Is African environmental ethics anthropocentric?

Abstract

This   paper   questions   the   anthropocentric   interpretation    of

African Environmental Ethics. For an ethics to be truly African, it

has to be grounded in African ontology and worldview. It looks at

anthropocentrism  from a  historical  and  obligatory  perspective.

Two  important  values  can  be   inferred  from  African  ontology

which can help in  proffering a truly African environmental ethics

are;    the    place   of    Humans    in    the    ecosystem   and    the

interrelatedness  of  being.  I  argue  here  that  although  humans

have  a   place  in   African  ontology,   it   does  not   translate  as

anthropocentrism,    as    humans    are    only    a    part    of    an

interconnected    whole

of

being.    I    call     this

obligatory

anthropoholism. With the philosophical method of analysis, it will

be  seen that  humans,  anthropos,  have  a privileged  part  in  the

whole of  ecosystem- holism- and  this part  is not right  based but

obligatory  based.  To   care,  tend  and  preserve  nature   for  the

balance of  ecosystem and  for its  intrinsic worth.  This forms  the

burden of this paper.