Two ethical currents have been dominant during the past three centuries in moral philosophy, namely utilitarianism and Kantian ethics. As a number of moralists have observed, the contemporary moral disorder provides clear evidence of the failure of these two theories. In fact, they have left our societies in a moral crisis with social and political consequences. We may not lay the entire blame for this crisis at the feet of these theories. In any case, they are unable to resolve it. African society is not preserved from this crisis. The problem of Utilitarian and Kantian ethics lies in the fact that they are impersonal and alienating, because they commit themselves to utility and duty for their own sakes. Thus they cannot provide us with any ground on which we can base the reconstruction of the African society which is undergoing a social and political crisis. The alternative I propose is Aristotelian virtue ethics viewed from a communitarian perspective. While Utilitarianism and Kantianism emphasize doing (act-based ethics), virtue ethics is concerned with being (agent-based ethics), and flourishes mostly in the context of the community. As a result I argue that virtue ethics could be a solution to the moral and sociopolitical crisis which African society is experiencing today, in that it could help us to relocate the individual in the community as a being-with-self and a being-with-others, that is, an individual endowed with the overall virtue of Ubuntu (humanity). It is this kind of individual we expect in African humanism thought to be socio-ethical. However, Aristotelian virtue ethics is far from being an automatic panacea. In fact, it faces three major problems which social and political philosophy is wrestling with at present, namely: the complexity of our contemporary society, the current problems of nationalism and democracy, and the problem of global ethics and cosmopolitan citizenship. Nevertheless, there is reason to hope. This hope lies in our being human which entails being moral. I believe that morality implies that the human person cannot be reduced to a seIf-interested calculator whose social ties originate in a contract as Kantian thinkers might - make us believe. Instead, a virtuous life is suggested as a relevant tool that would help us to perceive and appreciate the circumstances in which one lives and act accordingly. The solution to African society's problem is at this price. / Theses (M.A.)-(University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1999.

Aim: To determine the resources and needs of local Ethics Review Committees in South Western Nigeria. Method: This is a questionnaire-based descriptive study, where data was collected from the chair and administrators of eight Ethics Review Committees (ERCs) in South Western Nigeria. Findings: This study found that six of the ERCs reviewed were established 5 years ago and 75% of them were registered with NHREC. Of the ERCs reviewed, 75% are aware of the national ethics code (NHREC code). The majority of these ERCs (75%) had professionals, including doctors and scientists, as well as laypersons and nonscientists as members. Meetings were held once a month and when needed for 37.5% of the committees, while 25% of the ERCs usually meet every 2 months. Only a third (37.5%) of the ERCs pay their members. The majority (87.5%) of the ERCs have standard operating procedures (SOPs) and review an average of 6–10 or 10 protocols per month. Most of the ERCs (87.5%) need research ethics training regarding risk-benefit assessment, scientific design and HIV vaccine trials. Half of the ERCs reviewed have funding and financial support and 50% charge a fee for reviewed protocols. All the ERCs have computers, office space and stationery, while 50% lack access to a library. None of the committees studied have a bank account and facsimile, while 50% do not have internet access, telephone and photocopy machines Outcome: The majority of ERCs in South Western Nigeria have an adequate number of members, are familiar with international ethics guidelines and are registered with the NHREC. They also have adequate physical resources, but lack internet access and a library. Ongoing training of members is a challenge, as well as providing training programmes for new members and monitoring of research. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2011.

This thesis explores the relative strengths of particularism and generalism in the area of meta-ethics in philosophy, utilising justice as a case study. More specifically, this thesis examines the claims of Jonathan Dancy in his book on moral particularism, Ethics Without Principles (2004), that one can construct a moral philosophy without reference to any general principles, or invariant reasons. His book is primarily a study of reasons, and this thesis also presents a study of reasons through the eyes f both the particularists and the generalists. At its core, the particularism holds holism to be true in the theory of reasons, whereas generalism, at its core, holds atomism to be true in the theory of reasons. In my thesis I find that the strongest form of atomism and the strongest form of generalism is Rossean generalism. I conclude that these two pictures combined provide a superior account of what reasons are and how they work than Dancy's particularism. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2005.

This paper focuses on the possible input of African Ethics into the global warming and climate change discourse in light of the economic dilemma of sustainability. The paper argues that African Ethics through its concept of Ubuntu can make a worthy contribution to the issues surrounding sustainable development, ecological debt and international climate change talks. In a world where the lives of the affluent nations impact drastically on our climate and necessitate calamitous climate disasters and cause the poor to suffer, why is it that the international community has not reached any noteworthy climate change solutions? The same poor countries are also burdened by payment of huge debts and poor climate change adaptation and development. Can African ethics make some contribution to these challenging issues brought by global warming and climate change? The dissertation seeks to tackle these questions by employing a qualitative methodology informed by Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics and using the research design of Boff’s ecological holism and Murove’s relational paradigm. However, in order for African ethics to make such a viable contribution the paper seeks to reveal the philosophical and economic substrata sustaining the incessant degradation of the ecology. This opens us the entry point for African ethics through Ubuntu to engage with other voices in the search for solutions to the global warming and climate change crises. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2013.

This dissertation discusses corruption within the Nigeria Police Force as a moral decay facing the institution. It provides an overview of the historical background and establishment of the Nigeria Police Force as an institution charged with the responsibility of protecting life and property, and maintaining peace and order in the country. The dissertation identifies various forms of police misconduct, such as bribery and extortion, mass arrests and detention, illegal bail charges and corruption within the leadership of the police. This deviant behavior has undermined the integrity of the force, with the result that public perception of the police force is negative and national security and development is undermined. Despite numerous anti-corruption strategies that have been devised to curb police misconduct, it remains difficult to reduce corruption within the force. This dissertation argues that implementing documented strategies in the workplace requires a deeper moral consciousness of their civic duties on the part of the police. This would promote the common good and increase the effectiveness of community policing. To support this view, the dissertation critically analyses the inadequacies in the anti-corruption strategies from an ethical perspective, and reveals the contending ethical implications facing the strategies. In search for solution to curb police corruption, the dissertation proposes incorporating in policing certain virtues embedded in the Afrocentric ethic of Omoluabi, such as good character, respect, diligence and communalism. This approach could provide insights to complement the existing anti-corruption mechanisms that aim to reduce police misconduct. In conclusion, the dissertation argues that embracing values in traditional African culture could contribute to the ongoing search for ways to combat police corruption. Therefore, there is a need to look into admirable values gleaned from an African indigenous understanding of morality, in order to address the ethical issues facing the police force in Nigeria. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2014.

This empirical study was aimed at assessing trial participants’ understanding of randomisation, double blinding and placebo use as well as investigating their attitudes towards the three procedures. The study was conducted within the HPTN035 microbicide trial that was being conducted in Blantyre and Lilongwe in Malawi among other sites. The study was descriptive in nature and used a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods which included review of study documents, in-depth interviews with study staff, structured interviews with a sample of 203 participants and two focus group discussions with 18 microbicide trial participants. Overall, more than half of participants were categorised as having lower levels of understanding on the concepts under study. The study also established that the majority of participants had negative attitudes towards the three procedures. Based on these findings, a pilot intervention was designed aimed at improving understanding. The pilot intervention consisted of an information session which was delivered with the assistance of a PowerPoint. During the session, the three terms were explained using a story based on the growing of crops, as Malawi is an agricultural society. The intervention phase was delivered using a sample of 36 low scorers who were randomly assigned to the intervention and non-intervention arms. An assessment after the intervention suggested that the intervention was useful in improving understanding of the three procedures. The findings provide some evidence that research participants can understand research procedures if the procedures are explained in user-friendly terms and if information concerning their justification and personal implications is provided. The findings further suggest that the intervention was useful in changing participants’ attitudes towards randomisation and double blinding. The intervention did not change attitudes towards placebo use in a statistically significant way. Theoretical and practical recommendations, as well as suggestions for further research were recommended. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2010.

Chapter one introduces the topic and outlines chapters two, three, four and five. Chapter two discusses environmental ethics in the light of the three notions of the environment, namely, instrumental value, intrinsic value and the inherent worth. This chapter also discusses philosophical theories of ethics, viz. a consequence-based theory, which is, Utilitarianism, principle-based theories and a philosophical principle of stewardship. Chapter three discusses the trajectory of sustainable development with respect to selected international events. This chapter also shows how the paradigm of sustainable development has peen embraced in nation states, with a special reference to South Africa. Chapter four critically analyses South Africa's environmental law and its macroeconomic policy, GEAR, in the light of environmental ethics. Chapter five synthesises discussions raised in the preceding chapters and offers some insights as to how policy-making pertaining to environment and development can be improved by incorporating a holistic approach of environmental ethics. Chapter six summarises discussions that emerged in chapters one, two, three, four and five. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2002.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Ottawa, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references.

The African National Congress inherited a country with high levels of unemployment, deepening poverty and inequalities. These socio-economic challenges were the result of the previous apartheid regime‟s reliance on racism to conduct its affairs such as the distribution of basic services and socio-economic wealth of the country. As such, the African National Congress (ANC) came up with different policies and programmes aimed at significantly transforming these skewed and racialised socio-economic conditions. Socio-economic empowerment was identified as one of the key programmes to be championed by the new democratic government led by the ANC. To this end, tenders or public procurement formed a vital element of the economic strategies that were put in place as a means of empowering black entrepreneurs with a view that they will in turn empower others through the means of „trickledown‟ economics. Tender guidelines were designed to advance this programme in a transparent, fair and cost-effective way. Contrary to this noble idea, the practice of tenders has become synonymous with acts of bribery and financial kickbacks which are serious forms of corruption. In this regard, the electronic and print media report daily about government officials, public servants, politicians and business people who have found a way of manipulating tender rules and other economic empowerment policies to enrich themselves at the expense of the people of South Africa. This study focuses on tenders and corruption in the post-apartheid era. It reviews key programmes such as the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP), Batho Pele, Masakhane, Affirmative Action (AA) and Black Economic Empowerment (BEE). The study claims that while these programmes were important, the lack of moral or ethical leadership at all levels of society ate into the moral fibre upon which these programmes were based. On the basis of the evidence presented, this study concluded that the ANC-led government was correct in using public procurement as one of its methods to address the legacy of Apartheid. However, the research study also confirmed that corruption is essentially a moral or ethical problem and as such there should be an ethical solution to it. While there are many ethical perspectives, this study found that African ethics in general and Ubuntu in particular is the most relevant type of ethic that could be used as a panacea to corruption. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2012.

This thesis formulates and argues for a composite conceptual framework of ethics for strategic and sustainable corporate benevolence as a means of addressing HIV/AIDS in South Africa. The template consists of the following theoretical elements: modern virtue ethics, contemporary Western communitarian ethics, the African philosophy of Ubuntu and a feminist ethic of care. This template is applied to relevant pragmatic ends through the proposition that the King I I Report - as it explicitly advocates a universally communitarian and essentially African code of ethics for a business response to HIV/AIDS - offers a viable and valuable model to both understand and transcend the tensions between profits and caring in the post-apartheid era of the South African experience of the pandemic. Specific features of the thesis include contextual perspectives on the ethical variances of HIV/AIDS stigma and behaviour change, cached as the thought-form of " I and We" as opposed to "Us and Them", and the psycho-social linguistics of re-interpreting "the wounded other" as "the wounded us". This is drawn together conceptually in discussion around the individual in and of, rather than as opposed to, the community, stressing how the impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic is compelling our society to integrate this reverence into our disposition and conduct. In the spirit of this Afro-European communitarian ethic, and to apply this postulated theory for a concrete social morality in the wake of HIV/AIDS, the thesis argues that there is an ethical role for businesses in restoring the balance between nurturing and selfinterest - an equilibrium that is essential for both human expression and human survival. This involves underscoring the elderly and young women, as well as children, who head households and care for orphans of AIDS in circumstances of great vulnerability, (particularly the nation-wide body of informally organised volunteer home-based caregivers), as target beneficiaries for a gravely urgent and massive empowerment effort by the business sector. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2005.