THE INTER-PERSONALIST IDEOLOGY OF KANU’S IGWEBUIKE AND THE WORKINGS OF NEURONS: AN INTERPERSONALITICNEUROSCIENTIFIC INQUIRY

Abstract

The human brain research has always been an interesting field of study,understanding how it coordinates itself, receiving and giving out information, encoding, decoding and even encrypting signs. It is a delicate organ in the human body, whose work is so important that if compromised, the human person will be considered as lacking in that quality that makes him human, namely his rational consciousness. In contemporary times, brain research and study has been termed as neuroscience (having many subfields under it, namely, neurophilosophy, molecular neuroscience, cognitive, behavioral, computational neuroscience, etc. Neuroscience studies the nervous system, combining fields, such a physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, developmental biology, cytology, mathematical modeling, computer science, genetics, medicine, philosophy and psychology, to give credence to its study of neurons and the neural circuits). The importance of the human brain stems from the reality of what specifically defines the human, namely, his rationality. I had earlier termed this as a rational consciousness. This is because the human being is rational and is conscious of the fact that he is rational. More to this, he is conscious and is conscious of the fact that he is conscious. This is principally what separates us from the genus of the animal. There is a certain kind of consciousness that resides in brutes, and indeed every living creature, that is non-animal like. For instance, some plants, like the Humulus Lupulus, have a tendency to move when touched, a phenomena that is known as thigmotropism. Other plants, like the Venus Flytrap, are conscious whenever an insect wanders into their wide open jaws. They thus close up and ingest the insect. Such instances we may term as a response to stimulus, anchored by Mother Nature, but such response is yet reminiscent of a sort of consciousness. In all that has been said, the human consciousness is by far the most intriguing. What makes this so? A study into the brain and how consciousness arises from the working of the brain has revealed that there are small molecular cells at work in the brain, known as neurons. It is being speculated (this implies that it has not been holistically accepted in the entirety) in some neuroscientific quarters that it is these neurons that are the chief source of the consciousness in man. That is to say that these cells are the ones behind man’s conscious awareness. Since the dawn of the discovery of the neurons in the late 1800s, the investigation into the brain has skyrocketed and more insights into the workings and modalities of operation of the brain have been unveiled. The workings of neurons have proven to be insightful and broken grounds in the medical/scientific/philosophical field. Nonetheless, what lesson can be garnered by the workings of the neurons in the light of the interpersonalism that is the heart of the Igwebuike philosophy? The Igwebuike philosophy portrays the sense of an interpersonalistic rapport between individuals. Having its root in the Igbo culture of south-eastern Nigeria, this ideology carries with it two vital principles, namely: solidarity and complementarity. Yet, can this ideology be understood further by looking at how the neurons in the brain work, complementing each other? Can the solidarity of the neurons and its network, leading to a well orchestrated brain operation and indeed a very well organized human functioning, be used to throw some light on how this solidarity, as espoused by Igwebuike, can lead to better interpersonal affinity and empathy, thus resulting in a better understanding of one another? We do not seek to consider a certain neuroscientific field; we aim at showing how effective Igwebuike is, not only to the Igbo society, but to the world at large, via looking at the workings of the neurons of the brain.