JOURNALS

ABSTRACT

This paper attempts to analytically synergize the concept of marriage within the philosophies of Kant, Hegel and traditional African culture, for which marriage is an essential aspect of life. In Kant’s perspective, marriage is a legally binding process of acquiring property that involves the transfer of possession from one person to another based on promise and acceptance. The promises of the parties confer contractual agreement that makes the right against one another possible. Conversely, Hegel claims that marriage is nothing but a contract that entails giving up one's identity; a situation whereby each person in marriage renounces his or her individual self in favour of joining a new personality. Kant was challenged by Hegel’s assertion that marriage is a contract, noting that such interpretation is undesirable because contract is merely an agreement, which is unlikely in the situation of marriage. However, whereas there are a lot to be learnt from Hegel and Kant on the notion of marriage, the paper argues that the appropriate understanding of marriage can be founded in traditional African culture, where marriage entails the coming together of man and woman as a pair to complete each other as complimentary personalities.