Overview
Contributes to the emerging field of African bioethics
Articulates a personhood-based theory of dignity
Applies this theory to select bioethical issues: abortion and euthanasia
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Table of contents (4 chapters)
Keywords
About this book
This book articulates an African conception of dignity in light of the salient axiological category of personhood in African cultures. The idea of personhood embodies a moral system for evaluating human lives exuding with virtue or ones that are morally excellent. This book argues that this idea of personhood embodies an under-explored conception of dignity, which accounts for it in terms of our capacity for the virtue of sympathy. It then proceeds to apply this personhood-based conception of dignity to bioethical questions, specifically, those of abortion and euthanasia. Regarding abortion, it concludes that it is impermissible since foetuses possess partial moral status. Regarding euthanasia, it argues that it is permissible for reasons revolving around avoiding the reversing of personhood. It also, though, minimally, touches on the questions regarding the mentally disabled and animals, to which it assigns lower moral status.
Reviews
“A welcome contribution to the literature on African Philosophy. Motsamai Molefe’s important book is an innovative approach to bioethical questions, which challenges the cognitive empire from the Global North and looks South for moral guidance on moral questions regarding abortion and euthanasia”
—Luís Cordeiro Rodrigues, Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Hunan University, China
"A bold inquiry into some of the ethical dilemmas at the margins of life in which Motsamai Molefe proposes a fresh and alternative perspective on dignity for those who are interested in the practical implications of an African approach to personhood."
—Oritsegbubemi Oyowe, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, University of the Western Cape, South Africa
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Motsamai Molefe is a senior researcher at the University of Fort Hare, South Africa.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: An African Ethics of Personhood and Bioethics
Book Subtitle: A Reflection on Abortion and Euthanasia
Authors: Motsamai Molefe
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46519-3
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Religion and Philosophy, Philosophy and Religion (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-46518-6Published: 31 May 2020
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-46521-6Published: 31 May 2021
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-46519-3Published: 30 May 2020
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XIII, 136
Topics: Non-Western Philosophy, Bioethics, Moral Philosophy