Africanity of Thaddeus Metz’s Relational Moral Theory

Abstract

African metaphysics and religion significantly influence African ethics or moral theory. African moral life is deeply connected with beliefs in the afterlife, healing, causality, sickness, death, hierarchical existence (hierarchical conception of being), and supernatural powers. Yet, Thaddeus Metz, a contemporary African moralist, excluded the concepts of metaphysics and religion in his Relational Moral Theory (RMT). This exclusion has prompted debates on the Africanity or the authenticity of RMT as an African theory. While scholars agree on RMT’s African roots, some argue that it is more African even without these elements, while others believe it is less African due to its exclusion. This article seeks to examine the discourse on the Africanity of Metz’s Relational Moral Theory, ultimately concluding that Metz’s exclusion of African metaphysics and religion does not render them irrelevant to African moral thought but was rather a deliberate move to develop a defensible moral theory both within and beyond Africa.