INTRODUCTION

The first law of life is unarguably the law on security of life. It is only when
life is secured that other things can follow. Something cannot be built on nothing.
There must always be a basis for whatever is. For any society to be said to have
been developed or be developing, there must be conducive environment engendered by
security of life and property. The concrete manifestation of any being (in this
instance, human beings) is life. Meaningfulness or meaninglessness in life is
highly dependent on how life is secured or not. The metaphysics of life is that
that which is, has existence; and that which has existence, especially in concrete
terms, is said to have life (force). In this sense, life concretizes human
existence.

However, experience has shown that human life has been greatly threatened in the
recent times especially in Africa. There are instances of incessant killings and
destruction of properties. Human life appears no longer to be sacred. Almost
everything has turned upside down. It appears the human person has lost his
rationality or that the human reason has gone on vacation. This book is geared
towards reawakening the consciousness of the human person, especially the African,
about the sacredness of human life and the necessity of peace. It is undeniable the
fact that conflict is a natural phenomenon. Yes, conflict is part of nature but we
must not remain in conflict. As rational beings, we have to tow the path of
conflict resolution; we have to always find a way to make a redress.

Conflict is a natural phenomenon; but it is better to reconcile and be at peace

than to constantly engage in conflict. It is better to train for peace than to
train for war. Our authentic existence, as human beings, is not in generation of
conflict, but in peaceful and nonviolent conflict resolution.

On another note, philosophy, as we know, is a rational search for truth of reality.

Peikoff rightly argued when he states: “Philosophy is a human need as real as the
need of food. It is a need of the mind, without which man cannot obtain his food or
anything his life requires.”2 One thing that is sure is that philosophy makes every
rational effort to solve human problems. This is made explicitly manifest in the
eleven (11) chapters of this book. This book is part of the proceeds from the 2020
APAS International conference (10 -11 June) that focused on: African Ideologies,
Human Security and Peacebuilding. It is my strong conviction that the critical
reflections of African scholars in this book will certainly bring about better
understanding of the place of philosophy in conflict resolution and peacebuilding
in Africa.