Machine generated contents note: -- Introduction. Ethics On The African Continent -- 1. African Philosophy -- 2. Religion And Ethics In Africa -- 3. African Creation Myths And The Hierarchy Of Beings -- 4. The African Ritual Of Animal Slaughter -- 5. Traditional African Perceptions And Current Practices -- Taboos, Totemism And Spiritualism -- 6. Ubuntu/ Botho/ Hunhu And Non-Human Animals -- 7. Ukama And African Environmentalism -- 8. Animals And The Law In East, West And Southern Africa -- 9. Environmental Justice -- 10. From Anthropocentrism Towards A Non-Speciesist Africa?.
Summary:
"African ethics is primarily concerned with community and harmonious communal relationships. The claim is frequently made on behalf of African moral beliefs and customs that African society does not objectify and exploit nature and natural existents, unlike Western moral attitudes and practices. This book investigates whether this claim is correct by examining religious and philosophical thought, as well as traditional cultural practices in Africa. Through exploration of what kind of status is reserved for other-than-human animals in African ethics, Horsthemke argues that moral perceptions and attitudes on the African continent remain resolutely anthropocentric, or human-centred. Although values like ubuntu (humanness) and ukama (relationality) have been expanded to include nonhuman nature, animals have no rights, and human duties to them are almost exclusively 'indirect'. Animals and African Ethics concludes by asking whether those who, following their own liberation, continue to exploit and oppress other creatures, are not thereby contributing to their own dehumanization. "-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.