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Monash Bioethics Review

, Volume 36, Issue 1–4, pp 36–53 | Cite as

Addiction in the light of African values: Undermining vitality and community

  • Thaddeus MetzEmail author
Original Article
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Abstract

I address the question of what makes addiction morally problematic, and seek to answer it by drawing on values salient in the sub-Saharan African philosophical tradition. Specifically, I appeal to life-force and communal relationship, each of which African philosophers have at times advanced as a foundational value, and spell out how addiction, or at least salient instances of it, could be viewed as unethical for flouting them. I do not seek to defend either vitality or community as the best explanation of when and why addiction is immoral, instead arguing that each of these characteristically African values grounds an independent and plausible account of that. I conclude that both vitalism and communalism merit consideration as rivals to accounts that western ethicists would typically make, according to which addiction is immoral insofar as it degrades rationality or autonomy, as per Kantianism, or causes pain or dissatisfaction, à la utilitarianism.

Keywords

Addiction African ethics Communal relationship Drugs Gambling Life-force Sub-Saharan morality Ubuntu Vitality 
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Copyright information

© Monash University 2018

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Department of PhilosophyUniversity of JohannesburgAuckland ParkSouth Africa

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