An Overview of African Ethics

Abstract

In this chapter I critically discuss work in sub-Saharan moral philosophy that has been written in English in the post-independence era. (I set aside Francophone texts, as they have not been nearly as influential in ethics as they have been in metaphysics and method.) I begin by providing an overview of the profession (section “Nature and History of the Profession”), after which I consider some of the major issues in normative ethics, particularly concerning the nature of good character (section “Normative Ethics: Good and Bad Character”) and right action (section “Normative Ethics: Right and Wrong Action”). Then, I discuss some of the more noteworthy research in applied ethics (section “Applied Ethics”), and finally take up the key issues in metaethics (section “Metaethics”). My aim is to highlight discussions that should be of interest to an ethicist working anywhere in the world and to focus on ideas characteristic of the sub-Saharan region that are under-appreciated not merely for the purpose of comparative ethics, but also for substantive moral argumentation. In particular, there are communitarian and vitalist approaches to the good and the right commonly held by sub-Saharan philosophers that international scholars should take seriously as genuine rivals to the utilitarian, Kantian, social contract, divine command, care-oriented and Aristotelian outlooks that dominate global discussions of how to be and act.

This chapter is a revised and substantially expanded version of ‘African Ethics’, initially published in Hugh LaFollette, ed., The International Encyclopedia of Ethics. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2015, 1–9.