Moral Intuitionism In Africa

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The African metaphysic, to be sure, is a theistic metaphysic; yet it does not nurture a theistic or supernatural ethic. Just as it was their own reflections that led to the creation of a natural religion, so it was their own reflections on living a harmonious and cooperative life in a human society that led to the creation of a ‘natural’ (a humanistic) ethic. Thus, side by side with Africa 's natural religion (or, theology) is a ‘natural’ ethic grounded in human experiences in living together, a society-oriented morality that, thus, arises from the existential conditions in which people conduct their lives. And so it is, that the moral values of the African people have a social and humanistic, rather than a religious, basis and are fashioned …show more content…

The leading idea of moral intuitionism is that it is possible for us to know some particular and general objective moral facts in a non-inferential fashion. In its classic formulations, moral intuitionism was the favoured view of a number of significant British moral theorists in the first part of the twentieth century, including A.C. Ewing, G.E. Moore, H.A. Prichard, Henry Sidgwick, and importantly, W.D. …show more content…

There is a conception of an inner urge relevant to moral practice referred to as conscience creating a sense of guilt in the individual, convicting him or her of wrong deeds. Since response to a moral rule is ultimately an individual or private affair, the notion of conscience is of great importance to our moral life. It is by virtue of this that the notion of self-sanctioning in moral conduct becomes intelligible. Because of its power to induce a sense of guilt, conscience is held to influence the individual 's moral choice, decision, response, and attitude. This is certainly what the ethical intuitionist would refer to as the intuitive mind. Intuitionism says that basic moral truths are objective; that facts involving moral properties are obtained independently of us, insofar as they do not depend on our actual or hypothetical beliefs or attitudes, provided that the facts in question do not involve these beliefs or attitudes

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