Analysing African Ethics

2021 ◽  
pp. 43-62
Author(s):  
Thaddeus Metz
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Moral Theory ◽  
The Other ◽  
Moral Principle ◽  
Analytic Method ◽  
African Ethics ◽  
Moral Judgements ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Moral Philosophers

Chapter 3 spells out the analytic method used in Part II to evaluate theories of right action suggested by the African tradition. The central criteria invoked to ascertain whether a general moral principle counts as African and philosophically justified are the extent to which it entails and explains two classes of intuitions. One sort consists of particular moral judgements that are salient amongst sub-Saharan peoples or at least their philosophical exponents, for instance that reconciliation is the proper end of criminal justice and that consensus is apt in politics. The other sort comprises particular moral judgements widely accepted across the globe, especially as they figure into English-speaking philosophical discussions of morality, e.g., racial epithets are wrong. The (secular) moral theory that best entails and explains these two groups of intuitions is advanced as both African and justified in respect of a multicultural audience of moral philosophers.

Moral justification

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
T.M. Scanlon
Keyword(s):  
Moral Philosophy ◽  
Moral Theory ◽  
The Other ◽  
Moral Justification ◽  
Moral Argument ◽  
Moral Thinking ◽  
Moral Claims ◽  
Moral Philosophers ◽  
The Way

Questions of justification arise in moral philosophy in at least three ways. The first concerns the way in which particular moral claims, such as claims about right and wrong, can be shown to be correct. Virtually every moral theory offers its own account of moral justification in this sense, and these accounts naturally differ from each other. A second question is about the justification of morality as a whole – about how to answer the question, ‘Why be moral?’ Philosophers have disagreed about this, and about whether an answer is even possible. Finally, some philosophers have claimed that justification of our actions to others is a central aim of moral thinking. They maintain that this aim provides answers to the other two questions of justification by explaining the reasons we have to be moral and the particular form that justification takes within moral argument.

Forgiveness-related motives: A structural and cross-cultural approach

2011 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 178-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandrine Ballester ◽  
Fatima Chatri ◽  
Maria Teresa Muñoz Sastre ◽  
Sheila Rivière ◽  
Etienne Mullet
Keyword(s):  
Demographic Characteristics ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
The Other ◽  
Moral Principle ◽  
Cultural Approach ◽  
Meaningful Relationship ◽  
Self Protection

The structure of the motives invoked by people for forgiveness and for unforgiveness was assessed, and the relationships between these motives and demographic characteristics, conceptualizations of forgiveness, forgivingness, personality and culture were examined. Forgiveness appeared to be fueled mainly by three largely independent kinds of motives: having recovered sympathy for a repentant offender, applying a moral principle and preserving a meaningful relationship. Forgiveness may sometimes, however, amount to exploiting the offense for dominating or for challenging the offender as well as others. Unforgiveness appeared to be fueled mainly by persistent anger and indignation, sometimes associated with the desire for self-affirmation and self-protection, and, for a few participants, it was the only response to outgroup members. For each kind of invoked motive a meaningful pattern of relationships with the other measurements, including culture, was found.

THE ADJUDICATION OF HOMICIDE IN COLONIAL GHANA: THE IMPACT OF THE KNOWLES MURDER CASE

2011 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROGER GOCKING
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Gold Coast ◽  
The Other ◽  
Government Official ◽  
Jury Trial ◽  
Legal Counsel ◽  
Capital Crimes ◽  
The Right ◽  
Colonial Government ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACTIn keeping with the law in place in the Colony of Ashanti in 1928, Dr Benjamin Knowles was tried and convicted for the murder of his wife without the benefit of a jury trial or the assistance of legal counsel. His trial and sentencing to death created outrage in both colonial Ghana and the metropole, and placed a spotlight on the adjudication of capital crimes in the colony. Inevitably, there were calls for reform of a system that could condemn an English government official to death without the benefit of the right to trial by a jury of his peers and counsel of his choice. Shortly after the Knowles trial, the colonial government did open up Ashanti to lawyers, and introduced other changes in the administration of criminal justice, but continued to refuse the introduction of jury trial. Nevertheless, the lasting impact of the Knowles trial was to make criminal adjudication in Ashanti, if anything, more lenient than the other area of colonial Ghana, the Gold Coast Colony.

scholarly journals Abraham Lincoln

1882 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 312-343
Author(s):  
Isaac N. Arnold
Keyword(s):  
American History ◽  
Abraham Lincoln ◽  
The Other ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
The Republic ◽  
English Speaking World ◽  
The One

The noblest inheritance we Americans derive from our British ancestors is the memory and example of the great and good men who adorn your history. They are as much appreciated and honoured on our side of the Atlantic as on this. In giving to the English-speaking world Washington and Lincoln we think we repay, in large part, our obligation. Their pre-eminence in American history is recognised, and the republic, which the one founded and the other preserved, has already crowned them as models for her children.

tenet of ubuntu in South (African) ethics

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vhumani Magezi ◽  
Clement Khlopa
Keyword(s):  
Pastoral Care ◽  
South African ◽  
Moral Theory ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Christian Ethics ◽  
African Philosophy ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
African Ethics ◽  
Contemporary Christian ◽  
African Worldview

The notion of ubuntu as a moral theory in the South African and African contexts presents attractive norms of an African worldview that can be articulated and applied to contemporary Christian ethics. The proponents of ubuntu perceive it as an African philosophy based on the maxim, “a person is a person through other persons”, whereby the community prevails over individual considerations. It is not merely an empirical claim that our survival or well-being is causally dependent on others but is in essence capturing a normative account of what we ought to be as human beings. However, ubuntu has shortcomings that make it an impractical notion. Despite its shortcomings, ubuntu has natural ethic potential that enforces and engenders hospitality, neighbourliness, and care for all humanity. This article contributes to further conceptualisation and understanding of the notion of ubuntu and its relationship with hospitality in order to retrieve some principles that can be applied to effective and meaningful pastoral care. The principles drawn from ubuntu are juxtaposed with Christian principles and pastoral care to encourage embodiment of God by pastoral caregivers.

LIBERAL AND CONSERVATIVE VIEWS OF MARRIAGE

Think ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 12 (34) ◽  
pp. 33-56
Author(s):  
Matthew Carey Jordan
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
The World ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
English Speaking World ◽  
Zero Sum ◽  
Hearts And Minds ◽  
Successes And Failures

This essay is about liberal and conservative views of marriage. I'll begin by mentioning that I would really, really like to avoid use of the terms ‘liberal’ and ‘conservative’, but when push comes to shove, I know of no better labels for the positions that will be discussed in what follows. I would like to avoid these labels for a simple reason: many people strongly self-identify as liberals or as conservatives, and this can undermine our ability to investigate the topic in a sane, rational way. Politics, at least in the contemporary English-speaking world, functions a lot like the world of sports. Many people have a particular team to which their allegiance has been pledged, and the team's successes and failures on the field are shared in the hearts and minds of its loyal followers. In my own case – and here, I ask for your pity – I am a fan of the National Football League's Cleveland Browns. As much as I might wish things were otherwise, I rejoice in the Browns' (rare) triumphs and suffer when they lose (which happens frequently). I do not wait to see what happens in the game before I decide which team to cheer for; if it's an NFL game, and I see orange and brown, I know where my allegiance lies. Furthermore, I identify with my fellow Browns fans in a way that I cannot identify with followers of, say, the Pittsburgh Steelers. Clevelanders are my people. We share something, and what we share unites us in opposition to Steeler Nation. Their victories are our defeats. It is a zero-sum game: for one of us to win, the other must lose.

scholarly journals Restorative justice and victims: Not a self-evident relationship

Temida ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antony Pemberton ◽  
Frans Winkel ◽  
Mark Groenhuijsen
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Theoretical Model ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Restorative Justice ◽  
Traumatic Stress ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
The Other ◽  
European Forum ◽  
Victim Services ◽  
Evident Relationship

The two most prominent developments in criminal justice in the last twenty to thirty years are the rise of restorative justice and the recognition and improvement of the position of the victim. The first part of the paper discusses a theoretical model for victims within restorative justice that the researchers at the InterVICT research institute authors of this paper) are developing at this moment. This model incorporates current knowledge from social psychology and studies surrounding traumatic stress and provides a number of hypotheses that will be subsequently evaluated in practice with participants in restorative justice procedures. On the other hand, international legal protocols for restorative justice also lack a consistent victim-oriented perspective. To this end the European Forum for Victim Services has recently published a statement concerning the position of the victim within mediation. The second part of the paper addresses the central issues in this statement. Taken together the paper moves beyond criticism of restorative justice, as it hopes to redirect theory and implementation of restorative justice toward a stronger victim-orientation.

scholarly journals Being Easy to Communicate Might Make Verdicts Based on Confessions More Legitimate

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 203-225
Author(s):  
Hugo Mercier ◽  
Anne-Sophie Hacquin ◽  
Nicolas Claidière
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Circumstantial Evidence ◽  
Common Variant ◽  
Effect Sizes ◽  
Medium Effect ◽  
Criminal Conviction ◽  
Transmission Process ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Judicial Systems

Abstract In many judicial systems, confessions are a requirement for criminal conviction. Even if confessions are intrinsically convincing, this might not entirely explain why they play such a paramount role. In addition, it has been suggested that confessions owe their importance to their legitimizing role, explaining why they could be required even when other evidence has convinced a judge. But why would confessions be particularly suited to justify verdicts? One possibility is that they can be more easily transmitted from one individual to the next, and thus spread in the population without losing their convincingness. 360 English-speaking participants were asked to evaluate the convincingness of one of three justifications for a verdict, grounded either in a confession, eyewitnesses, or circumstantial evidence, and to pass on that justification to another participant, who performed the same task. Then, 240 English-speaking participants evaluated the convincingness of some of the justifications produced by the first group of participants. Compared to the other justifications, justifications based on confessions lost less of their convincingness in the transmission process (small to medium effect sizes). Modeling pointed to the most common forms the justifications would take as they are transmitted, and results showed that the most common variant of the justification based on a confession was more convincing (small to medium effect sizes).

scholarly journals ¿Cómo influye el tamaño del campo de texto en las respuestas a preguntas abiertas? Evidencias de un diseño experimental/The influence of box size on responses to open-ended questions: Results from a split-ballot experiment

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Carmen María León ◽  
Eva Aizpurúa ◽  
David Vázquez
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Questionnaire Design ◽  
The Other ◽  
Visual Design ◽  
Self Administered Questionnaire

RESUMENEl diseño visual de los cuestionarios puede afectar a la calidad de los datos obtenidos, especialmente cuando se formulan preguntas abiertas donde los encuestados responden con sus propias palabras. En este trabajo se analizan los efectos de manipular el tamaño del espacio proporcionado para la respuesta en un conjunto de preguntas abiertas incluidas en un cuestionario auto-administrado sobre opiniones hacia la administración de justicia en España. Para ello se recurrió a un experimento split-ballot, dividiendo la muestra (N = 100) en dos mitades equivalentes que recibieron dos cuestionarios con el mismo contenido, pero con diferentes tamaños de campo de respuesta (pequeño y grande) en 16 preguntas abiertas. Los resultados muestran que los participantes que recibieron campos de texto grandes escribieron un mayor número de palabras en sus respuestas. Sin embargo, la manipulación en el campo de texto no influyó en 1) el número de temas abordados; ni en 2) el tiempo empleado para cumplimentar los cuestionarios. Sobre la base ABSTRACTThe visual design of questionnaires can affect the quality of the data obtained, especially when asking open-ended questions that respondents answer in their own words. In this paper, we analyze the effects of manipulating the size of the text boxes provided for answers to a set of open-ended questions in a self-administered questionnaire about opinions of the Criminal Justice system in Spain. For this, a split-ballot experiment was conducted dividing the sample (N = 100) into two equivalent halves. One half received questionnaires with small box sizes for the answers to the 16 open-ended questions while the other half received questionnaires with larger box sizes. The content on the questionnaires was the same. The results showed that those participants who received larger text boxes provided longer answers. However, manipulation of the text box did not influence 1) the number of issues addressed; or 2) response times. The results and their implications for questionnaire design are discussed.

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