Admin Identifying ethical issues Ethics and philosophy The African worldview Ubuntu as an ethical theory

Transcription

1 23 July 2014

2 Admin Identifying ethical issues Ethics and philosophy The African worldview Ubuntu as an ethical theory

3 Please sign a register before you leave Make sure you catch up anything if you missed previous lectures Consultation times: speak to me before you arrive! o Richards Bay: Monday and Wednesday before 12:00 (A2-29) o KwaDlangezwa: By appointment only (Arts Building, level 5) No or study guides yet.

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5 Finding an ethical issue is different from giving an answer. All this involves is finding a problem and putting it into a clear sentence. An ethical issue is a question about what course of action is right or wrong. An ethical issue might arise out of a situation when a moral decision needs to be made o We identify these in order to guide our ethical decision making. or when we are trying to evaluate a decision. o We identify these in order to judge whether a decision that has already been made was right or wrong. Ethical questions can be framed broadly o Is killing always wrong? or more specifically. o o Is it wrong to kill an intruder in self-defence? Is abortion killing and, if so, is it wrong?.

6 Now that we ve seen how to identify ethical issues, why do we need ethical theories? What is the point of having an ethical theory or thinking about different ethical theories? An ethical theory gives us a principle or standard for to tell the difference between rightness or wrongness. In this way, an ethical theory can provide an answer to an ethical issue or question. This can guide our moral decision making, and assist us in choosing an ethical course of action.

7 Our central focus in this course is the strange word, ethics. Ethics is a theory or principle used to make moral judgments (moral decisions). As such, an ethical theory brings together what is common in all moral judgments. o NOTE: There are more than one ethical theory or principle! Moral judgments say whether something is right or wrong, good or bad. Ethics, therefore, is the study of rightness and wrongness. For example, think about what all these moral judgments have in common: o o o Killing someone for money is wrong. Stealing is bad. You should always keep your promises. Perhaps we could say that what all these moral judgments have in common is that they apply the principle: Do to others as you would have them do to you.

8 What does description mean? What does prescription mean? What is the difference? Is vs. ought. We can talk about moral judgments normatively or descriptively. o o Killing someone for money is wrong. It is good to study hard for exams. Three important things to bear in mind while discussing ethics: There is almost always a difference between how things are (how we can describe the world) and how things should be (how we can say the world ought to be). ought implies can. What is LEGAL and what is ETHICAL are not always the same thing.

9 Philosophy is not dead. It didn t end with the death of Aristotle, and it certainly is not irrelevant today. At the moment, Oxford University (UK) employs over 150 philosophers! People who are trained in philosophy go into diverse fields, from art, music and film, to law, medicine and research. What you re going to be thinking about in ethics is part of a WORLDWIDE and ANCIENT debate. And it s still going on.

10 Socrates (470 BC) Aristotle (384 BC) Plato (428 BC)

11 Augustine (354) Thomas Aquinas (1225)

12 Descartes Leibniz David Hume

13 Immanuel Kant Friedrich Nietzsche G. W. F. Hegel

14 Ludwig Wittgenstein Martin Heidegger Bertrand Russell

15 Hilary Putnam John McDowell Jean-Luc Marion

16 Ethics is a branch of philosophy. Philosophy is the oldest academic subject, and ethics is one of the oldest areas of philosophy. Philosophy asks the most fundamental and important questions about life, knowledge, politics, science, religion, language, etc. Specifically, it asks normative (prescriptive) questions (which are not empirical), and thereby seeks to find normative answers (which are also not empirical). Ethics tries to give normative answers to our actions, what we do. Other important areas of philosophy are logic, epistemology, metaphysics and philosophy of language.

17 Have any of you thought about what your ethical principle or theory is? What do you think all right actions have in common? What is your ethical theory? Ethics is a theory or principle used to make moral judgments (moral decisions). As such, an ethical theory brings together what is common in all moral judgments. Moral judgments say whether something is right or wrong, good or bad. Ethics, therefore, is the study of moral rightness and wrongness.

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19 What do you take the term African philosophy to mean? How can we translate ubuntu? Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu. Who can have ubuntu? Can I have ubuntu? Can ubuntu even be considered an ethical theory?

20 Before we look at ubuntu as an ethical theory, we will build a specific understanding of community and person. These concepts form the starting point for our discussion of ubuntu, since they are the intellectual context that grounds ubuntu. African aphorisms/proverbs: 1. It takes a village to raise a child. o Think of the responsibility of the village and the identity of the child. 2. A man who uses force is afraid of reasoning. o What is the communal value of reasoning over violence? 3. A single stick may smoke, but it will not burn. 4. A family is like a forest, when you are outside it is dense, when you are inside you see that each tree has its place. [Take note of the metaphorical (figurative) language used.] What do these sayings tell us about African values, beliefs and priorities?

21 African philosophy: sub-saharan Africa; excludes North Africa. At the core of the African world-view is a regard of community as the highest goal and final good. Deepening community relationships is the end of all life s activities; it has non-instrumental value. Instrumental (extrinsic) value: value that something has because it depends on something else. o It is not valuable on its own. Intrinsic (non-instrumental) value: value that something has essentially, by itself. o It is valuable on its own. This focus will help explain and interpret those African proverbs and understand core African values.

22 Why does the idea of community plays such an important role in the African world-view? Only through a community can one fully realise one s humanity. Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu: Becoming your true and full self can only be brought about through other people. This has no further aim, it is not a means to anything else. o Harmony, friendliness, community are great goods. Social harmony is for us [Africans] the summum bonum the greatest good. Tutu o Social harmony is a characteristic of a healthy community.

23 What exactly is a community? What is your definition of a community? Community is a complex or a compound. o It is made up of many parts people, and other things. Community is natural or organic. o Harm or remove one part and the whole is also harmed. o It s not a complex in the same way as a machine, or a collection, for example A community is a unity of uniquely personal kind. Community: con-spiring; literally together-breathing. United to the very centre of their being.

24 A person is a person through other persons. o What is the relationship between a person and the broader community? Community has different strata (levels). o Individual o Family o Clan o Ancestors o Humanity Community even goes beyond groups of people: o Includes a relation to earth, as the home of community.

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26 There is a story of African and German nuns in a convent somewhere in Africa. All nuns, African and German, would be given tasks and work to complete throughout the day. At the end of the day, they would use their spare time differently. German sisters spent their spare time being productive. African sisters spent their spare time in conversation with others. Their hands were empty, but their hearts and minds were full. Shutte The German nuns criticised the African nuns and said that they were lazy. But the African nuns thought the Germans were barbarians who had no heart for the other people they lived with. What do you think this example tells us of African and Western worldviews?

27 Western community Based on materialist thought, community is artificially invented. Instrumental: Meant to organise and control people. Collectivist [collection]; a random set of many. Abstract. African community Community is natural, like a kind of organism. Non-Instrumental: The context in and through which one can realise (complete) one s humanity. Communal [common union]; singular. Personal. One can only do justice to the African conception of community by visualising it as a single person. Shutte Your own experiences? Funerals, weddings, church services.

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29 Now let s get to ubuntu as a normative ethical theory, as a theory that tell us how we ought to live our life. Harmony, friendliness, community are great goods. Social harmony is for us [Africans] the summum bonum the greatest good. Tutu Is this a normative or descriptive statement? Everything that promotes personal growth and participation in community is good, everything that prevents it is bad. Shutte Is this statement normative or descriptive? Why?

30 We have a prescription or obligation to move more into community with others. How is this done? How can we increase personal growth and participation in community by our actions? Health (physical, psychological) Communal virtues and values o Self-concerned virtues (education, patience, courage ) o Other-concerned virtues (friendliness, kindness, generosity ) o Negative virtues? (Preventing harm to the community) o Age (the greater your age, the more wisdom you can impart in the community) What other African values can you think of?

31 Failing to act according to ubuntu has negative consequences for everyone, not just yourself. o Community is singular, so if one part is harmed then everyone is affected. o If one person benefits, it is good for all. Tutu: Dehumanising another necessarily dehumanises yourself. o Apartheid wasn t just bad for black people. o The government was also dehumanising itself by behaving inhumanely. Ubuntu means that my humanity is caught up, is inextricably bound up, in theirs. o I belong, therefore I am.

32 There is never a fully realised community. Ubuntu gives us a vision of an ideal; a thought of perfection and fulfilment. Do Africans always act in accordance with ubuntu? o Rwanda in 1994 o Marikana 2012

33 What are some things Africans hold to be wrong or immoral? 1. Making policy decisions in the face of dissent, as opposed to seeking consensus. o Consensus valued, everyone should buy into the decision. o Achieved through discussion. o Majority rule not enough.

34 2. Making retribution a fundamental and central aim of criminal justice, as opposed to seeking reconciliation. o Retribution: punishment for breaking rules. o Reconciliation: mend broken relationships; restorative. o TRC.

35 3. Creating wealth largely on a competitive basis, as opposed to a cooperative one. o Land held in common, labour done for the benefit of the community. o Wealth is not amassed for oneself. o Resistance to Western captialism: brash competitiveness, commercialism, individualism, purely economic logic. o Sympathetic towards Western socialism.

36 4. Distributing wealth largely on the basis of individual rights as opposed to need. o Western thinking holds helping others as being generous. o African thinking views helping others more as an obligation. o If you have two cows and the milk of the first cow is sufficient for your own consumption, Ubuntu expects you to donate the milk of the second cow to your underprivileged brothers and sisters. Walter Sisulu o May take food without consent.

37 5. Ignoring others and violating communal norms, as opposed to acknowledging others, upholding tradition and partaking in rituals. o Story of the African and German nuns. o We have an obligation to engage with others and support each other.

38 6. Failing to marry and procreate, as opposed to creating a family. o Extend family relationships by having children. o Polygamy? o Not simply the claim that you must look after your family. o Rather, it is important to have a family in the first place.

39 Tutu: Harmony, friendliness, community are great goods. Social harmony is for us the summum bonum the greatest good. Anything that subverts or undermines this sought-after good is to be avoided like the plague. Shutte: Everything that promotes personal growth and participation in community is good, everything that prevents it is bad. How can this guide our behaviour?

40 Speaking of social harmony or discord is very metaphorical. What does it mean to live in harmony? Harmony means acting on good-will to increase shared identity. Shared identity: Regarding yourself as part of a group, having the group recognise you as a part of it, share common goals, work together in achieving goals. Good-will: Desiring that others benefit from your actions, believing others are worthy of benefit, willing to sacrifice for others benefit, and empathising with their happiness and injury. Thaddeus Metz: An action is right just insofar as it promotes shared identity among people grounded on good-will; an act is wrong to the extent that it fails to do so and tends to encourage the opposites of division and ill-will.

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42 Tutu argues that ubuntu was at the basis of the TRC. o The TRC gave amnesty (legal pardon) to people who committed crimes under apartheid. Do you think ubuntu is a good way to deal with past injustice? Mark has a family (a wife and two daughters) and a job that he loves. He needs to choose between spending time with his family and getting a promotion. Getting a promotion involves doing his MBA, which will take up all of his spare time after work. Applying ubuntu, What should he do? Do you think we can apply ubuntu when making ethical decisions in today s world?