African Communitarian Ethic: The Basis for the Moral Conscience and Autonomy of the Individual

The Author: Ferdinand Ezekwonna is a Holy Ghost Father. He was born in 1960 in Nigeria where he studied philosophy. He did his initial theological studies in Germany. In 1988 he was ordained a priest and worked in a parish in Nigeria. In 1990 he went on mission to Zimbabwe. In 1998 he started his studies at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, where he obtained his licentiate in 2000 and his doctorate degree in 2004. He is now a member of staff of Spiritan International School of Theology in Enugu, Nigeria.

• Contents: The community and the individual: The three dimensions of African community - The African concept of the human person - The processes and ways of attaining full personhood in Africa (initiation rites) and the finding of norms – Communal decisions and individual moral autonomy and conscience: The concept of autonomy and freedom in Africa - The African concept of conscience - The consequences of Western global ethics - Steps towards Western-African ethical dialogue.