Thaddeus Metz (University of Johannesburg, South Africa)

Submitted:  Sun, September 13, 2009


Thaddeus Metz
Professor
Philosophy Department
B-603
University of Johannesburg
PO Box 524
Auckland Park  2006
South Africa

phone:  [27]-11-559-3997 ; -2337
e-mail: tmetz@uj.ac.za
web-page: http://www.uj.ac.za/philosophy/Staff/ThadMetz/tabid/16761/Default.aspx


List of relevant and representative publications: 

"Recent Work in African Ethics," Journal of Moral Education vol. 39 
(2010).

"Human Dignity, Capital Punishment, and an African Moral Theory: Toward a 
New Philosophy of Human Rights," Journal of Human Rights vol. 9 (2010).

"African and Western Moral Theories in a Bioethical Context," Developing 
World Bioethics vol. 10 (2010).

"Higher Education, Knowledge For Its Own Sake, and an African Moral 
Theory," Studies in Philosophy and Education: An International Journal 
vol. 28, no. 6 (2009).

"The Final Ends of Higher Education in Light of an African Moral Theory," 
Journal of Philosophy of Education vol. 43, no. 2 (2009): 179-201.

"African Moral Theory and Public Governance: Nepotism, Preferential Hiring 
and Other Partiality," in Munyaradzi Felix Murove, ed., African Ethics: An 
Anthology for Comparative and Applied Ethics (Pietermaritzburg: University 
of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 2009), pp. 335-56.

"Toward an African Moral Theory," The Journal of Political Philosophy vol. 
15, no. 3 (2007): 321-41.  http://hdl.handle.net/10210/2416

"The Motivation for 'Toward an African Moral Theory,'" South African 
Journal of Philosophy vol. 26, no. 4 (2007): 331-35.

"Ubuntu as a Moral Theory: Reply to Four Critics," South African Journal 
of Philosophy vol. 26, no. 4 (2007): 369-87.


Brief statement of interest: I am using the techniques of 
analytic philosophy to develop a normative ethical theory grounded on 
sub-Saharan values. This is largely a matter of developing a general and 
comprehensive principle of right action with an African pedigree that is 
comparable in form to the Western principles of respect and of utility and 
of using it resolve contemporary disputes about, e.g., the morality of the 
death penalty, the purpose of higher education, the justification of 
affirmative action, and the duties of medical professionals. The favoured 
principle is that an action is right insofar as it respects harmonious 
relationships, ones in which people identify with, and exhibit solidarity 
toward, one another.