometimes be perverted to reflect 

public expectation. This is very common with extra ordinary means 

of arbitration and vindication, where ordinary human knowledge is 

defective, such as in the indictment of witchcraft or wizardry, 

diabolism, blatant denial in the ordinary judicial system, and so on. 

Such cases are referred to, and tried by priests of sasswood, osunene, 

alamonka, itan, shrines, as well as native doctors and so on. These 

supernatural judicial means can be manipulated and when not 

manipulated has no guarantee for true justice. So while the guilty 

can sometimes be acquitted, the innocent can be penalized with 

capital or near capital punishment.8 However these practices are not 

very common in Esan. 

The justices of deities can also be manipulated sometimes by 

malicious priests for pecuniary gains. Though, not in Esanland, the 

attainables in the shrine of the Arochukwuoracle in Iboland 

popularly named the long juju by the British (because it pointed 

vertically to heaven) are typical examples of perversion of justice by 

human beings in the name of deities.9 Here, it was dispensation, not 

of justice, but of injustice. When cases are brought before this 

shrine, the priests do accept bribe from the offenders to distort 

justice. After accepting bribe from the guilty person, the innocent 

person is led through an underground tunnel from the shrine to the 

coast to be sold as slave. Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson 

explain how the Arochukwu oracle as a religious institution became 

perverted by the desire to capture and sell slaves. They write that: 
 

[t]he oracle was widely believed to speak for a 

prominent deity in the region respected by the major 

local ethnic groups, the Ijaw, the Ibibio, and the Igbo. 

The oracle was approached to settle disputes and 

adjudicate on disagreements. Plaintiffs who traveled 

to Arochukwu to face the oracle had to descend from 



A Philosophical Analysis of Death in Esan Culture     |      165 
 

 
 

the town into a gorge of the Cross River, where the 

oracle was housed in a tall cave, the front of which 

was lined with human skulls. The priests of the 

oracle, in league with the Aro slavers and merchants, 

would dispense the decision of the oracle. Often this 

involved people being “swallowed” by the oracle, 

which actually meant that once they had passed 

through the cave, they were lead away down the 

Cross River and to the waiting ships of the 

Europeans.10 

 

This knowledge was not in public space. Then the priests slaughter 

a cock and sprinkle the blood on a white cloth to show the relatives 

of the actual innocent person that he or she was the offender and for 

that reason the gods has taken his or her blood, that is, has killed him 

or her. This nefarious activity was discovered when slave trade was 

abolished. Those who were purportedly claimed to be killed by the 

gods returned home to tell their experiences. It is not impossible that 

these priests have been killing innocent persons in the pretext of 

dispensation of justice by the gods before they devised the above 

described mean as an additional source of lucrative business in the 

shrine.   

The Arochukwu oracle was no doubt the most powerful 

oracular cult and the most dreadful institution in Iboland and its 

environs. It is believed to have the ability to identify wizards, 

witches and poisoners, among other powers.11 The people of Aro 

who were deeply feared because of the oracle manipulated the 

scenario to enhance their economic powers. According to Ossai and 

Odunsi, they:  
 

lured and sold into slavery unwary persons who came 

to consult the oracle. More often than not the 

Aropeople create situations which necessitated 

consultation of the oracle. Suspects who were 

hurried to the oracle to have their innocence or guilt 

established would mysteriously disappear. The Aro 



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also used the oracle as a means of blackmailing 

wealthy persons and dispossessing them of their 

wealth.12 

 

It is for the gruesome elements contain in the cult that the 

government suppressed it. In fact, a British expedition was 

eventually launched to attack the shrine in 1902. The preceding 

depicts that the supposed justices of the gods may sometimes be the 

reflections of the whims and caprices of the priests of such gods, just 

as the acclaimed supposed temperaments of the gods are sometimes 

the reflections of the actual temperaments of the priests of such 

gods. 

 

Spirits: Spirits of the dead are also believed to cause some deaths. 

Their influence is mostly limited to the family they departed from. 

However their influence may extend beyond their family to 

wherever the cause of their death is. Maximally, such influences are 

predicated on vengeance. They may have felt offended or unjustly 

treated or killed by person(s) while they were alive. They may also 

feel offended fornot being properly buried when they died,not 

accorded befitting burial, or for delay in second burial. They may 

also be aggrieved when sacrifices are not made to establish or 

maintain ontological relationship to exact their relevance. Ancestors 

may also cause death; but their actions are not malevolent. Such 

actions are attemptsto forestall impending calamities to befall a 

people as a result of omission or misdeed which can generate 

ontological disharmony with the ancestors and the totality of reality.  

 

God: God is believed to cause some deaths particularly of those who 

are old. When an old person dies, the Esan people often say God has 

called him or her. In their language, they would say edolegbale. This 

means ‘his days are completed’. They say he has gone home to rest. 

This may suggests that this world is not a permanent home or that it 

is a place of toil and turmoil. Although there is terrific fear of death, 

there seems to be an exemption of those who are very old, and who 

probably have children that are also growing old. They would wish 

to die before their children begin to die of old age in their own 



A Philosophical Analysis of Death in Esan Culture     |      167 
 

 
 

eyes.The prayer of every Esan person is that his or her children 

should not die before them. They would also want to join the 

ancestors. Another probable reason is that if their children continue 

to die one after the other before them, not only that they will feel so 

bad about it, they will have no child(ren) to accord them befitting 

burial; and that would diminish their relevance in the ancestral 

realm. In addition, they may die a bad death.Very importantly, they 

may be indicted of killing their children or using them to elongate 

their life span. In this case, the Esan will say o roomon du uhonmon, 

which mean, “he has used his child to buy or replace his head”, that 

is, to elongate his life span.     

This is why when such old people die it is often believed that 

their death is natural. Natural death is the only death caused and 

ordained by God; and it is the death of the aged. Such deaths are 

least grieved and well celebrated. Since they are natural, most 

cultures call it good death. Although they are believed to be natural 

in Esan, but in the deeper yearnings of the people, it is caused by 

some agent(s) for a purpose; and the principal purpose is to prevent 

him or her from eating the fruits of his or herlabour, that is, from 

enjoying being taken care of  by his or her children. Such opposing 

beliefs invalidate the idea of a good death.  

From the foregoing, it is evident that these beliefs 

concerning the causes of death are not limited to Esan people; they 

are predominant in most other African cultures. The causes of 

death13 among the Igede people of Benue state in Nigeria do not 

have significant difference from the Esan account. In fact, it is 

significant replication of it. The replica in belief in most African 

cultures does not pertain only to causes of death but also to other 

beliefs about death and some other African spheres of life. However, 

the contemporary norm has diverged significantly from the 

traditional norm about some of these beliefs. 

 

Epistemological Concerns 

The belief in immortality or at least in life of some kind hereafter 

seems to be ingrained in human consciousness.14Literally, 



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immortality means freedom from death.15 What this belief means is 

that death is not the end of human being. It wouldseem difficult to 

find any human culture or race, even among the most primitive that 

is without some ideas of an afterlife, which is taken for granted and 

as certain. For example, the Esan and many other societies believe 

concretely either in reincarnation or in the ancestral world or both. 

There is the strong cosmological belief among the Esan 

people that after death, the deceased transit into another life. There 

is also the cosmological belief in reincarnation. The contemporary 

mind that is critical will conceive this as contradiction. But for the 

traditional mind there is no contradiction at all, since contradiction 

only exists where people do not understand the connection between 

concepts or phenomena. Although we shall not go into unending 

epistemological quizzing here, however, it suffices to ask and 

answer in a fair detail the questions: How do we know about afterlife 

and reincarnation? Can both beliefs constitute knowledge? Can 

there be any epistemic validity for any or both. Since the dead cannot 

come back after a time to tell their experiences or the attainable in 

the world beyond the present, then what is the source of our 

knowledge claim about death experience, the dead and afterlife?  

Orubu’s work16 gave some instances that may tend to sustain 

afterlife experiences. He writes about some recent scientific 

research findings which support the existence of life after death. 

Medical and psychological research findings indicate that there is 

something in human being which survives physical death. The 

investigation by Moody17 concerns those who have experienced the 

first stage of death and thereafter come back to life. This is near 

death experience. The reports of the experiences by Moody’s 

respondents were very lucid. They knew all the events which 

surrounded them, including the attempts to revive them, extra-

terrestrial experiences and when they came back into their bodies.  

Theodore Schick and Lewis Vaughn write that near death 

experience is one of the many “extraordinary things that thousands 

of people experience, believe in, and change their lives because 

of”.18 According to them, hundreds of people who were near death 

have told of blissful experiences in the beyond. Although their 

reports vary, certain details keep recurring. In each case, their 



A Philosophical Analysis of Death in Esan Culture     |      169 
 

 
 

experiences do not seem like dream or fantasy; it seems vividly real. 

Many who have had such experiences hold that such experiences are 

undeniable proof of life after death. Sometimes, some face the 

difficulty of finding human words adequate enough to describe their 

experiences of unearthly episodes. Nevertheless the experiences 

affect their lives profoundly, especially their views about death and 

its relationship to life.19 Moody argues that since there was so great 

similarity in their reports, these reports must reflect reality.20  Near 

death experience seems to be the most impressive evidence that we 

can survive the death of our physical bodies. Although our physical 

body will certainly die,21but this does not mean we cannot survive 

death. The fact that the examinations of near death experiences in 

some parts of the world do not have essential differences from the 

reports in other parts, laid credence to the credibility of its claim of 

life after death.  

Similar experiences abound in Esan and other African 

societies. Those who were already dead, such as parents, 

grandparents, other relatives, deities and unknown but describable 

benefactors, prevent the dying from going beyond a point and they 

then return back to their physical bodies. In addition, mountains, 

rivers, ditches, and other obstacles are reported to have obstructed 

their way. There are claims of physical manifestations of the spirits 

of the dead to the living, especially to their relatives. They 

sometimes pass unknown information that conforms to reality upon 

investigation or confirmation. There are also claims of dead persons 

who left to where they are unknown to begin another physical life 

on earth. They may get married and have children. When 

peradventure they are seen and recognized by those who knew them 

before they died, they disappear and relocate to another place where 

they are unknown. Sometimestoo, upon persistence or pressure from 

spouse or children to visit their place of origin, they can lead them 

half way, but very close to enable them locate their home and then 

disengage. Maximally, it is believed that these are those whose 

actual time of death was not yet.  



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 Psychologists also found out that under hypnotic 

regressions, some individuals reported that they have lived before 

some year ago in distant places. They also tell their career. 

Investigations confirm such information. The investigation 

conducted by Wambach,22 using a wide range of subjects of over 

500, indicate that subjects have lived and died many years before 

coming to this present life.Michael Shallo23 argued that the human 

soul is not annihilated at death. He based his arguments on proof 

fromthe moral law, the sanctity and justice of God, man’s desire of 

perfect happiness, andthe universal judgement of mankind.Relying 

on these arguments Michael Shallo settles for the reality of another 

life.  

In addition to these, the fact that we dream when we are 

sleeping, and this dream state is another plane of existence, suggests 

that there could be another plane of existence at death (a long sleep), 

and that it is not annihilation that awaits the human being at death. 

Since, philosophically speaking, we do not fully comprehend all the 

circumstances of dream and dream state (a reality which we have 

personally and directly experienced during sleep), more so we 

cannot, at this stage, understand all the circumstances of afterlife 

experience which we have not yet experienced.  

Although some claims to afterlife seems rational and 

convincing, epistemologically speaking all sources of knowledge is 

suspect. Even the sources of knowledge that are most 

philosophically scrutinized, dependable, and reckoned with such as 

rationalism and empiricism are diametrically opposed on claims, 

beliefs and methods. If this is so, other sources of claims to 

knowledge such as intuition, revelation, introspection, authority, 

necromancy, clairvoyance and so on, will be fraught with more 

controversies and contradictions, and thus more suspects. The 

situation is worse when phenomena about which claims are made 

are not only beyond the physical, but are matters that are completely 

removed from terrestrial terrain, material existence and human 

experience such as the attainable in afterlife.   

This suggests that the supposed knowledge claims to 

afterlife and its experiences can be countered. Some of the evidence 

we have had are not death experiences but near death experiences.  



A Philosophical Analysis of Death in Esan Culture     |      171 
 

 
 

Some are stories about the manifestations of spirits of the 

dead, belief in reincarnation and hypnotic regression.24 No one had 

really died to return to tell the true nature of life there, if there is. 

There seems to be a chasm such that once oneis here, he cannot be 

there, and cannot know what lies after death. Conversely, once one 

is dead, he cannot come back to relate with the living, at least 

physically, about what exactly lies beyond the physical universe. 

This interactive limitation seems to be forever set between the living 

and the dead. This means that there is no valid epistemological 

intersection of the assumed two worlds. The preceding argument 

seemsreasonable because of the possibility of epistemic perversion. 

For example, regarding near death experiences, one can ask: if death 

actually occurs, will these experiences continue? How are we sure 

they are not mirages of death just like a mistaken pool of water that 

is not there when we get to the point?  

For instance, Theodore Schick and Lewis Vaughn25 hold 

that, although researchers generally agree that people do experience 

such things, but whether their experiences show that they literarily 

leave their bodies and enter another world is another question. 

Moody was convinced that near death experiencers do have a 

glimpse of the beyond, a brief passage into a whole other reality, but 

Schick’s and Vaughn’s concern is: whether such a belief is justified. 

They argued that “a claim is justified if it is beyond a reasonable 

doubt, and it is beyond a reasonable doubt if it provides the best 

explanation of something”.26Since the evidence from near death 

experiences does not provide the best explanation, it does not 

establish the belief in life after death beyond reasonable doubt. This 

mental wrangling by Schick and Vaughn may signify the danger of 

reducing reality to logic and epistemological justification. But 

speaking realistically, reality is beyond these. 

Part of the counterarguments for immortality is that some 

thought of the notion of disembodied existence as meaningless. 

According to Michael Scriven,27 the belief in personal immortality 

through the survival of a spirit or soul conceived as the essence of 

personality clearly serves important functions in the psychic 



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economy of many people. This makes death seem less frightful, 

morality more meaningful and life more significant. But speaking 

uneconomically very little can be said about the truth of this claim. 

If the belief in personal immortality is divorce from the belief in a 

divine man-centered creation and redemption, it becomes 

unintelligible. This belief can slope into the claim that all animals 

and even plants survive death. Speaking realistically, this is a 

fantasy, unsupportable claim and is contrary to evidence. Scriven 

submitted further that: 
 

[f]ascinating though the literature of survival 

research is, then, it does not provide us with anything 

more than a thorough education about the 

experimental investigation of allegedly supernatural 

phenomena. And there is no other source of evidence 

to support belief in our survival of bodily death. We 

die, and then we rot; and that is the only reward or 

retribution for our life as a whole that we shall ever 

receive. The meaning of man’s existence lies within 

his life and not beyond the grave.28 

 

But Helen Buss Mitchell tends to mediate this argument and 

suspends categorical judgement about it. According to her, 

“[c]ompelling as the account of life after death may be, we currently 

have no way of verifying their truth by means of controlled 

experiment”.29 She argues that near death experience accounts do 

not establish life after death empirically – that is, through the 

scientific method of objective data gathering and hypothesis testing.  

There is simply no evidence for it. Looking at it from the other 

perspective, by listening to accounts of near death experiences, it is 

also clear that these people feel that they know what they 

experienced. “Children make particularly compelling witnesses 

because they tell of their experiences so matter-of-factly”.30 

To argue against immortality or life after death because it 

has not been proven to be true is to lean on fallacy of argument from 

ignorance, since it has not been proven to be false either. To reduce 

its authenticity to empirical verification is like saying that the 

debates over the truth or falsity of X being the friend or president of 



A Philosophical Analysis of Death in Esan Culture     |      173 
 

 
 

Y, the availability or otherwise of network services in a place, the 

rightness or wrongness of abortion, whether it is good to do good 

and avoid evil, among others, are to be verified only by subjecting 

them to laboratory analyses. This makes nonsense of value, truth and 

reality. The over confidence in this empirical sort of a thing is 

misleading. It poses as if empirical verifiability is the panacea to 

fathom all reality. For example, some centuries ago any claim to the 

present state of communication development will be regarded as an 

abuse of common sense, an empirical cum verification nullity. 

Today, here we are. A piece of information can go round the world 

in a minute. You can talk to anybody anywhere in the world without 

public address system and without any connecting wires. You can 

write a letter or make a write-up and another will receive it in a 

second or seconds anywhere in the world. This is the present state 

of information technology, which probably scientists or empiricists 

would have denied some centuries ago for non-verifiability. 

Perhaps, some hundreds of years to come scientists or empiricists 

may by laboratory analysis confirm immortality or life after death.  

We shall not go beyond this stage here, since,to do so, will imply 

overindulgence in discussing afterlife with respect to the scope of 

this topic of discourse. We shall now turn our attention to knowledge 

claim of the pain of dying. 

Part of the reasons people fear death is the pain, which is 

believed people experience in dying. But how do we know that 

dying is a painful experience? We may think we know this because, 

we see the dying agonizing. From his demeanour, we can infer that 

he is in pain. Therefore, when we see many people dying with 

similar demeanour, weinfer that dying generally is a painful 

experience. How do we know for sure from their observable 

manifestations that dying is painful? This raises the problem of other 

minds in Philosophy of Mind. How do we know what is in the minds 

of others? Do their demeanours, facial and other expressions grant 

any legitimacy for valid inference? If it does, does this 

inferencedepict any truth?  But we can answer that since we see Ψ 

in A–C for themto become ϰ , we can be sure that for D–Z to 



174     |      Ekpoma Review, Volume. 5 No. 1., 2019   
 

becomeϰ they must experience Ψ. Put plainly, since we have seen 

people expressing signs of pain when dying then it means that dying 

is painful.   

But this reasoning pattern is inductive;and it is common-

place knowledge that induction can be dubious. The fact that 

people’s expressions give the impression that they are in pain when 

dying does not give the guarantee that dying is inherently painful. 

Has there not been a single instance of dying which did not manifest 

pain? Put differently, has anybody not died without pain? If anyone 

did, then the sweeping statement that the act of dying is painful is 

unsupported with such contrary evidence. The dying may actually 

be expressing the pains of fear of death- a sense of leaving the world, 

a psychological rather than physiological pain of dying. 

The beliefsin afterlife and reincarnation, whether in Esanor 

elsewhere also raisedthe problem of personal identity in philosophy 

of mind. Is the reincarnated individual still the same person in 

ancestral domain? Is the reincarnate and ancestor the same person 

with the deceased? What justify these? This is a problem. 

 

The Logical Flaws 

The Esan belief in afterlife and reincarnation, as it is anywhere, is 

subject to logical error. It defies the logical laws of thought, that is, 

the principles of identity, exclude middle and non- contradiction. Is 

it possible for the deceased to be in ancestral world and reincarnate 

at the same time? The problem is more than that. Logically speaking, 

what is the source of the assumed inference that the deceased is 

somewhere or is not anywhere beyond the grave after death?  There 

is the claim that “[t]he abode of the dead has no clearly defined 

geographical location”.31 Those who reject life after death on this 

ground may claim that since the geographical terrain orabode of the 

dead has not or cannot be discovered, then, it does not exist,because 

for them, to exist, is to be in a place. The challenge here is that such 

claimers have not discovered all there is in the material universe. If 

this is the case, then, they ought not to think of a must discovery of 

realities outside the universe, and in spiritual matter at that. In 

whichever way, any claim made so far in this section commits the 

logical fallacy of argumentum ad ignorantiam, that is, the fallacy of 



A Philosophical Analysis of Death in Esan Culture     |      175 
 

 
 

argument from ignorance.32 Since fallacy is involved the argument 

cannot be logically valid. The affirmation and denial of knowledge 

claim about another plane of existence and of the abode of the 

deceased are both logical gibberish, an invalid assumption that is 

beyond demonstration. This isbecause, in logic, there is a specific 

pattern of occurrence such that given A then B. It will be a logical 

inconsistency or contradiction for B not to be when A. This is why 

the claims made about knowledge and experience concerning 

afterlife in the preceding session do not pass the test of logic. 

 

Moral Import of Death in Esan Culture 
The consciousness that death is a debt which we must inevitably 

pay,enhances moral and social order to some extent. The 

Esanperson believes that he or she will die one day. He also believes 

in life after death. These have tremendous moral signification for the 

Esan people. The realization of the existential fact that we will die 

one day makes people to be kind to one another. It makes them to 

live sincerely and abide by the golden rule. Their indoctrinated 

beliefs that ebunuleleimienobhanoghuuholo–‘whatever the mouth 

eats must without fail, worry the anus’ -, that the evil that men do 

lives after them, and that a good name is better than riches make 

them shun evil.33 They therefore lead good lives so that:  

1. Their good deeds and name will be echoed after their death. 

2. They will live long. 

3. They can join the ancestors. 

4. They can leave good legacy. 

5. They can attract befitting burial which is the prelude to 

joining the ancestors. 

6. And very importantly, people will treat their progeny well 

when they are no longer alive.  

 

Another way death inform moral behavior among Esan people is 

that the sight of a dying person bring people to the realization of 

their own situation: that they too will be in that situation one day. 

This then makes them sober when they see somebody dying. It 



176     |      Ekpoma Review, Volume. 5 No. 1., 2019   
 

redirects their focus and attitude morally toward the sick, the 

suffering, the poor, the dying and the dead. It enhances their senses 

of solidarity toward others as co-potential victims of death.    

 

Conclusion 

Skepticism can be raised about claims to knowledge and experience 

of afterlife. But this does not eliminate the possibility of afterlife and 

its knowledge and experience. A Hindu philosopher Nikhilananda34 

puts it that “experiences of after death cannot be demonstrated by 

reason”. He also puts it that “the doctrine of rebirth is more probable 

than improbable”. Reality is not all about passing the test of logics 

and epistemological rigour. What isis and what is not is not 

independent of intellectual rigour. 

The beliefs which the Esan people have about death help in 

organizing their individual and community lives meaningfully. But 

the contemporary norm has diverged significantly from the 

traditional norm about some of these beliefs.  It has perverted it. This 

has impaired their moral and social conception that enhanced the 

proper functioning of traditional community life. In contemporary 

time, people’s attitudes do not show that they will die. But this does 

not mean they will not die. And this does not exempt them from 

moral and social responsibilities. What it means is that they are 

morally callous and insensitive and are thus not using their present 

to shape their future.  

 
ENDNOTES 
1. Peter Alli, Esan Cosmology and its effects on the Social Behaviour of the 

People: Bringing all things under Christ, (Lagos: Deocraft 

Communications, 2011), pp. 25-26. 

2. SegunGbadegesin, “Culture and Bioethics” Helga Kuhse and Peter Singer, 

eds.,A Companion to Bioethics,2ed., (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009), p. 

31. 

3. See Anicius Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy,V.E. Watts, translated 

and introduced, (London: Penguin Books, 1969). 

4. A.O. Orubu, “The Hereafter in African Traditional Religion”, A.O. Orubu, 

ed., African Traditional Religion, (Benin City: Institute of Education, 

University of Benin, 2001), p. 155. 

5. Orubu, The Hereafter in African Traditional Religion, p. 155. 

6. Orubu,The Hereafter in African Traditional Religion, p. 155. 

7. Orubu,The Hereafter in African Traditional Religion, p. 156. 



A Philosophical Analysis of Death in Esan Culture     |      177 
 

 
 

8. See Christopher Okojie, Esan Laws and Custom with Ethnographic Studies 

of the Esan People,2ed., (Benin City: Ilupeji Press Ltd., 1994) pp. 100-101. 

9. See details in J.B. Webster, A.A. Boahen with H.O. Idowu, The Growth of 

African Civilization: The Revolutionary Years: West Africa since 1800, 

(London: Longmans Groups Ltd, 1967), pp. 185-186; Olumide Lucas, 

Religions in West Africa and Ancient Egypt, (Lagos: Nigerian  National 

Press, 1970), pp. 88-89; T.A. Osae, and A.T.O. Odunsi, A Short History of 

West Africa: A. D. 1800 to the Present Day. (London: University of London 

Press Ltd, 1973), p. 98. 

10. Daron Acemoglu, and James Robinson, Why Nations Fail: The Origins of 

Power, Prosperity and Poverty, (London: Profile Books Ltd., 2013), pp. 

253-254. 

11. See details in G.T. Basden, Niger Ibos, pp. 49-52, cited in Olumide Lucas, 

Religions in West Africa and Ancient Egypt, p. 88. 

12. Osae and Odunsi, A Short History of West Africa, p. 98. 

13. S.O. Oboh, et.al.,IgedeGedegede: Selected Essays on Igede Cultures and 

Language, (Makurdi: OnaiviEnt. Ltd, 1987), p. 14, cited in A. Ali and P.O. 

Agogo, Traditional African Beliefs: The Case of Igede People of Benue 

State, Nigeria, A.O. Orubu, ed., African Traditional Religion, pp. 107.  

14. Orubu, The Hereafter in African Traditional Religion, p.  160. 

15. Michael Shallo, Lessons in Scholastic Philosophy, (Philadelphia: The Peter 

Reilly Publishers–Importers, 1934), p. 313. 

16. See Orubu, The Hereafter in African Traditional Religion, pp. 161-164. 

17. See details in Raymond Moody, Life After Life, (New York: Bantam Books), 

cited in A.O. Orubu, The Hereafter in African Traditional Religion, pp. 153-

166. 

18. Theodore Schick and Lewis Vaughn, How to Think about Weird Things: 

Critical Thinking for a New Age, (London: Mayfield Publishing Company, 

1995), p. 6.  

19. See Schick and Vaughn, How to Think about Weird Things, p. 271; Also see 

Raymond Moody Jr., Life After Life, (New York: Bantam Books, cited in 

Theodore Schick and Lewis Vaughn, How to Think about Weird Things, 

1975, pp. 21-23. 

20. Schick and Vaughn, How to Think about Weird Things, p. 52; also see James 

Alcock, Parapsychology: Science or Magic? (Oxford: Pergamon Press, 

1981), p. 76. 

21. See details in Schick and Vaughn, How to Think about Weird Things, pp. 

270-272. 

22. See H. Wambach, Life Before Life, New York: Bantam Books, 1982; A.O. 

Orubu, The Hereafter in African Traditional Religion, pp.163-164. 

23. See details in Michael Shallo, Lessons in Scholastic Philosophy, pp.312-317. 

24. See Orubu, The Hereafter in African Traditional Religion, pp. 161-164. 



178     |      Ekpoma Review, Volume. 5 No. 1., 2019   
 
25. Schick and Vaughn, How to Think about Weird Things, p.  52. 

26. Schick and Vaughn, How to Think about Weird Things, p.  274. 

27. Michael Scriven, Primary Philosophy, (New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc. 

1966), p. 175. 

28. Scriven, Primary Philosophy, p. 177. 

29. Helen Buss Mitchell, Roots of Wisdom: A Tapestry of Philosophical 

traditions,6ed., (Belmont: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2011), p. 203. 

30. Mitchell, Roots of Wisdom, p. 203. 

31. Orubu, The Hereafter in African Traditional Religion, p. 160. 

32. For details of the nature of this fallacy, see Morris Engel, The Study of 

Philosophy: An Introduction, (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 

1981), pp. 133-134; Stuart Hirschberg, ed., Strategies of Argument, 2ed., 

(Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1996), p. 821; Irving Copi and Carl Cohen, 

Introduction to Logic, 12ed., (New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc., 2005), 

pp. 140-141. 

33. Felix Airoboman and Joseph Osagie, “The Phenomenon of Death and its 

Moral Implications Among the Esan of Edo State, Nigeria”, Higher 

Education of Social Science, Vol. 10, No. 5, 2016, pp. 6-7, Also Available 

from: URL: http://www.cscanada.net/index.php/hess/article/view/8559 

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/8559 

34. See The Watchtower, Do You Believe in Reincarnation? Benin City: 

Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, Vol.118, No.10, May 

15, 1997, p. 4, citing Nikhilananda, Hinduism: Its Meaning for the 

Liberation of the Spirit.  

 


