Abstract
Although the principle of “respect for personal autonomy” is largely conceptualized against the background of values of societies that espouse individual liberty, not all societies in the world place a high premium on the place of the individual person. This chapter examines the value of autonomy in bioethics and determines whether other values, such as “communal responsibility” dominant in African settings, are equally valuable in the context of healthcare and health research. It uses elderly care, as a case example, to explore the subtleties of personal autonomy and determine its valuableness in African contexts. In African settings, the care of elderly persons is binding on families and considered a responsibility of their communities. Elderly persons enjoy the privilege of being cared for, and families and communities are responsible for providing care. While some individual persons may choose not to provide the care and some elderly persons may reject care offered, the question remains whether the refusal is morally acceptable or if rejection removes the moral responsibility to provide similar care to others. This chapter will examine the value and place of autonomy in African socio-cultural contexts, barring its already presumed universal value in bioethics.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Akpa-Inyang, F., & Chima, S. C. (2021). South African traditional values and beliefs regarding informed consent and limitations of the principle of respect for autonomy in African communities: A cross-cultural qualitative study. BMC Medical Ethics, 22(1), 111. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12910-021-00678-4
Aristotle. (2009). The Nicomachean Ethics (D. Ross, Trans.). Oxford University Press. Available at: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-nicomachean-ethics-9780199213610?cc=us&lang=en&#. Accessed January 23, 2020.
Ayer, A. J. (1972). Freedom and necessity. In Philosophical essays (pp. 271–284). Springer.
Beauchamp, T. L., & Childress, J. F. (2009). Principles of biomedical ethics. Oxford University Press.
Bujo, B. (2001). Foundations of an African ethic: Beyond the universal claims of western morality. Crossroad Pub.
Bujo, B. (2005). Differentiations in African ethics. In W. Schweiker (Ed.), The Blackwell companion to religious ethics (pp. 423–437). Blackwell Bublishing.
Christman, J. (2004). Relational autonomy, liberal individualism, and the social constitution of selves. Philosophical Studies: An International Journal for Philosophy in the Analytic Tradition, 117(1/2), 143–164.
Coward, H. (2007). South Asian approaches to health care ethics. In R. E. Ashcroft et al. (Eds.), Principles of health care ethics (pp. 134–142). Wiley.
Descartes, R. (1996). Descartes: Meditations on first philosophy: With selections from the objections and replies. Cambridge University Press.
Dworkin, G. (1988). The theory and practice of autonomy. Cambridge University Press.
Elliott, C. (2014). A philosophical disease: Bioethics, culture, and identity. Routledge.
Gyekye, K. (1996). African cultural values: An introduction. Sankofa Publishing Company.
Gyekye, K. (1997). Tradition and modernity: Philosophical reflections on the African experience. Oxford University Press.
Gyekye, K. (2011). African ethics. In E. N. Zalta (Ed.), Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. Available at: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/african-ethics/. Accessed January 23, 2020.
Higgs, P., MacDonald, L., & Ward, M. (1992). Responses to the institution among elderly patients in hospital long-stay care. Social Science & Medicine, 35(3), 287–293.
Hoshino, K. (1997). Bioethics in the light of Japanese sentiments. In Japanese and western bioethics (pp. 13–23). Springer.
Hospers, J. (1972). Human conduct: Problems of ethics. Harcourt, Brace and World.
Kant, I. (1993). Groundwork of the metaphysics of morals. Translated by H.J. Paton. Routledge.
Kant, I. (2002). Critique of practical reason. Hackett Publishing.
Kaphagawani, D. N. (2003). African conceptions of personhood and intellectual identities. In P. H. Coetzee & A. P. J. Roux (Eds.), The African philosophical reader (2nd ed., pp. 169–176). Routledge.
Katz, J. (2002). The silent world of doctor and patient. JHU Press.
LeSage, J., et al. (1989). Learned helplessness. Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 15(5), 8–9.
Macklin, R. (1999). Against relativism: Cultural diversity and the search for ethical universals in medicine. Oxford University Press.
Mbiti, J. S. (1990). African religions & philosophy. Heinemann.
Menkiti, I. A. (1984). Person and community in African traditional thought. In R. A. Wright (Ed.), African philosophy: An introduction (pp. 171–182).
Mill, J. S. (1996). On liberty & the subjection of women. Wordsworth Editions Ltd.
Mkhize, N. (2008). Ubuntu and harmony: An African approach to morality and ethics. In N. Ronald (Ed.), Persons in community: African ethics in a global culture. University of KwaZulu-Natal Press.
Munyaka, M., & Motlhabi, M. (2009). Ubuntu and its socio-moral significance. In M. F. Murove (Ed.), African ethics: An anthology of comparative and applied ethics (pp. 63–84). University of KwaZulu-Natal Press.
Nyström, A. E., & Segesten, K. M. (1994). On sources of powerlessness in nursing home life. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 19(1), 124–133.
Oleson, M., et al. (1994). Quality of life in long-stay institutions in England: Nurse and resident perceptions. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 20(1), 23–32.
p’Bitek, O. (1998). The sociality of self. In E. C. Eze (Ed.), African philosophy: An anthology (pp. 73–74). Blackwell Publishers.
Ray, B. C. (2000). African religions: Symbol, ritual, and community. Prentice Hall.
Raz, J. (1986). The morality of freedom. Clarendon Press.
Rescher, N. (1982). Introduction to value theory. University Press of America.
Rokeach, M. (1973). The nature of human values. Free press.
Shutte, A. (2009). Ubuntu as the African ethical vision. In A. Murove (Ed.), African ethics: An anthology of comparative and applied ethics. University of Kwazulu-Natal Press.
Stoljar, N. (2007). Theories of autonomy. In R. E. Ashcroft et al. (Eds.), Principles of health care ethics. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Tangwa, G. B. (2000). The traditional African perception of a person: Some implications for bioethics. Hastings Center Report, 30(5), 39–43.
Tangwa, G. B. (2010). Elements of African bioethics in a western frame. African Books Collective.
Tangwa, G. B. (2019). African perspectives on some contemporary bioethics problems. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Tauber, A. I. (2005). Patient autonomy and the ethics of responsibility. The MIT Press.
Tempels, P. (1959). Bantu philosophy. Presence Africaine.
Ujewe, S. J. (2012a). Guest editorial: The place of elderly persons and our responsibility for care (Vol. 37, pp. 3–4).
Ujewe, S. J. (2012b). Ought-onomy and African health care: Beyond the universal claims of autonomy in bioethics. University of Otago.
Ujewe, S. J. (2016). Just health care in Nigeria–the foundations for an African ethical framework. University of Central Lancashire.
Ujewe, S. J. (2018). Ought-onomy and mental health ethics: From“ respect for personal autonomy” to“ preservation of person-in-community” in African ethics. Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology, 25(4), E-45.
Wiredu, K. (1992). The moral foundations of an African culture. In H. E. Flack & E. D. Pellegrino (Eds.), African-American perspectives on biomedical ethics. Georgetown University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Ujewe, S.J. (2023). Personal Autonomy and Shared-Value in Bioethics. In: Imafidon, E., Tshivashe, M., Freter, B. (eds) Handbook of African Philosophy. Handbooks in Philosophy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77898-9_7-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77898-9_7-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-77898-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-77898-9
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Religion and PhilosophyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Humanities