Segni e comprensione, n.108/2024

A language, after all, is what let beings manifest themselves. Thinking so is the topos in which the gathering together of things and persons is thought. And many are the paths which thinking can take to articulate that gathering. In Austin Mbozi’s essay, Problematizing Western Reparations for Colonial Injustices: Clearing the Way for African Ubuntu, the focus is Western theories of material compensations and reparations for colonial injustices. The author highlights seven theoretical and practical problems associated with material compensations for Africa and he defends the African ethicists’ emphasis on restoring the dignity of victims, supported by the equal sacrifice principle. Mbozi then, finds the equal “sacrifice/dignity” restoration alliance a plausible focuses on the disposal of the dead which differs across cultures and times due to prevailing factors including traditional beliefs, normative worldviews, and resource availability. The paper seeks to explore the views of the Batswana regarding disposal of the dead through a case study of Ledumang Ward in Gaborone, Botswana. Frederick Njumferghai delves into a comparative analysis of the metaphysical concept of the human person in the Yoruba tradition versus Western philosophy. It explores the tripartite nature of human person in Yoruba culture, consisting of the body (ara), the soul (emi), and the significant element known as the inner head (ori). The Yoruba view emphasizes predetermined destiny through the ori, in contrast to the body-soul division commonly found in Western thought. John Mundua, in turn, focuses on that ontological conception which grounds an environmental ethics which is independent of any human ascription. According to such conceptual framework, he considers the African “cosmotheoandric” worldview as an ontology that implies intrinsic value of the environment. The main argument of his paper is that, from the African worldview, we can have an African extraction of environment ethics as a viable alternative for the care of the planet as the common home of humanity. Moses Muyuya’s essay, last but not least, is a case study, that is, an inquire on Amina Changwe’s situation through a counseling-client relationship by transference and counter-transference. After a clear examination of her case, the author moves onto mixed therapeutic measures which don’t exclude even pastoral counseling.