A discourse on the ontology of violence

Abstract

The sophistication and reoccurrence of violence has continued to gain increasing attention in contemporary discourse. Scholars that take interest in the study of violence have made efforts only in understanding and addressing the causes, forms, and the management mechanism. Such intellectual efforts have proved not to be sufficiently adequate as evident by the recurring decimal of violence in limitless proportion, even in places where it has been under-studied. This inadequacy has made the need for renewed interest in the study of the nature and dynamics of violence imperative. Concerned about the lack of consideration for the ontological root of violence in previous studies, this paper seeks to critically explore the ontology of violence. It aims at examining classical philosophical texts on human nature with a view to expose the ontological origin of violence and shows how such consideration is apt in the understanding, addressing, and management of violence; that is, this paper makes a case for the study of the ontology of violence as a way of addressing the lacuna currently existing in the studies on violence. Thus, it argues that this ontological study entails as a matter of necessity an understanding of human nature in relation to the subject-matter of violence. The methodology used in achieving the aim of this paper is the analytic and phenomenological approaches, that is, analysis and phenomenological examination of textual materials are employed by the study.