The Question of Life's Meaning

In answering the question of life’s meaning, the African perspective is only just beginning to emerge. While this is true, a critical examination of African theories of meaningfulness, the possibility of life’s meaninglessness, as well as ideas about the proper mode/mood for living with the meaninglessness of life are largely underexplored within the African philosophical tradition. This book provides several plausible accounts of meaning in/of life from an African perspective, examines the relationship between death and life’s meaningfulness, and explores the possibility of life’s meaninglessness, proposing the “philosophy of indifference” as the proper mode/mood for living with the meaninglessness of life.

"The author of this challenging book beautifully curates a tussle between the meaningfulness and meaninglessness of life in the first two parts. By the third part, it becomes clear that the outcome of this tussle was always inevitable: what is the point of a pointless universe? Once you get this gist in chapter nine, it is read on at your own peril. The final thesis of this work exposes the insincerity of life, the deceptions of fate and the mischiefs of God itself. Only death is real, honest and trustworthy! Indeed, if life were meaningless, what other choices do we have? The author’s attempt to answer this question is a bold and brutal inquiry into an ultra-sensitive topic. Only a dare-devil philosopher could write this book!" (Jonathan O Chimakonam, Department of Philosophy, University of Pretoria; President, The Conversational Society of Philosophy)

"Aribiah Attoe has written the first monograph to squarely address the philosophy of life’s meaning in the African tradition. In it Attoe eschews long-standing religious views, such as that life’s meaning consists of fulfilling a destiny God has assigned, promoting a divine vital energy, or becoming an ancestor. Instead, Attoe mines and refines approaches in African thought that he deems compatible with a contemporary scientific outlook. The results include fresh answers to major questions such as what make parts of a life meaningful, whether life as a whole is meaningful, and how to respond to the prospect of meaninglessness." (Thaddeus Metz, Professor of Philosophy, University of Pretoria, South Africa)

"In this brilliant and closely argued book, Aribiah David Attoe challenges traditional African intuitions about meaningful human existence and advances his own novel perspective that submits the controversial claim that human life is ultimately meaningless and proposes indifference as the proper human orientation in the world...A major contribution to African philosophy and the meaning in, and of, life literature." (Ada Agada, University of Fort Hare, South Africa; Conversational Society of Philosophy)

Aribiah David Attoe is a Lecturer at the University of Witwatersrand and a member of the prestigious Conversational School of Philosophy.