Per Caritatem » Ethics http://percaritatem.com Non intratur in veritatem nisi per caritatem. St. Augustine Fri, 23 Jul 2010 14:59:28 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc en hourly 1 African Ethics: Cognatus/cognitus sum, ergo sumus http://percaritatem.com/2009/03/10/african-ethics-cognatus-sum-ergo-sumus-i-am-known-therefore-we-are/ http://percaritatem.com/2009/03/10/african-ethics-cognatus-sum-ergo-sumus-i-am-known-therefore-we-are/#comments Tue, 10 Mar 2009 18:49:32 +0000 Cynthia R. Nielsen http://percaritatem.com/?p=1072 “African ethics is like North American communitarianism in its emphasis on community, although (as we shall see later) there are important differences between the two in the process by which norms are established.  The concern that motivates communitarianism in its critique of the ‘unfettered self’ or of ‘atomism’ against liberalism is entirely in keeping with African ethics, which rejects the idea that being a human person and acting with responsibility is merely the result of having assented to rational principles, or arguing and thinking rationally.  For Black Africa, it is not the Cartesian cogito ergo sum (”I think, therefore I am”) but an existential cognatus [cognitus] sum, ergo sumus (”I am known [relationally related], therefore we are”) that is decisive”  (Bénézet Bujo, Foundations of an African Ethic:  Beyond the Universal Claims of Western Morality, p. 4).

[N.b.  The translation "I am known," for cognatus sum seems problematic, as
cognatus means something in the neighborhood of "I am related," or "I am
connected (in a familial sense)."  The Latin equivalent of "I am known," is cognitus sum.  Even so, both potential meanings are suggestive].

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