Lesson 2. Sources of Ethics in Africa
Ethics come from philosophy. They are closely related to values. You have already learned that sources are learnt in families and the community.
Philosophy refers to the understanding, attitude of mind, logic and perception behind the manner in which people think, act or speak in different situations of life. Mbiti, 1969, p. 2
If theories are like century-old roots of trees, then philosophy is the ageless soil on which those roots are nourished, moistened and supported.
ASWDNet, 2021
A philosophy contains a society’s deep thoughts and ways of looking at life. It shapes how people think about the family, community, society, environment and spirituality. It shapes how people think about reality, existence, reason, knowledge, religion, truth, race, values, mind, behaviour, justice and language. In the chain of knowledge, a philosophy sits above theories. Theories are derived from philosophy. A society usually has one philosophy. Basically, each continent has its one overarching philosophy.
Africa’s overarching philosophy is called Ubuntu. Ubuntu belongs to all who inherited it, and it can not be attributed to one individual author, one community or one country. ASWDNet, 2021
What you need to know about African philosophy
- Basically, African philosophy belongs to the community, there are usually no individual philosophers. The individual philosophers have only expanded community ideas.
- Ubuntu philosophy is largely not written, it exist in different non-written formats.
- Some philosophers who have translated ubuntu philosophy to written literature, and these include:
- John Samuel Mbiti (1931-2019) – Africanism (ubuntu) and the Philosophy of African Religion
- Kenneth Buchizya Kaunda (1921-2021) – African Humanism (Ubuntu)
- Lovemore Mbigi – Ubuntu management philosophy
- Colonialism resulted in African philosophy and philosophers being overridden by western philosophies.
- More often than not, African writers, lecturers, teachers, researchers, librarians, reviewers and students know western or eastern philosophies than their own philosophies. This is a legacy of colonialism.
Philosophy shapes how we think about social work, how we define social problems and the interventions that we put in place.
ASWDNet, 2021
Whose fault is it if no one knows about the philosophy of your grandfather and mine? Is it not your fault and mine? We are the intellectuals of (Africa). It is our business to distill this philosophy and set it out for the world to see. Samkange, 1980