Culture as a Fundamental Moral Essence of African Philosophy

Abstract

The notion of morality within African society is embedded in their ideas and beliefs of nature and their interaction with culture, which distinguish wrong from right, what ought to be good or bad as characterized within the framework of their cultures. It is also embedded in the conceptions of satisfactory social relations and attitudes held by the members of society. Thus, for a clear understanding of this idea, this work adopted an analytic method. This method was specifically chosen to analyze the moral foundations in Africa as embedded in its culture, religion, and rationality. This work concludes that a lively concern in moral philosophy among contemporary African philosophers is to clarify and evaluate the claims of individuality in the context of African communitarianism, because, the African person is naturally moral by nature.