Morality in African Traditional Society

Abstract This article examines the question of morality in a non-westernized African society drawing from Igbo cosmology. From oral tradition, literary records and observation, the article, through the lens of ethical relativism, mirrors morality as a timeless definition of humanity influenced by locality. It sees (traditional) religion and morality as correlative values and, in view of naturalist interpretation of reality, shows that (1) there is collaboration between individual and public morality through the intermediation of moral agents, (2) the society is morally self-sufficient by which a sustainable polity is realized, and (3) while the enforcement of rules is not coercive as in the modern state, the rules achieve core indices of civilization—discipline, peace and harmony. They stick in the consciousness of the people, progress from hypothetical to categorical imperative, and ensure progress, as obedience becomes a duty for duty’s sake. Thus a fundamental impact of morality involves the domestication of humanity.