Metaphysics: The Quest for Truth in a Post-Metaphysical Era.

Copyright © ISRG Publishers. All rights Reserved. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17813200 319 ISRG PUBLISHERS Abbreviated Key Title: ISRG J Arts Humanit Soc Sci ISSN: 2583-7672 (Online) Journal homepage: https://isrgpublishers.com/isrgjahss Volume – III Issue -VI (November-December) 2025 Frequency: Bimonthly Metaphysics: The Quest for Truth in a Post-Metaphysical Era. Burinyuy Ronald Leinyuy The University of Yaoundé I, Cameroon. | Received: 22.11.2025 | Accepted: 27.11.2025 | Published: 04.12.2025 *Corresponding author: Burinyuy Ronald Leinyuy The University of Yaoundé I, Cameroon. Introduction The forth industrial revolution with hypersonic machines and quantum computing has shaped the future of the world with the opening of a new epoch in the history of ideas. The age consist of a change in thinking and understanding of the world politically, economically, socially, culturally and technologically that has never been seen before. The truth has more contextual meaning in this era. The place of metaphysics is to elevate truth at the very centre of existence as it is in its nature to reveal the concealed nature of being in the process of concealing being while revealing it. The term postmetaphysics comes from the prefix “Post” and the term “metaphysics” which simply stands for the metaphysical thinking that comes after the previous metaphysical thoughts in the Abstract In an advanced technological age, where the distinction between fact and fiction seems impossible to discern truth, metaphysical thinking becomes a solution to the problem of our times. The questioning on the importance and need for metaphysics has made us to reflect about the end target of metaphysics in a post-metaphysical era. Many thinkers have questioned, are questioning, and will still question the value of metaphysics particularly in our African society. This work seeks to address the importance of metaphysical thinking in Africa as well as the philosophical world of thinkers at large. While the ravaging social, political, economic as well as intellectual changes experienced in our century are interesting, some thinkers hold to the notion that metaphysics is a worthless discipline. In an attempt to bring its importance, one may ask if metaphysical thinking can be qualified on social norms, political norms or epistemological norms alone? The society has not grabbed the importance of metaphysics in all disciplines. The argument in this paper centres on the fact that metaphysics which is seen as worthless is valuable. We shall detail out the value of metaphysical thinking in a post-metaphysical era, by elaborating on the metaphysical way of thinking as a quest for truth in its entirety. Metaphysics as a discipline has not been able to think in any particular way apart from searching for the truth in all its endeavours. Metaphysics as a discipline seeks the truth and nothing but what is true. Keywords: Metaphysics, Metaphysical thinking, Post-metaphysics, Truth, Value. Copyright © ISRG Publishers. All rights Reserved. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17813200 320 history of ideas (G. Shea, 2023) Thus, postmetaphysics originated from a deep desire to break away thinking from previous philosophical traditions of thinking by some philosophers of a particular age with a new style or way of thinking and examining reality. Heidegger‟s claimed that traditional metaphysics concerns itself with Being rather than being as such in his critic of western philosophical tradition from Plato till Descartes is a good example of Postmetaphysical thinking. We are set off in this paper to examine the idea of Postmetaphysical thinking if it can enable us decipher the truth in today‟s world view of reality. Can metaphysical thinking help us know the truth in a Postmetaphysical era? How can our discussion in this work help a modern student of teacher to better understand existence and reality? What is the difference between the heideggerian western view of being and the African view of being in the quest for truth in a Postmetaphysical era? We shall look at the relevance aspects of metaphysical thinking in a postmetaphysical era, where metaphysic is rejected by postmodern and contemporary man. 1. The evolutionary nature of metaphysical thinking  The context of emergence of the Postmetaphysical Era. Metaphysics is etymologically conceived as the study of reality after the physics (John et Markosian, 2010.,pg.1-2). Metaphysics involves with the study of the totality of being, the nature and structure of reality and existence seen and unseen. It studies things such as the concept of universals, being, change, causation, matter, space, time and many others. Due to the fact that metaphysics has gone to the extent of studying things beyond speculations and things that experiments in science cannot answer or proof, it has been traditionally understood as a discipline, which involves the linked of nonphysical, physical and spiritual realities. The fast and rapidly changing trends in the world today characterized by a marked growing and insatiable desire and interests of the people in the present status quo who crave for newness of everything over the traditional ways is awakening some serious concerns. This is a similar case to the idea of liquid society described by Zygmunt Bauman, a society in which there is a mad rush for novelty,(C. Kutarna, 2018). Hence, David Harvey holds that there has been a sea-change in cultural, political, economic and social practices since the period of 1972, which is bound up with the emergence new dominant ways in which we experience life in space and time,(D. Harvey, 1989.,p65). A new way of thinking and reflecting about everything in our world is the present state of existence. What is responsible for this sea-change, he names it post-modernist fraud with capitalist tendencies as he says there is some kind of necessary relation between the rise of postmodernist cultural forms, the emergence of more flexible modes of capital accumulation, and a new round of „time-space compression‟ in the organization of capitalism. But these changes, when set against the basic rules of capitalistic accumulation, appear more as shifts in surface appearance rather than as signs of the emergence of some entirely new postcapitalist or even post-industrial society,(p.65). This for Harvey is an insinuation of the post-modern thought patterns, which involves building a dominant spirit in the alteration of the world‟s traditions and histories till date. One most noticeable and key idea of these features of post-modernity is globalization (K. Thompson, April 9, 2016). This is a new way of conceiving the world like a global village where everybody is one with little or no differences and barriers or boundaries. Postmetaphysics is distinct in its own way from the modern and medieval periods of history. It represents a sea-change in intellectual framework that has traditionally been practice by philosophers. It‟s revolutionary and brings a new way of metaphysical thinking with the aim of proving solutions to the problems of the times at an epoch in the history of ideas.  The Critique of metaphysical thinking According (J. Ayer, 1952., p.41) in his rejection of metaphysics, in a principle known as the verifiability theory of meaning, which he seeks to eliminate those statements which claim to describe what we cannot experience. Ayer calls these statements metaphysical statements and thinks that they express “non-sense” and meaningless. For him, if you make a factual statement but no one has any idea of what empirical observations would verify it, then your words do not really express a genuine factual proposition (Booke et Bruder, 1990., p.107). The basic doctrine of the logical positivists is the theory of meaning, according to which the cognitive meaning of a sentence is its method of verification. If a sentence is not verifiable, directly or indirectly, then it is cognitively meaningless (M. Weitz, 1966., p.8). From this doctrine of verification, Ayer considers metaphysical statements cannot be verified, then metaphysics is an illusion. Ayer says a metaphysical statement is “a sentence which purports to express a genuine proposition but does, in fact, expresses neither a tautology nor an empirical hypothesis.” (A. J. Ayer, 1952., p.41) According to Ayer, philosophy has as its peculiar business to ascertain and make clear the meaning of statements and questions. For the positivists, metaphysics is the cause of chaos in the history of philosophy (p.41). This is because metaphysics has meaningless sentences and the logical positivists argue that a language consists of a number of words which make up its vocabulary, and rules of syntax. William James gives a general definition of truth which seems to be in line with what the rationalists conceive of truth. According to William James, an idea cannot be true if it has no valuable practical effects in man‟s living; and that practical effects can only be verified through the application of that idea and seeing the nature of its practical consequences. It is only by use of this process that the conformity or agreement between an idea and its object can be known and thus, its truth or falsity. Truth in its elementary sense is simply conformity between the knower and the thing known. Nietzsche presents his critic first against the metaphysical idealism of pre-Socratic philosophers and the godly nature of the sciences in the modern and contemporary cultures and Europe (R. Le Poidevin, 2012). He explains that science has gain more grounds and has rejected metaphysics while relying every explanations on empirical evidence and physical data of reality. In his middle works Poidevin writes that Nietzsche aims to induce scepticism about any metaphysical world by thus contributing to the antimetaphysical modern culture he was previously against in his early works in showing that it is cognitively superfluous(R. Le Poidevin, 2012., pg.161-163). We will situate Heidegger‟s understanding of ontotheology within the broader context of his thought of criticizing metaphysics, by outlining the significance of his deconstruction of metaphysical foundationalism for his critique of nihilism in the traditional understanding of the meaning and question of being(I. Thompson., p.299)..  Metaphysical thinking Looking back at the history of ideas we clearly identify different views that different thinkers from different cultures at different times in history have held concerning the discipline of metaphysics. These developments concerning metaphysics come as a result of the fact that change is a reality. When Immanuel Kant lunched an attack on the metaphysics by declaring the end of Copyright © ISRG Publishers. All rights Reserved. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17813200 321 metaphysics, he opens our understanding to a new concept of thinking and reflecting about metaphysics. Post-metaphysical thinking involves the sequential change and dialectic thinking done by metaphysicians across history on the concept of being and existence. It concerns itself with a criticism of previous views by philosophers meanwhile suggesting new ways of thinking about being. M. Heidegger formulates the question of the meaning of being so as to better explain it, although this question had been tackled in the ancient period by Anaximander and Parmenides. He aims to bring to the limelight the question of being discussed by Aristotle, Aquinas and Hegel (M. Heidegger, 1968., p.68). He sets out to answer the question of being which according to him Western philosophy had failed to answer although he takes most of his time working out what it means for being to be, and he does limits this being to man as such. Hence, E. Craig describes metaphysics as a discipline with two distinct investigations, in the first instance with the investigation into the nature of reality. And in the second instance it is involved with the investigation to unveil what is ultimately real (C. Eward, 1998., p.338). Metaphysical thinking involves an investigation to reveal the philosophies in various cultures and tradition across the globe in every human society. According to B. Nodern, there is a branch of philosophy known as comparative philosophy which explains that each culture and tradition has its own philosophy which pertains to it (B. Norden, 2017., p.44). We understand from this notion that each culture has its world view that can be philosophized on by a thinker. Metaphysical thinking as a branch of philosophising pertains to all the cultures of philosophy in the universe. It is the foundation on which any philosophical thinking is constructed. Whitehead defines metaphysics as nothing but the descriptions of the generalities which applies to all the details of practice and thinking.(N.Whitehead, 1978., p.13) For him, metaphysics as a discipline and way of thinking covers all the other areas of study in life. According to Edward Craig, Metaphysics is way of thinking under the discipline Philosophy which is divided into general and specific metaphysics (E. Craige, 2005., pg.656-659). General metaphysical thinking seeks to engage in the most general investigation possible concerning the nature of reality, what is seen or unseen. Specific metaphysical thinking seeks to unveil what is ultimately real. For Craig, metaphysics is a type of ontological thinking which consists of “what is existence” and “what things exist”. Metaphysics as Aristotle says “it is the function of the philosopher to be able to investigate all things” (Aristotle, Met IV, 1004a, 34). However, in modern times, we have new ways of metaphysical thinking. From ancient till present times, metaphysics has been and is and will be a discipline of reality as a whole. It is a way of thinking which is higher, an abstraction which is not like any other practical discipline or philosophical investigation, because it involves physical and nonphysical realities. The notion of metaphysics we shall endorse in this work is in the traditional sense. This involves the rationalization and conception, investigation into the nature of reality and existence from the foundations of a first philosophy.  Transition from metaphysical thinking to Postmetaphysical thinking According to (T. Kuhn, 1962., p.43), a historian and philosopher of science, paradigm shift occurs when a fundamental change in the understanding of a field of study and conditions have change. Kuhn believed that in philosophy, every doctrine and traditional adopted activities of a discipline will always change after a period of time, thus change was a reality that he never doubted in the realm of philosophy which he explained in terms of paradigm in the domain of sciences. Paradigm Shift is a fundamental change in approach or underlying assumptions (K. Sorbella, 2020., p13), it is change in method and way of thinking. It‟s a movement from state of an event or activity to another. Change is a reality that is selfevident beginning from the pre-Socratics. According to Heraclitus, everything that exists in nature experiences change. Everything in reality is in flux, everything is in motion (A. Kenny, 2004., p. 13). However, it would be a mistake to think that Heraclitus meant that there are no stable things in reality (F. Copleson 1994., p.39). For him, the essence of all things is Fire. He describes fire as the proper essence of reality, for in the process of fire, there are two paths, the upwards and downwards paths. Heraclitus holds that there cannot be change without something changing, thus that thing which is changing he calls it fire(p.39). He does describe the process of change as unity in diversity. To say the world is in a flux to him meant that the world was an ever-living fire(E. Samuel, 1982., pg. 13-15). Fire must constantly be feed and it will continue to give something in the form of heat, smoke or ashes. The concept of postmetaphysics as a paradigm shift consists of a change in the conception of philosophy from one age to another. For example, Heidegger was the person who discovered that language has been misunderstood which had consequences in various fields one of them being the humanities. One of the students of Heidegger called Gadamer, explains that the problem of the humanities was that the logical self-reflection that accompanied the development of the human sciences in the 19th century is wholly governed by the model of natural sciences. Habermas spoke about the shift in paradigms from philosophy of consciousness (being epistemology) to philosophy of language. Jacque Derrida also added his voice by saying this was the moment when language invaded the universal problematic, the moment when in the absence of origin, everything became discourse. At this point we realize that to know the truth following the sequence of change is a huge issue as we may be forced to work with relative contextual meaning of truth and forget objective truth as preached by Socrates and some major thinkers in the history of thoughts.  Postmetaphysical thinking The terms postmetaphysics, nonmetaphysics, antimetaphysics, by antimetaphysics we mean a way of metaphysical thinking in which we refute metaphysics and refute the principles of metaphysics. Nonmetaphysics is a negation of metaphysics the opposite of what metaphysics is, the type of philosophizing that is not considered to be metaphysical and postmetaphysical thinking has kept many thinkers and academicians worried about the meaning, style and way of philosophizing about metaphysics in the modern and contemporary periods in the history of ideas. However, these terms are equivocal in meaning concerning the understanding of metaphysic in the contemporary period of philosophy. The term postmetaphysics originates from a deep desire to break away from previous traditions of thinking. Thus, postmetaphysics comes from the prefix “Post” and the term “metaphysics” which simply stands for the metaphysical thinking that comes after the previous metaphysical thoughts (G. Shea, 2023) George shea explains that postmetaphysics is not antimetaphysics but a methodological suspension of metaphysical interpretations or metaphysical principles that have been considered before the moment of suspension and propositioning of a new methodological way for understanding reality in its totality. One of the concepts that has been very discursive as well as the question of being in metaphysics is the question of change. Change is a reality which is Copyright © ISRG Publishers. All rights Reserved. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17813200 322 self-evident with the advancement of thinking, things and time. Postmetaphysics is a discursive concept of change that presents a new path of metaphysical thinking for the present contemporary society according to some thinkers like Habermas. 2. The metaphysical quest of truth in a Postmetaphysical Era  Postmetaphysical themes with an analysis of being vs. vital force The necessity for African thinkers to be unapologetic and unjustifiable has made us to reflect about the need to talk about the uniqueness of African metaphysics within the area of African philosophy a revelation of being from the world view of the Africans as differentiated from western world views. The sequential change in the conception of African metaphysics had led to the conception of metaphysics within the African world view as a distinguished discipline in African philosophy. We live in the 21th century when things have become more clearer and knowledge more accessible than before. The central point of divergence is found on the rejection and disregard of ancient conceptions and ideas for new conceptions and ideas that stand as a respond to the issues of our time. The sequential change of metaphysical thinking within the African world view. The conception of reality that has led us to understand African metaphysics more deeply from the idea of being as vital force in the evolution and development of thought. The dynamic nature of being as force in African world view as distinguished from the western thinking and conception like Heidegger is so clearly outlined in our era. Documented details of our topic presents ( P. Tempels, 1959., p.50) great contribution to our understanding of African metaphysics from an African perspective and world view in his work “The Bantu Philosophy” he handles the question of being according to a primitive traditional African society. In Myths and Reality, Paulin Hountondji described the “Bantu Philosophy” as a work of ethnophilosophy (P. Hountondji, 1983., p.34). According to Tempels, all of life collectively of the Bantu people is revolving around the concept of a unique value that is vital force. All that exists in Bantu metaphysics according to Tempels is this a force. Just as being is absolute in Parminedian sense, in the same way force pervades Bantu ontology. Force or power in Bantu notion is united being. Placid asserts that there is no idea among Bantu of being as divorced from force. Without force being cannot be conceived. Comparing the western and Bantu notions, Tempels observes that „force is the nature of being ( P. Tempels, 1959., p.50), force is being and being is force(C. Chukuemeka, 2015). Kagame maintains that all beings, all essences in whatever form it is they are conceived, can be subsumed under the concept force in the African world view. Forces encompass all being from God down to minerals compared to the western conception of being. There is a constant vital interaction among being that is to say forces. Tempels argues that this concept of separate beings of substance which find themselves side by side entirely independent one for another is foreign to Bantu thought. For Tempels, the western idea of being has no placement in the nature of vital force in the Bantu world view. Bantu holds that created beings preserve a bond with one another, an intimate ontological relationship, comparable with the casual tie which binds creature and the creator. He further argues that all creatures exist in a relationship according to the laws of a hierarchy. This philosophy also holds that there is an interaction of forces with forces, a metaphysical interaction among beings transcends the mechanical, chemical and physical interactions. Following from this, the Bantu see that in a created force there is a casual action emanating from the very nature of that created force and influences other forces. One force will weaken or strengthen another. They hold that man is the centre. The other less creatures like animals have inferior forces and these inferior forces has as their purpose to increase the vital force and serve men while they are on earth. Bantu ontology is essentially a theory of forces and they have a dynamic conception of being. Being is power, not only that it possess power, for that will merely mean that power is an attribute of being, but that it‟s very essence is power. For Tempels, power is not an accident, it is even more than a necessary accident, it is the very essence of being, being is power, and power is being. The western notion of being is „that which is‟, theirs is „the power that is‟. Where we see concrete being, we see concrete forces in the Bantu world view of metaphysical thinking. Where we would say that being is distinguished by their essence or nature, Bantus will say that forces differ by their essence and nature (P. Hountondji, 1983., p.35). Power is not only a reality but also a value to the Bantu people. This vital power can increase or diminish. When a Bantu says for instance: „I am becoming strong‟ or that „my vital strength is reduced‟, these statements are to be taken literally as implying an essence modification of the human nature itself(pg. 34-35). Proper to our discussion is the relation of the metaphysical concept of vital force according to Placid Tempels and the western conception of being. Tempel‟s Bantu philosophy is a philosophical exposition for the richness of African philosophy from the specialty of metaphysics. According to placid Tempels, the meaning of being in the African context is different from that in the western context as presented by Heidegger, for the western it is static however for the African it is dynamic as seen above (S. Nelson et S. Fomutar, 2022., p. 73). N. Shang and F. Stanilaus made explicit by saying, force is a necessary element for being and is inseparable from being in the African sense, force in the primitive sense is never separated of being: in the western thought being is that which is, while bantu says being is that which has force (p.73). Thus force in an African metaphysics is not only an attribute but an act or live as a beings which are forces. It is not an accidental reality or an accident with a substance in the Aristotelian sense. For is more than just a mere necessary attribute of beings, force is the nature of being, force is being and being is force, force and being are convertible( P. Tempels, 1959., p.24). Thus, the distinction between force and being in the African sense of the word is not really much apart from terminological differences. According F. Stanilaus and S. Nelson, concrete being in western philosophy are just mere forces in the Bantu world view of placid Tempels. They elaborate on this aspects being, by saying in differentiating between beings in the western metaphysical we talk about nature and the essence of a being. Meanwhile in the situation of Bantu primitive thought it is about the different forces that are there in existence basing our explanations on the essence and nature of a particular force(S. Nelson et S. Fomutar, 2022., p.73). There thus exists a huge difficulty to explain the nature of reality in the African context be fitted in as earlier seen with J. S. Mbitti on the African traditional religion. In Bantu thought pattern, there exist the in force, the ancestral force, the human force, the animal force, vegetable force and the mineral force all existing in a hierarchical order (pg. 7374). The classification of the being in the African context is done according to vital force. This also helps in distinguishing beings based on similarities and relations. Being in the African metaphysics from the perspective of Bantu is not just that which is, Copyright © ISRG Publishers. All rights Reserved. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17813200 323 or that which exist but also that which has force, tat which is force. Being in the African sense and understanding is force or better off vital force. For Tempels, being exist as individual forces in the Bantu sense of the word but while all being interconnected to one another, this can be term as a unity of interconnectedness. There exist an ontological grounds on which being is conceived in Bantu as an individual and being of the community as per its involvement and interaction with vital force. The Bantu makes a difference between being perceived by the senses and being perceived by as that which is found beyond the senses, which could be explained as the contingent and Necessary elements of being respectively (pg. 73-74). The bantu term muntu as used by Tempels stands and represent a person or an individual in western thought from the bantu sense of understanding and thinking. And the Great Muntu represent God in the western sense of the meaning of the word in terms of beings, the muntu or great muntu is a living force in the world view of the bantu people. The muntu is the supreme force amongst created beings because it is endowed with wisdom and intelligence, which other beings or forces lower than it do not possess. The muntu dominates plants, animals and minerals, the Bantu hold with high esteem the fact that man is capable of knowing, they regard knowledge and wisdom like forces which constitute metaphysical knowledge and understanding of other forces (P. Tempels, 1959., pg. 46-47). According to Tempels, all forces can become stronger or weaker, depending on the amount of knowledge and wisdom that one possess. More knowledge and wisdom, more power and strength that a force possess, since knowledge and wisdom are forces (p.27). This practical aspect of it observed as the elderly in the African society are in possession of more wisdom and knowledge compare to the young hence more force is allocated to elderly people compare to the young people. The elder can see while sitting down while the young cannot see even after climbing the tallest tree in the forest. However, a being can become very strong and powerful with strong force compared to other beings but the power to create other being and forces is reserved to the one fore known as the great muntu. Only God has the power to create new forces or beings. In talking about the relation between forces in bantu, N. Shang and F. Staniluase say: In the African context, though individual forces exist in their individuality, they entertain a certain interdependence and interaction that is ontologically founded, all individuals beings from man right down to minerals sustain natural interactions. Forces are independent of each other (S. Nelson et S. Fomutar, 2022., p.77). From the above quotation, we realise that forces in the African sense of the word are interconnected to one another. No force in the reality exists as a singularity. Tempels explain that beings have an ontological relation that is preserved bond with one another that binds the created being and the creator, thus to the bantu, there is interaction between being and being or force and force( P. Tempels, 1959., pg. 28-29). Bantu doe differentiates about vital force according to their rankings, of which the most powerful is God.  Postmetaphysical thinking as path to truth with contextual meaning of reality The idea of postmetaphysics has been in the nature of philosophy, we read from the history of philosophy that the pre-Socratics were concerned with the question of the primary stuff followed by the question of change and next to the question of knowledge, ethics and with the relation of faith and reason by the mediaeval thinkers, and the development of science and separation of philosophy and theology in modern times. Postmetaphysics thus becomes a reality in philosophy as it is seen in every turning point and major change in the history of ideas from various epochs. It presents itself to us as a traditional way of thinking that has been in existence for a long time today and will continue to be in existence, from ancient times, from the beginning of thinking and the existence of the human being in search of truth. However, in this epoch, there is need for a change from traditional thinking ways in order to battle the changes our world is undergoing. There is need for newness in the field of philosophising in order to counter the thought patterns of our present society. Philosophy according Habermas thus comes into the picture as it has done for decades to provide the rational backings of these changes and how they can be observed with regards to reason(J. Habermas, 1992., p. 49). Therefore, postmetaphysics is a concept that will always be seen in the front line of philosophical reflections because it involves a change in intellectual activities by philosophers of a particular age. It is a genealogy of thinking across the ages and the transition from one epoch to another. Considering the idea that J. Habermas propose a new way of thinking and reflecting metaphysically about the modern society, it is important to look at the positive aspect of his concept of postmetaphysics. According to Alexander Seran, what makes post-metaphysical thinking different from traditional metaphysics is that post-metaphysical thinking takes the form of discourse ethics in resolving questions over truth claims through dialogue with the empirical sciences. In this way, metaphysical ideals about truth, justice, power, freedom, etc., find a new ground to be preserved. Accordingly, postmetaphysical thinking can be characterized as both the end of traditional metaphysics and a return to it in a new guise. The former means the end of absolute claim (one-sided claim) about truth and the latter could mean the beginning of procedural rationality (a multi-sided argument) where metaphysics comes across with the empirical sciences questioning the validity of a claim based on its truth, truthfulness, and rightness or wrongness(S. Alexander, 2011., p.43). The idea of postmetaphysics has some wonderful and intellectually beautiful attributes to our present state of affairs in the domain of ethics and philosophy. For A. Sera, postmetaphysics has brought a dramatic and drastic change in the conception of metaphysics after Kant. He says, after Kant, metaphysics in its traditional forms came to an end. However, in the linguistic sense, post-metaphysical thinking may imply a return to metaphysics in its new forms thereby repairing any damage to the field of metaphysics wrought by the conflict between the advocates of traditional metaphysics and contemporary metaphysics (p.43). For him, the idea of postmetaphysics is not bad as it still does not only reject metaphysics but it tries to present a new way of metaphysical reflection about issues in the modern and contemporary societies. It gives contextual meaning with the aim of revealing truth in discourse.  The Unconcealement of truth in the Postmetaphysical Era Philosophy involves multiple brands of information, evaluation and conclusion. If we consider philosophy as a way of thinking like any other form of thinking in human history, which patterns to the most general features of being in the universe. We shall discover that there are always discoveries in the field of thinking, for example, J. Habermas in explaining postmetaphysics says; First, postmetaphysical thinking is something that has developed from specific social and historical processes. Postmetaphysical philosophy is not merely a philosophical method but a philosophical movement that evolved in response to critiques of Copyright © ISRG Publishers. All rights Reserved. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17813200 324 what came before. And secondly, it is not a normative empty historical development. Postmetaphysical thinking reflects an acceptance of principled critiques of earlier, more metaphysical approaches to philosophical questions(B. Fultner, 2011., pg. 3536). One of this new and ancient discovery in the field of philosophising or thinking is what has been called postmetaphysics. According to J. Habermas the concept postmetaphysics is a form of philosophy that has developed from the specific social and historical processes(B. Fultner, 2011). For Barbara, postmetaphysics is a way of thinking in his understanding of Habermas. Habermas holds that postmetaphysics is just a philosophical method of thinking in the modern society but that it is also a philosophical movement that evolved in a response of what came before(p.35). Barbara highlights two distinct meanings of the term postmetaphysics first from the perspective of Habermas as above, and second phase he explains that postmetaphysics is not a normatively empty historical development but a development of thinking in the specialty of metaphysics(p.36). To Habermas this way of thinking is a reflection of the acceptance of the critical evaluations of the principles of earlier thinkers with the employment of a metaphysical approach to philosophical questions (p.36). According to Habermas, there has been no alternative to postmetaphysical thinking; to him it has been a period of postmetaphysics from Hegel (J. Habermas, 1992., p.39). To him it is a philosophy that develops from partial social and historical processes to reveal the truth. Habermas describes postmetaphysics as a philosophical movement that emerged and developed as a response to the criticism of what came before the age of the criticism, which enable us to know the truth in animus circumstances (F. Barbara, 2011., pg.35-36). This can be seen when Habermas says; Metaphysical thinking in the past was stucked, he holds that historical figures like Plato, Plotinus up to Hegel had stucked up Metaphysical thinking while concealing truth. Ancient materialism and Skepticism, late-medieval nominalism and modern empiricism are antimetaphysical counter movements but they remain within the horizon set by metaphysics itself to unconceal truth (J. Habermas, 1992., p.29). Postmetaphysical philosophy is therefore a philosophy which sprung from the change that philosophy has experienced based on criticism of previous philosophized concepts in philosophy and metaphysics. Postmetaphysics thinking in Habermas view is a philosophy which can be described in the light of the deep social practice of philosophy in our contemporary society in the search of truth. These points in his postmetaphysical thinking can be divided into the detranscendentalism use of reason, rational reconstruction, weak transcendentalism, context-transcending validity and soft naturalism (p.29). Habermas rejects the metaphysical pretense of purification from bodily elements to occupy a position above or beyond the world. Rationality is itself embedded in historically conditioned practices, which contain assumptions about the right kinds of questions, the appropriate kinds of evidence, and the legitimate philosophical agendas. By speaking of the “use of reason” Habermas emphasizes a practice of reasoning that is not capable of being purified or rendered neutral of its historical conditions. In this way the subject of knowledge is “detranscendentalized”: finite and only capable of philosophical reflection because she has a wealth of everyday and common-sense knowledge already. The idea of postmetaphysical thinking has some characteristics that could be highlighted in order to make better the understanding of this concept for the better understanding of this work. One of these characteristics is procedural rationality in which transcendental foundation in metaphysics looks for a totality which is rational in itself in the process of unconcealing truth.  Procedural rationality as metaphysical thinking in a Postmetaphysical Era Procedural rationality is thus a procedure of argumentation on how all disciplines can arrive at a truth claim. Rationality is thought as being which organizes the contents of the world from which it can itself be read off, reason is involved with the whole as well as the parts. (pg. 34-35). Reasons are thought of as something formal as long as the rational content evaporates into the validity of results. In a dialogue, philosophy can play its role as an interpreter, not in the sense that it possess true knowledge about the good life but in the sense that it mediates the dialogue between expert knowledge and everyday practices by providing them with a critique and reflection about which rationality should be taken as an orientation toward mutual understanding (pg. 38-39). In this context therefore, philosophy is seen to be comparative in nature, playing the role of the interpreter between disciplines and mediating between them without any claims of true knowledge. Another aspect of postmetaphysics is the situation of reason, the situating of reason. Habermas says: “Today, many areas are dominated by a contextualism that confines all truth claims to the scope of local language games and conventionally accepted rules of discourse and assimilates all standards of rationality to habits or conventions that are only valid in situating” (J. Habermas, 1992., p. 35-35). For him, postmetaphysics considers reason to be finite and something that is socially constructed. The notion of truth is relative and socially constructed with the use of language and other elements. It is a detranscendentalized reason which stands for the end and the spirit of absolute metaphysics by integrating thought based on language(pg.38-39). Thus truth is perspectival and nontranscendental; it is socially constructed with the use of language games. Postmetaphysics is thus a methodology which involves a suspension of metaphysical principles or metaphysical interpretations (G. Shea, 2023). A method of thinking that involves the use of procedural reasoning, reasoning from real or practical life situation, or social reasoning and the reasons behind the social activities and ways of doing things in the society. 3. Postmetaphysical thinking as a disclosure of the valuability of metaphysics The concept in our work is not an antimetaphysical or a concept that aims for the rejection of metaphysics and previous theories but a proposal of new theories that can be able to give rational backings to the problems of the times as faced by the metaphysicians of a particular age (W. Shea, 2022). Postmetaphysics is a theory that seeks to counter the present modern trend of thinking and observation of metaphysics as a science of being with no practical dimension by proposing a new way to look at reality in which Habermas proposed procedural rationality to arrive at truth. For Habermas, Postmetaphysical thinking is the linguistic turn, situating reason, and overcoming logocentrism among the most important motive forces of philosophizing in the twentieth century, in spite of the boundaries between schools, these have led to new insights but also to new prejudices about truth (J. Habermas, 1992., p.28). It seeks to give reasons to the misunderstandings and prejudices of the contemporary period individuated by thinkers and intellectuals in the contemporary society. According to Eduardo Mendieta, postmetaphysical thinking in his understanding of habermas is not a critique of metaphysics but a way to let a modern man understand and study metaphysics successfully in order to know truth (E. Copyright © ISRG Publishers. All rights Reserved. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17813200 325 Mendieta, 2021). Habermas helps philosophy with the concept of postmetaphysical thinking when he explains the relation between postmetaphysics and metaphysics by letting us see what he describes as identity thinking in postmetaphysics in which the conception of the one and the many has a link. This link by which he presences thinking as a logical and ontological or idea and being as one; one is more real in platonic language by saying only ideas are real which is metaphysics, meaning he is using his postmetaphysical philosophy to defend metaphysics in a postmetaphysical era (J. Habermas, 1992., pg.28-37). For Eduardo Mendieta, postmetaphysics as found in the examination of Habermas with the emergence of nominalism and empiricism arise as first philosophy which he describes to either be metaphysics or ontology (E. Mendieta, 2021). This he explains as metaphysical thinking that is holistic and universal which is to be thought of in the contemporary times as a Cartesian, transparent and selfknowing epistemic subject, by which in this way idealism is transformed into the self-puzzling subject (E. Mendieta, 2021). The quest for a holistic outlook demands a different form of life, Habermas does makes this clear in chapter three of his work as he paves the way for being in postmetaphysical thinking essays giving a new face to metaphysics by telling us about identity thinking, the doctrine of ideas or idealism and a strong concept of theory which are all unified in the philosophy of consciousness (J. Habermas, 1992., pg.28-37). Eduardo Mendieta explains that postmetaphysics is an exercise to retrieve metaphysics from the contemporary thinkers and their misunderstandings and prejudices of the true nature of being. For E. Mendieta, Habermas argues that postmetaphysical thinking awakes at the collapse of metaphysical thinking, he says “the later takes in what remains of metaphysical thinking but now chasing and guided by procedural conception of reason that is socially and historical situated: a reason dissolve in a historical conception of an epistemic subject in a linguistically constituted inter-subjectivity that thus leads to a deflation of the extra-ordinary (E. Mendieta, 2021). Postmetaphysical thinking does advance with identity thinking, idealism and a strong concept of theory which gives primacy to the theory of practice, however not entirely to metaphysical thinking. Postmetaphysical thinking aims at the holistic view that brings back the one and the many, the whole and its part in terms of the linguistification of reason. Linguistically achieved understanding which from the outset is inter-subjectively generated. Habermas does end his thinking by saying, philosophy even in its postmetaphysical form will be able neither to replace nor to reform religion as long as religious language is the bearer of semantic contest that is inspiring an ever indispensable (J. Habermas, 1992., pg. 28-37). Finally E. Mendieta says the history of western philosophy and other philosophical traditions that have a genealogy of their events, have been nourished by its millennia dialogue with religion, faith and philosophy, postmetaphysical thinking is thus the continuation of the actual age by the means of a thorough linguistification and alphabetification of reason and inter-subjectivity of reason (E. Mendieta, 2021). According to Shang Nelson, postmetaphysics presence us with a new insight of metaphysical thinking in our era. (S. Nelson, 2020., p.59). Postmetaphysics helps us to understand the value of metaphysics as a science that investigates the heart of reality. In addition to this he says the most and supreme value of metaphysics lies precisely in the fact that it provides us with the ultimate and profound truth about being (p.59). Conclusion Authenticity has a great impact on the study of philosophy for philosophizing is essentially original and personal as it is selfevident in the nature of being; a questioning and replying of man himself. In this respect, William Luijpen declares, philosophy is authentic philosophy only when the individual man himself philosophizes, when he himself raises questions, when he himself attempts to reply, when he himself endeavors to clear away the obstacles to insight (W. Luijpen, 1963., p.5). However, authenticity is neither a matter of being self-centred nor escaping from society. The truth is socially synonymous to the being of authenticity of man. Metaphysics has one major endeavor to reveal the truth of existence and enable man live an authentic life. We have seen that different cultures have world view which can be philosophised on by thinkers. The truth is in the nature of metaphysical thinking, we examined procedural rationality as the application of metaphysical principles to decipher the truth in a postmetaphysical era, an era filled with a sea-change of thinking. A methodology and a way of metaphysically conceiving reality and explaining existence in the postmetaphysical era. We examined the nature of metaphysical thinking with an analysis of the western conception of being and the African conception of vital force. We realized that we have a general principle of metaphysics, however, applied distinctly to various cultures of the world. Thus metaphysics in the quest for truth is both universal and particular in its investigation as general metaphysics and special metaphysics as seen in our work in previous paragraphs. 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