Rotimi Omosulu

African environmental ethics has come a long way in advancing theories that would, (i) prove the existence of African philosophy to the rest of the world; (ii) show the efficacy of age-old African practices in sustaining the environment; and (iii) point out the African non-anthropocentric path towards preservation, conservation, and sustainability of the environment. However, there seems to be a misunderstanding of personhood as it applies to African environmental ethics, leading to the claim that the latter is essentially anthropocentric and offers no unique contribution to environmental ethics in general. Thus, a sound understanding of personhood in African thought would help to clarify the kinds of value, rights, and worth that are extendable to nature within African environmental ethics. It is against this backdrop that this paper highlights how personhood serves as the ontological foundation of African environmental ethics. To achieve this goal, the paper examines the concept and status of personhood within the ambit of three theories of African environmental ethics: (i) Segun Ogungbemi’s Ethics of Nature-Relatedness, (ii) Godfrey Tangwa’s Eco-bio-communitarianism,and (iii) Mogobe Bernard Ramose’s Ubuntu Ecology. The paper concludes that personhood lies at the root of the examined theories of African environmental ethics and determines the kind of worth they have extended to nature.

Background: Cyberspace is understood in this paper as a place for possible moral and immoral conducts, just as it is the case with physical societies across the world. However, the Nigerian cyberspace has, in recent times, experienced increase in moral decadence, with young people engaging in acts of vices, including disrespect, fraud, and phishing among other cybercrimes. This set of behaviours negates the values expected of a well-ordered and well-meaning cyberspace, all of which threaten physical societal cohesion and ethical standards. Aims: This paper examines Omolúàbí ethos, a traditional embodiment of moral principle of the Yoruba people, as a remedial framework. The Omolúàbí ethos places virtues such as good character, respectful conduct, gentleness, honesty, trust, humanness, among others, as a necessity for building a responsible society, even in the cyberspace. Methodology: Being philosophical research, the paper adopts qualitative method to unpack the relevance of ancient Yoruba proverbs and ethical practices to contemporary online engagement. Findings: The paper argues that if the Omolúàbí ethos is imbued into cyberspace culture, through the medium of philosophical counseling in collaboration with the National Orientation Agency, it could help ensure a more suitable online environment where respect, dignity, and virtue are paramount. Conclusion: This paper contributes to scholarship by positioning an indigenous ethical framework for addressing contemporary cyberspace's ethical challenges

The importance of a healthy environment cannot be overemphasized since a healthy environment is not only fundamental to our own health but is also our life-support system. Surprisingly, the state of our environment today bears a sour testimony to destructive anthropogenic activities. It suffices us to argue that untamed human activities on the environment have led to the degradation and pollution of the air, water and land; thereby threatening the existence of life on the planet earth. In response, many environmentally concerned scholars have come up with different arguments aimed at solving, as well as checking the environment from the apparent current spate of deterioration. The most noticeable argument among all is the one that anchors its vehemence of environmental sustainability on the interest of future generations. Consequently, this paper argues that the quest for environmental sustainability would be more plausible and less controversial should the efforts centre more on the present generation of all organisms. This view is predicated on the fact that, as currently advanced, the future generations’ argument is fallacious and cannot carry the burden of environmental sustainability that is predicated on it.

This article evaluates the moral implications of two leading theories on biodiversity preservation/conservation (Paul Taylor's biocentric egalitarianism and J. Baird Callicott's holistic communitarianism). Taylor argues for the moral equality of all members of the Earth's community of life, calling for an ethic of respect for nature to conserve biodiversity. Callicott argues for the moral consideration of ecosystems to maintain their integrity, stability, and beauty. The article makes two major claims. First, we need a plausible account of moral egalitarianism to disrupt ethical anthropocentrism. Second, the ethics of respect for nature requires a critical bottom-up character-based ethical theory to be morally forceful. These missing elements are central to the ubuntu philosophy about personhood and are significant for enriching egalitarian-communitarian solutions to biodiversity loss.