Abstract

This chapter introduces the question of being in both Western and African philosophy. After giving a general idea of the study of being in Aristotle and others, the chapter focuses on the Western analytic metaphysics. It considers the historical development of the study of being in analytic philosophy, with a special emphasis on philosophers such as G.E. Moore and Bertrand Russell. It considers the question of the relevance of metaphysics as suggested by philosophers such as Alfred Ayer and Rudolf Carnap. The chapter also introduces some studies that used insights from the analytic tradition in their analysis of the meaning of being (insights from natural science, language and logical analysis). It considers developments in African thought with philosophers that build on analytic tradition, such as Sodipo, Hallen and Kayange. It investigates elements of analytic metaphysics that form part of diverse developments of African philosophers on the concept of being, such as Kagame, Ramose and Gyekye.