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Title Toward an African moral theory
Full text http://hdl.handle.net/10210/2416
Date 2009
Author(s) Metz, Thaddeus
Abstract The Journal of political philosophy, 15(3): 321-341, 2007 - In this article I articulate and defend an African moral theory, i.e., a basic and general principle grounding all particular duties that is informed by sub-Saharan values commonly associated with talk of "ubuntu" and cognate terms that signify personhood or humanness. The favoured interpretation of ubuntu is the principle that an action is right insofar as it respects harmonious relationships, ones in which people identify with, and exhibit solidarity toward, one another. I maintain that this is the most defensible moral theory with an African pedigree and that it should be developed further with an eye to rivalling dominant Western theories such as utilitarianism and Kantianism.
Subject(s) African ethics; Sub-Saharan morality; Normative ethics; Right action
Language en
Type of publication Article
Rights Copyright approved by The Journal of political philosophy
Repository Johannesburg - University of Johannesburg
Added to C-A: 2014-05-15;14:09:40