Individualistic Versus Relational Ethics – A Contestable Concept for (African) Philosophy (original) (raw)
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Relational Ethics and Partiality A Critique of Thad Metz's 'Towards an African Moral Theory'
In this article, I question the plausibility of Metz's African moral theory from an oft neglected moral topic of partiality. Metz defends an Afro-communitarian moral theory that posits that the rightness of actions is entirely definable by relationships of identity and solidarity (or, friendship). I offer two objections to this relational moral theory. First, I argue that justifying partiality strictly by invoking relationships (of friendship) ultimately fails to properly value the individual for her own sake -this is called the 'focus problem' in the literature. Second, I argue that a relationship-based theory cannot accommodate the agent-related partiality since it posits some relationship to be morally fundamental. My critique ultimately reveals the inadequacy of a relationship-based moral theory insofar as it overlooks some crucial moral considerations grounded on the individual herself in her own right.
Two Conceptions of African Ethics.pdf
I focus on D. A. Masolo’s discussion of morality as characteristically understood by African philosophers. My goals are both historical and substantive. First, with regard to history, I argue that Masolo’s analysis of sub-Saharan morality suggests two major ways that the field has construed it, de- pending on which value is taken to be basic. According to one view, the ultimate aim of a moral agent should be to improve people’s quality of life, which she can reliably do by entering into community with other persons, while the other view is that com- munity should instead be valued for its own sake, with the enhancement of welfare being morally relevant only insofar as it is part of that. I claim that Masolo does not indicate a clear awareness of how these two perspectives differ and is not explicit about how they relate to one another. After pointing out that Masolo is not alone in these respects, I, second, draw what is meant to be a definitive, clear distinction be- tween the two ethical philosophies, and then provide strong reason to prefer the com- munity-based conception of sub-Saharan ethics to the welfare-based one.
Individualism in African Moral Cultures
This article repudiates the dichotomy that African ethics is communitarian (relational) and Western ethics is individualistic. " Communitarianism " is the view that morality is ultimately grounded on some relational properties like love or friendship; and, " individualism " is the view that morality is ultimately a function of some individual property like a soul or welfare. Generally, this article departs from the intuition that all morality including African ethics, philosophically interpreted, is best understood in terms of individualism. But, in this article, I limit myself to the literature in the African moral tradition; and, I argue that it is best construed in terms of individualism contrary to the popular stance of communitarianism. I defend my view by invoking two sorts of evidences. (1) I invoke prima facie evidence, which shows how both secular and religious moral thinkers in the tradition tend to understand it in individualistic terms. And, (2) I invoke concrete evidence, I show that the two terms that can be said to be definitive features of African ethical framework, namely: personhood and dignity, are individualistic. I conclude by considering possible objections against my defense of individualism as a central feature of African ethics.
A Duty to Explore African Ethics (uncorrected proof)
It has become increasingly common to point out that African morality is under-represented in ethical theorizing. However, it is less common to find arguments that this under-representation is unjustified. This latter claim tends to be simply assumed. In this paper I draw together arguments for this claim. In doing so, I make the case that the relative lack of attention paid to African moral ideas conflicts with epistemic and ethical values. In order to correct these shortcomings, moral theorists, broadly construed as including descriptive and normative disciplines, have a duty to engage with and actively explore African moral ideas. I claim that Moral Foundations Theory is well suited to a descriptive exploratory project, and could provide a significant contribution to normative, African-derived moral theories that could be epistemically and ethically superior to their Western counterparts.
CULTURE A FUNDAMENTAL MORAL ESSENCE OF AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY
IBE journals of Philosophy, KSU Anyigab , 2023
The notion of morality within the African society is embedded in their ideas and beliefs of nature and their interaction with culture, which distinguish wrong from rights, what is ought to be good or bad as characterized within the frame work of their cultures. It is also embedded in the conceptions of satisfactory social relations and attitudes held by the members of the society. Thus, for clear understanding of this idea, this work adopted an analytic method. This method was specifically chosen to analyze, the moral foundations in African as embedded in its culture, religion and rationality. This work concludes that, a lively concern in moral philosophy among contemporary African philosophers is to clarify and evaluate the claims of individuality in the context of African communitarianism, because, the African person is naturally moral by nature. Key Words: African, African philosophy, Being, Culture, Justice, Morality,
A Rejection of Humanism in African Moral Tradition
In this article, I motivate for the view that the best account of the foundations of morality in the African tradition should be grounded on some relevant spiritual property -a view that I call 'ethical supernaturalism'. In contrast to this position, the literature has been dominated by humanism as the best interpretation of African ethics, which typically is accompanied by a direct rejection of 'ethical supernaturalism' and a veiled rejection of non-naturalism (Gyekye 1995: 129-43; Metz 2007: 328; Wiredu 1992: 194-6). Here primarily, by appeal to methods of analytic philosophy, which privileges analysis and (moral) argumentation, I set out to challenge and repudiate humanism as the best interpretation of African ethics; I leave it for a future project to develop a fully fledged African spiritual meta-ethical theory.
African and Western Moral Theories in a Bioethical Context
Developing World Bioethics, 2010
The field of bioethics is replete with applications of moral theories such as utilitarianism and Kantianism. For a given dilemma, even if it is not clear how one of these western philosophical principles of right (and wrong) action would resolve it, one can identify many of the considerations that each would conclude is relevant. The field is, in contrast, largely unaware of an African account of what all right (and wrong) actions have in common and of the sorts of factors that for it are germane to developing a sound response to a given bioethical problem. My aim is to help rectify this deficiency by first spelling out a moral theory grounded in the mores of many sub-Saharan peoples, and then applying it to some major bioethical issues, namely, the point of medical treatment, free and informed consent, standards of care and animal experimentation. For each of these four issues, I compare and contrast the implications of the African moral theory with utilitarianism and Kantianism, my overall purposes being to highlight respects in which the African moral theory is distinct and to demonstrate that the field should take it at least as seriously as it does the Western theories.
This article explores the question whether African ethics is best captured in terms of partiality or impartiality. I take one influential instance of a defence of impartiality in the African tradition, sympathetic impartiality, by Kwasi Wiredu, and I use it as a foil to represent African ethics. I argue that impartiality, as represented by Wiredu, fails to cohere with moral intuitions characteristic of African moral thought, namely: the high prize usually accorded to the family, veneration of ancestors and the notion of personhood. I merely touch on the first two intuitions; I base my argument largely on the normative concept of personhood that is considered to be definitive of African moral thought.