The Relevance of Kom Ethics to African Development

Mbih Jerome Tosam

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ijp.20140203.12

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The Relevance of Kom Ethics to African Development

Mbih Jerome Tosam

Published in International Journal of Philosophy (Volume 2, Issue 3)

Received: 24 July 2014 Accepted: 3 August 2014 Published: 20 August 2014

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Abstract

This paper uses the moral philosophy of the Kom people of the North West Region of Cameroon as a paradigm of an African moral thought. The paper hinges on the premise that contrary to some Western ethnographic categorization of Africans as primitive and bereft of the capacity for ratiocination and morality, the concept of good and evil, right and wrong, and virtue and vice, on which morality is embedded, are cultural universals. Kom ethics is essentially communitarian; it prizes interpersonal relations in an interdependent world. An action is right if it promotes the common good, and is wrong if it does not. In this paper I argue that the surest way to African development lies in a critical synthesis of African traditional and Western ethical values. No society which is said to be developed today has done so by completely jettisoning its own values. Development requires adaptation, borrowing and learning from others, and the filtering of values; it does not require the complete rejection of our cultural beliefs, values and practices. The predominant Western ethical values, utilitarianism and Kantianism, have been deficient in proffering solutions to Africa’s development problems. Utilitarianism and Kantianism emphasize respect for individual autonomy, thereby distancing persons from others, and discouraging solidarity with other members of the community. The West has a lot to learn from African indigenous cultures, if she can be open and tolerant as other cultures have been to Western culture because every culture is a borrower and lender.

Published in	International Journal of Philosophy (Volume 2, Issue 3)
DOI	10.11648/j.ijp.20140203.12
Page(s)	36-47
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2014. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Kom, African Ethics, Morality, Solidarity, Common Good, Values, Development

References

[1]	F.W. Hegel, The Philosophy of History, Translated by J. Sibree, Ontario, Batoche Books, 2001, p.114 (available at socserv.mcmaster.ca/econ/ugcm/3ll3/hegel/history, accessed 03/11/2013)
[2]	Valentine Y. Mundimbe, Gnosis, Philosophy and the Order of Knowledge, Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1988, p.x.
[3]	Munyaradzi Felix Murove, “Beyond the Savage Evidence Ethic: A Vindication of African Ethics” in M. Felix Murove (ed.), African Ethics: An Anthology of Comparative and Applied Ethics, Scottsville, University of Kwa-Zulu-Natal Press, 2009, pp.14-32.
[4]	James K. Kigongo “The relevance of African Ethics to Contemporary African Society” in A. T. Dalfovo (ed.), Ethics, Human Rights, and Development in Africa: Ugandan Philosophical Studies, Washington DC, Cultural Heritage and Contemporary Change, Series II, Volume 8, pp. 51-67.
[5]	Barry Hallen, A Short History of African Philosophy, 2nd ed., Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2009, p. 49; see also Kame Gyekye, 1995, An Essay on African Philosophical Thought: The Akan Conceptual Scheme, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1995.
[6]	Kwasi. Wiredu, “The Moral Foundation of an African Culture” in P.H. Coetzee and A. P. J. Roux (eds.), Philosophy from Africa: A Text with Readings, Johannesburg, International Thompson Publishing, 1998, pp. 306-316.
[7]	Munyaradzi Felix Murove, “Beyond the Savage Evidence Ethic: A Vindication of African Ethics” in Munyaradzi Felix Murove (ed.), African Ethics: An Anthology of Comparative and Applied Ethics, Scottsville, University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 2009, pp. 14-32.
[8]	Ibid.
[9]	Martin H. Prozesky, “Cinderella, Survivor and Saviour: African Ethics and Quest for a Global Ethic” in Munyaradzi Felix Murove (ed.), African Ethics: An Anthology of Comparative and Applied Ethics, Scottsville, University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 2009, pp.3-13.
[10]	[10]Robert Audi (ed.) Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1999, p. 284.
[11]	Mairi Robinson and George Davidson (eds.), Chambers 21st Century Dictionary, Revised Edition, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh, 1999.
[12]	Kwame Gyekye, “African Ethics” 2010 http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/african-ethics/#HumFouAfrMor (accessed 03/12/2013)
[13]	Christian Mofor, Plotinus and African Concepts of Evil: Perspectives in Multicultural Philosophy, Bern, Peter Lang, 2008, p. 208.
[14]	Ibid.
[15]	Ibid.
[16]	Kwame Gyekye, “African Ethics”, op.cit.
[17]	Ayotunde I. Bewaji , “Ethics and Morality in Yoruba Culture” in Kwasi Wiredu (ed.) A Companion to African Philosophy, Oxford, Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2004, pp. 396-403.
[18]	Kwame Gyekye, “African Ethics”, op.cit.
[19]	Mbih J. Tosam, 2012, “The Kom Conception of a Person”, Africa-Dynamics of Social Science Research, Volume 2, Number 2, December 1, 2012.
[20]	John S. Mbiti, African Religion and Philosophy, London, Heinemann 1969, p. 209.
[21]	Kwame Gyekye, “African Ethics”, op.cit.
[22]	Mbih J. Tosam, op.cit.
[23]	Proverbs 28:27.
[24]	Ibid.
[25]	Kwasi Wiredu, “The Moral Foundation of African Culture” op.cit., p.6.
[26]	Kelly Hamilton, “‘Hate the sin but not the sinner’: forgiveness and Condemnation” South African Journal of Philosophy, 2009, 28 (2), pp. 114-123.
[27]	Kwasi Wiredu, “The Moral Foundation of African Culture” op.cit., p.6.
[28]	Mbih J. Tosam, “The Kom Conception of a Person”, op.cit.
[29]	Kwame Gyekye, “Person and Community in African Thought” in P.H. Coetzee and A. P. J. Roux (eds.), Philosophy from Africa: A Text with Readings, Johannesburg, International Thompson Publishing, 1998, pp. 317-336.
[30]	John S. Mbiti, African Religion and Philosophy, op.cit.
[31]	Christian Mofor, Plotinus and African Concepts of Evil: Perspectives in Multicultural Philosophy, op.cit.
[32]	Ibid.
[33]	J. A. Ciaffa, J. A., “Tradition and Modernity in Postcolonial African Philosophy”, Humanitas, Volume XXI, 2008, Number 1 and 2, 121-145.
[34]	Ibid.
[35]	Marcien Towa, Essai sur la problématique philosophique dans l’Afrique actuelle, 2me éd., Yaoundé, Edition CLE, 1979, p.40.
[36]	Ibid.
[37]	Kwasi Wiredu, Cultural Universals and Particulars: An African Perspective, Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1996, p. 61.
[38]	James K. Kigongo, op.cit.
[39]	Eric Michael Johnson, “Human Nature and Moral Economy”, Scientific American, September 23, 2013.
[40]	Godfrey B. Tangwa, “The Traditional African Perception of a Person: Some Implications for Bioethics” Hastings Center Report 30, N° 5, 2000:39-43. Godfrey B. Tangwa, “Bioethics: An African Perspective” Bioethics 10, N° 3, 1996, pp. 183-200.
[41]	Ibid.
[42]	Godfrey B. Tangwa, “The Traditional African Perception of a Person”, op.cit.
[43]	Godfrey B. Tangwa, “Genetic Information: Questions and Worries from an African Background” in Genetic Information: Acquisition, Access, and Control, edited by Alison K. Thompson and Ruth F. Chadwick, New York, Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishing, 1999, pp.275-281.
[44]	Godfrey B. Tangwa, “The HIV/AIDS Pandemic, African Traditional Values and the Search for a Vaccine in Africa” Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, 2002, Volume 27, pp.217-230.
[45]	Mogobe B.Ramose, “Towards Emancipative Politics in Modern Africa” in M. Felix Murove (ed.), African Ethics: An Anthology of Comparative and Applied Ethics, Scottsville, University of Kwa-Zulu-Natal Press, pp. 412-426.
[46]	(ed.), African Ethics: An Anthology of Comparative and Applied Ethics, Scottsville, University of Kwa-Zulu-Natal Press, 2009, pp.412-426.
[47]	James K. Kigongo, op.cit.
[48]	Marshall Sahlins, The Western Illusion of Human Nature, Chicago, Prickly Paradigm Press, 2008, p. 1.
[49]	Ibid.
[50]	Ibid.
[51]	Ibid.
[52]	Kwame Gyekye, “Person and Community in African Thought” in P.H. Coetzee and A. P. J. Roux (eds.), op.cit.
[53]	Martin H. Prozesky, op.cit.
[54]	Thaddeus Metz, “African Moral Theory and Public Governance” in M. Felix Murove (ed.), African Ethics: An Anthology of Comparative and Applied Ethics, Scottsville, University of Kwa-Zulu-Natal Press, 2009, pp.335-356.
[55]	Kwame Nkrumah, Consciencism: Philosophy and Ideology for Decolonisation, London, Panaf Books, 1979, p.63.
[56]	Godfrey B. Tangwa, “Globalisation or Westernisation? Ethical Concerns in the whole Bio-Business” Bioethics, Volume 13, Number ¾, 1999.
[57]	Mark O. Ikeke, “The Forest in African Traditional Thought and Practice: An Ecophilosophical Discourse” Open Journal of Philosophy, 2013. Vol.3, No.2, 345-350 (http://www.scirp.org/journal/ojpp)
[58]	J. A. Ciaffa, “Tradition and Modernity in Postcolonial African Philosophy”, Humanitas, Volume XXI, Number 1 and 2, 2008, 121-145.
[59]	Chiedozie Okoro, “Philosophy and the Recultivation of African Culture” (www.unilag.edu.ng/opendoc.php?sno=3609&doctype=doc...$, accessed 12/11/2013)
[60]	Kwasi Wiredu, Philosophy and an African Culture, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1980, p.21.
[61]	Ibid.
[62]	Sandra Harding, “Multiculturalism and Postcolonialism: What difference does it Make to Western Scientific Epistemology? Science Studies 1/2001, pp. 45-54.
[63]	Kwasi Wiredu, Philosophy and an African Culture, op.cit. p. 43.
[64]	Ibid.
[65]	Ibid.
[66]	Kwame Gyekye, “Philosophy, Culture, and Technology in the Postcolonial” in Emmanuel Chukwudi Eze (ed.), Postcolonial African Philosophy, Cambridge, Blackwell, 1997, p. 42.
[67]	Sandra Harding, op.cit.

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Mbih Jerome Tosam. (2014). The Relevance of Kom Ethics to African Development. International Journal of Philosophy, 2(3), 36-47. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20140203.12

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Mbih Jerome Tosam. The Relevance of Kom Ethics to African Development. Int. J. Philos. 2014, 2(3), 36-47. doi: 10.11648/j.ijp.20140203.12

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Mbih Jerome Tosam. The Relevance of Kom Ethics to African Development. Int J Philos. 2014;2(3):36-47. doi: 10.11648/j.ijp.20140203.12

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@article{10.11648/j.ijp.20140203.12,
  author = {Mbih Jerome Tosam},
  title = {The Relevance of Kom Ethics to African Development},
  journal = {International Journal of Philosophy},
  volume = {2},
  number = {3},
  pages = {36-47},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijp.20140203.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20140203.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijp.20140203.12},
  abstract = {This paper uses the moral philosophy of the Kom people of the North West Region of Cameroon as a paradigm of an African moral thought. The paper hinges on the premise that contrary to some Western ethnographic categorization of Africans as primitive and bereft of the capacity for ratiocination and morality, the concept of good and evil, right and wrong, and virtue and vice, on which morality is embedded, are cultural universals. Kom ethics is essentially communitarian; it prizes interpersonal relations in an interdependent world. An action is right if it promotes the common good, and is wrong if it does not. In this paper I argue that the surest way to African development lies in a critical synthesis of African traditional and Western ethical values. No society which is said to be developed today has done so by completely jettisoning its own values. Development requires adaptation, borrowing and learning from others, and the filtering of values; it does not require the complete rejection of our cultural beliefs, values and practices. The predominant Western ethical values, utilitarianism and Kantianism, have been deficient in proffering solutions to Africa’s development problems. Utilitarianism and Kantianism emphasize respect for individual autonomy, thereby distancing persons from others, and discouraging solidarity with other members of the community. The West has a lot to learn from African indigenous cultures, if she can be open and tolerant as other cultures have been to Western culture because every culture is a borrower and lender.},
 year = {2014}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - The Relevance of Kom Ethics to African Development
AU  - Mbih Jerome Tosam
Y1  - 2014/08/20
PY  - 2014
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20140203.12
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijp.20140203.12
T2  - International Journal of Philosophy
JF  - International Journal of Philosophy
JO  - International Journal of Philosophy
SP  - 36
EP  - 47
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-7455
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20140203.12
AB  - This paper uses the moral philosophy of the Kom people of the North West Region of Cameroon as a paradigm of an African moral thought. The paper hinges on the premise that contrary to some Western ethnographic categorization of Africans as primitive and bereft of the capacity for ratiocination and morality, the concept of good and evil, right and wrong, and virtue and vice, on which morality is embedded, are cultural universals. Kom ethics is essentially communitarian; it prizes interpersonal relations in an interdependent world. An action is right if it promotes the common good, and is wrong if it does not. In this paper I argue that the surest way to African development lies in a critical synthesis of African traditional and Western ethical values. No society which is said to be developed today has done so by completely jettisoning its own values. Development requires adaptation, borrowing and learning from others, and the filtering of values; it does not require the complete rejection of our cultural beliefs, values and practices. The predominant Western ethical values, utilitarianism and Kantianism, have been deficient in proffering solutions to Africa’s development problems. Utilitarianism and Kantianism emphasize respect for individual autonomy, thereby distancing persons from others, and discouraging solidarity with other members of the community. The West has a lot to learn from African indigenous cultures, if she can be open and tolerant as other cultures have been to Western culture because every culture is a borrower and lender.
VL  - 2
IS  - 3
ER  -

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Author Information

Mbih Jerome Tosam

Department of Philosophy, Higher Teacher Training College Bambili, University of Bamenda, Cameroon

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Mbih Jerome Tosam. (2014). The Relevance of Kom Ethics to African Development. International Journal of Philosophy, 2(3), 36-47. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20140203.12

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ACS Style

Mbih Jerome Tosam. The Relevance of Kom Ethics to African Development. Int. J. Philos. 2014, 2(3), 36-47. doi: 10.11648/j.ijp.20140203.12

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AMA Style

Mbih Jerome Tosam. The Relevance of Kom Ethics to African Development. Int J Philos. 2014;2(3):36-47. doi: 10.11648/j.ijp.20140203.12

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@article{10.11648/j.ijp.20140203.12,
  author = {Mbih Jerome Tosam},
  title = {The Relevance of Kom Ethics to African Development},
  journal = {International Journal of Philosophy},
  volume = {2},
  number = {3},
  pages = {36-47},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijp.20140203.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20140203.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijp.20140203.12},
  abstract = {This paper uses the moral philosophy of the Kom people of the North West Region of Cameroon as a paradigm of an African moral thought. The paper hinges on the premise that contrary to some Western ethnographic categorization of Africans as primitive and bereft of the capacity for ratiocination and morality, the concept of good and evil, right and wrong, and virtue and vice, on which morality is embedded, are cultural universals. Kom ethics is essentially communitarian; it prizes interpersonal relations in an interdependent world. An action is right if it promotes the common good, and is wrong if it does not. In this paper I argue that the surest way to African development lies in a critical synthesis of African traditional and Western ethical values. No society which is said to be developed today has done so by completely jettisoning its own values. Development requires adaptation, borrowing and learning from others, and the filtering of values; it does not require the complete rejection of our cultural beliefs, values and practices. The predominant Western ethical values, utilitarianism and Kantianism, have been deficient in proffering solutions to Africa’s development problems. Utilitarianism and Kantianism emphasize respect for individual autonomy, thereby distancing persons from others, and discouraging solidarity with other members of the community. The West has a lot to learn from African indigenous cultures, if she can be open and tolerant as other cultures have been to Western culture because every culture is a borrower and lender.},
 year = {2014}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - The Relevance of Kom Ethics to African Development
AU  - Mbih Jerome Tosam
Y1  - 2014/08/20
PY  - 2014
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20140203.12
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijp.20140203.12
T2  - International Journal of Philosophy
JF  - International Journal of Philosophy
JO  - International Journal of Philosophy
SP  - 36
EP  - 47
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-7455
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20140203.12
AB  - This paper uses the moral philosophy of the Kom people of the North West Region of Cameroon as a paradigm of an African moral thought. The paper hinges on the premise that contrary to some Western ethnographic categorization of Africans as primitive and bereft of the capacity for ratiocination and morality, the concept of good and evil, right and wrong, and virtue and vice, on which morality is embedded, are cultural universals. Kom ethics is essentially communitarian; it prizes interpersonal relations in an interdependent world. An action is right if it promotes the common good, and is wrong if it does not. In this paper I argue that the surest way to African development lies in a critical synthesis of African traditional and Western ethical values. No society which is said to be developed today has done so by completely jettisoning its own values. Development requires adaptation, borrowing and learning from others, and the filtering of values; it does not require the complete rejection of our cultural beliefs, values and practices. The predominant Western ethical values, utilitarianism and Kantianism, have been deficient in proffering solutions to Africa’s development problems. Utilitarianism and Kantianism emphasize respect for individual autonomy, thereby distancing persons from others, and discouraging solidarity with other members of the community. The West has a lot to learn from African indigenous cultures, if she can be open and tolerant as other cultures have been to Western culture because every culture is a borrower and lender.
VL  - 2
IS  - 3
ER  -

Copy | Download