Tolle Lege: An Augustinian Journal of Philosophy and Theology

Suicide is an act of the will. It is a despairing of life. Throughout history, suicide has evoked a wide range of reactions like bafflement, anger, sympathy, confusion and concern. Suicide has always been a philosophical problem. This paper looks at the problem of suicide from the lens of Igwebuike philosophy. Igwebuike philosophy is an African philosophy which stresses on the values of interconnectedness, interrelatedness, shared humanity and complementarity as important in the worldview of an African. This piece, therefore, looks at the philosophical problem of suicide from an Igwebuike perspective and gives an African answer to the following questions: Does a person have a right to take his or her own life? Is taking your own life a responsible thing to do? Does life have meaning? Are there things that can give life meaning? In the course of this research, the phenomenological and hermeneutical methods of inquiry were employed. The paper submits that suicide, viewed from the lens of Igwebuike philosophy is incompatible with the African worldview of life.

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