IGWEBUIKE AS THE CONSUMMATE FOUNDATION OF AFRICAN BIOETHICAL PRINCIPLES

Abstract

To talk about bioethics in Africa on the same level with bioethics in the Euro-West is to leave it hanging and irrelevant, as the African environment has peculiar problems that require peculiar bioethical principles to solve. Studies in Western bioethics emphasize the importance of the principles of individual autonomy and justice in the analysis of bioethical issues. These principles are based on Western idiosyncrasies and eccentricities, which very often conflicts with the African worldview.  There is, therefore, the need to outline a descriptive analysis of ethical and moral values as rooted in authentic African traditions and cultures that can provide a helpful framework for ethical decision making in Africa. This would involve discovering the peculiarities and common features that make African bioethics worth its name. It is based on this scenario that this work focuses on ‘Igwebuike’ as basis for generating African bioethical principlism. The multidisciplinary approach would be used since bioethics is a multi-disciplinary discourse. The significance of this research is that it would unveil the richness of the African cultural heritage in relation to bioethics. It would further serve as a stimulus for further research in the area of intercultural bioethics.