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Living in the World as Humans

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

Tanella Boni
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Abstract

Human beings are not an artificial creation nor are genetically modified organisms. They are bodies which share in life with plants and animals and which possess certain characteristics such as language and the capacity for thought which provide the freedom to attain knowledge, to project and realize intentions, to act upon the world. They inhabit a world where men and women reveal themselves as human, or conversely, as inhuman. Humans, with male and female following their own particular paths, behave according to norms specific to their group. The question which remains unanswered is whether it is possible to derive a universal ethic which is valid for all, whatever one's distinct culture might be. This paper focus on this particular issue, providing philosophical as well as literary references, taken both from the Western and the African traditions.

Type
Articles
Information
Diogenes , Volume 60 , Issue 1: Universalism in a Multicultural World , February 2013 , pp. 62 - 68
Copyright
Copyright © ICPHS 2014

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