Abstract
Modern oncology has transformed cancer diagnosis and treatment through molecular pathology, precision diagnostics, targeted therapy, immunotherapy and evidence-based protocols. These advances remain indispensable, especially in a world where cancer continues to be a leading cause of mortality and where the burden is rising unequally across regions. However, the same biomedical orientation that makes oncology scientifically powerful can also narrow the meaning of illness to cellular abnormality, tumour response and survival metrics. This study offered a hermeneutic critique of modern oncology by examining the ontological and epistemological assumptions that shape contemporary cancer care. Drawing on philosophical hermeneutics, medical anthropology and African relational ontology, it argued that cancer is not only a biological event but also a disruption of meaning, identity, temporality, family life and communal belonging. In response, the study proposed an Afroregenerative framework of cancer care. This framework does not reject biomedical oncology or romanticize African communal life. Rather, it re-situated evidence-based treatment within a broader account of the person as embodied, interpretive and relational. Afro-regenerative care therefore understands healing as biological treatment together with the restoration of existential coherence, psychosocial support, relational recognition and meaningful participation in life. The study contributed conceptually to philosophy of medicine, global oncology and intercultural healthcare by expanding the horizon of cancer care beyond disease eradication alone.
Keywords: Modern oncology, African relational ontology, Afro-regenerative care, cancer, healing, psychosocial oncology.
Author Name(s):
Bernadette Chidiebere Uzozie
Department of Philosophy
Tansian University Umunya
08037790735
(https://orcid.org/0009-0005-6527-631X)
DOI Link; https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23090724
Copyright © [2026] The Author(s). Published by the Journal of People and Worldviews (JPW). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Licence, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are properly credited.