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Western Culture And Yoruba Ethics: A Philosophical Analysis
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 3]
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CHAPTER ONE
YOURBA AND WESTERN ETHICS
1.1. ETHICS
There are many actions which we will condemn as morally wrong and ought not to be done by anybody, for example, stealing, murder, bribery aimed robbery and corruption e.t.c there are also certain actions which everybody considers as morally good e.g kindness, honesty, respect for elders, hospitality e.t.c. Now, why do we say that certain actions are good or right and we see others as bad or wrong¬¬? How do we determine the badness or wrongness and goodness or rightness of certain actions?.
To answer these questions and the likes, we need a science, which deals with human conduct. The science which deals with human conduct is regarded as ethics1. Ethics is therefore a yardstick used for measuring the goodness or rightness and wrongness or badness of certain actions or conducts.
1.2. ETHICAL UNIVERSALISM
Ethical universalism states that ethical judgment no matter the degree ought to be universalisable. Thus ethical universalism states that one single ethical standard of judgment ought to be held throughout the world.
With ethical Universalist, all actions are to be taken as common to all. This theory or concept claims that for example, an action which is judged “right†or “wrong†“good†or “badâ€, “praise worthy†or “blame worthy†in Western countries, ought to be able to accept the same claim among the Yoruba people here in Nigeria.
1.3 ETHICAL RELATIVISIM
“ Ethical relativism shows diversity or variation of a group or an individual morality. Judgment on mortality in this case depends on individual human conductâ€2. However, it is important to know that ethical relativism is contingent on some other basic factors. These include cultural historical and class distinction of an individual or a society. Ethical universalism claims that one single ethical or moral standard of judgment ought to be upheld throughout the universe, while ethical relativism claims, that on the other hand, that whatever action is judged to be praise worthy or blame worthy is relative to individual or a society in a period of time or circumstance.
1.4 CULTURAL UNIVERSALISM.
The term cultural has been defined in various ways, for example, culture has been defined as; ‘’Every broad general principle of selectivity and ordering --- “highest common factor†---- in terms of patterns of and for and about behaviour in every various areas of culture content are reducible to parsimonious generalization’’3.
From the above definition, its quiet clear that culture can emerge not only from tradition and customs of a given society. It could also be acquired and incorporated into ones existing culture in many other different ways. These other ways include the process by which a person acquires from or a group of persons acquire from contact with other person or group of persons. Like ethical universalism, this theory says that all cultures must be universalizable. What cultural universalism emphasizes is, that if a country ‘’A’’ claims that it is justified to practice culture ‘’Y’. Then if country ‘’A’’s or society ‘’A’’s claim were consistent, it must be agreed upon that other societies or countries ‘’A1’, ‘’A2’’, ‘’A3’’, ----, ‘’An; would be similarly justified to practice culture ‘’Y’’ in situation ‘’R’’. To do otherwise, would be to make an odd claim.
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 3]
Page 1 of 3
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