FROM HIERARCHIES TO ONTOLOGICAL FIELDS: RETHINKING HUMAN NEEDS THROUGH MASLOW AND IGBO METAPHYSICS

Abstract

This research reconsiders dominant hierarchical models of human needs by interrogating their philosophical assumptions and proposing an alternative ontological framework. The problem addressed is that Abraham Maslow’s hierarchical representation of human needs, though influential, conceptualizes human life primarily through linear stages of satisfaction, thereby obscuring the metaphysical depth and relational complexity of human existence. Employing a philosophical method that combines critical analysis and comparative metaphysics, the study examines Maslow’s hierarchy alongside Igbo metaphysical conceptions of personhood, being, and destiny, with particular attention to mmadu (person), onwe (selfhood), chi (destiny), and communal embeddedness. The findings reveal that while Maslow’s hierarchy explains motivational ordering, it inadequately accounts for the simultaneity, relationality, and ontological grounding of human needs. The research concludes by proposing a shift from hierarchical models to ontological fields, in which human needs are understood as interrelated expressions of being rather than as ascending levels of satisfaction, thereby offering a metaphysically richer and culturally grounded re-conceptualization of human needs.