African perspectives of moral status: a framework for evaluating global bioethical issues
Date
2022
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Medical Humanities
Abstract
This paper offers an African perspective on moral status
grounded on an understanding of personhood. These
concepts are key to understanding the differences in
emphasis and the values at play when global ethical
issues are analysed within the African context. Drawing
from African philosophical reflections on the descriptive
and normative concepts of personhood, I propose a dual
notion of subject-object moral status. I explain how
object moral status, duties owed to persons, is differently
grounded with respect to subject's moral status, which
refers to communally directed agency. This distinction
influences the African way of conceptualising and
addressing ethical issues, where, without ignoring rights
of persons, moral consideration about the agency of
Righteousness is often factored into ethical deliberation.
As a practical example, I look at the debate surrounding
legal access to safe abortion on the African continent. I
suggest a Gadamerian approach to diffuse the tensions
that sometimes arise between universalist advocates of
rights and cultural decolonizationists.
Description
Research Article
Keywords
bioethical issues, global, African