African Journal of Philosophy and Religious Studies

African Journal of Philosophy and Religious Studies ISSN 1621-4587 Vol. 5 (4), pp. 001-007, April, 2019. © International Scholars Journals

Review

Faith-based ethical reform for social stability and sustainable development

Rafiqul Islam Molla¹* and Golam Dastagir^2,3

¹Department of Economics, Faculty of Business and Law, Multimedia University, Melaka, Malaysia.

²Department of Philosophy, Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

³University of Toronto, Canada.

Accepted 19 December, 2018

Abstract

Modern human societies, floating on the so-called secular values, seem to be disoriented, despondent and disarrayed without having specific goals in life and commitment to God and His creation, and thus suffering from unprecedented level of moral decadence. Humanity is at the cross-roads of secular (atheistic) and sacred (religious) approaches to civilization. Secular humanism without any theology of its own and promising no answer to the riddle of death is hardly in a position to guide mankind about the meaning and purpose of life and what is universally good or bad for them. On the other hand, religious ethics and morality are commitments to safeguard social people from wrong doing and promote a world of universal good and brotherhood, peace and trust. Islam and all other revealed religions, for example, have the holy commitment to call all humans to bid the right and forbid the evil and establish the religious world order and the ‘City of God’, with piety, peace and prosperity as its centre piece. It is, therefore, argued that for ensuring social stability and sustainable development morals founded on the eternal and universal values enshrined in all the major religions can play a pivotal role.

Key words: Sustainable development, social stability, ethics, morality, religion, secularism, summum bonum.

African Journal of Philosophy and Religious Studies ISSN 1621-4587 Vol. 5 (3), pp. 001-006, March, 2019. © International Scholars Journals

Review

Pesticide use in agriculture: The philosophy, complexities and opportunities

Kishor Atreya^1*, Bishal Kumar Sitaula¹ and Roshan Man Bajracharya²

¹Department of International Environment and Development Studies (Noragric), Norwegian University of Life Sciences (UMB), Post Box 5003, 1432, Ås, Norway.

²Aquatic Ecology Centre, Kathmandu University, Kathmandu, Nepal.

Accepted 11 January, 2019

Abstract

Exaggerated and incompetent use of chemical pesticides in crop production can have adverse effects on human health, natural ecosystems and social capital. The potential impacts are interconnected and complicated, so the current scientific knowledge base of its understanding seems to be imperfect, and the degree of impacts could be much more; therefore the rationality of pesticide use in agriculture ought to be redefined. The paper highlights how disciplinary sciences professed and interpreted multifaceted impacts of pesticide use over time and it explores the opportunities arising from the complexities of such impacts. The opportunity is explored for Nepal as an example.

Key words: Pesticides, health and environmental impacts, complexities, interconnectedness, interdisciplinary, Nepal.

African Journal of Philosophy and Religious Studies ISSN 1621-4587 Vol. 5 (3), pp. 001-010, March, 2019. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

The changing philosophy of African marriage: The relevance of the Shona customary marriage practice of Kukumbira

Munyaradzi Mawere¹* and Annastacia Mbindi Mawere²

¹Department of Humanities, Faculty of Social Sciences, Universidade, Pedagogica, CP49, Xai-xai, Mozambique.

²Graduate Teacher, Chadzamira High School, Gutu, Zimbabwe.

Accepted 11 January, 2019

Abstract

This paper is a philosophical examination of African forms of marriage, particularly the customary marriage practice of Kukumbira (asking for a bride/woman’s hand in marriage from her parents, but with her informed consent) and adopts the Shona ethnic group of Zimbabwe as a case study. It investigates the perception of the Shona people towards the customary practice of Kukumbira. To establish the receptivity of the traditional African marriage custom, Kukumbira, a study was conducted. Fifty persons (30 females and 20 males) from Masvingo and Manicaland provinces participated in the study. Ad questionnaire comprising closed and open items was used as a data collection tool. Data was summarized by means of frequency tables and analyzed qualitatively using evaluative descriptions. An overwhelming majority of respondents cited heft bride wealth charges, colonial legacy and modernity as reasons for the daunting of the custom, kukumbira, yet they wanted the custom to continue on the grounds that it is a valuable part of their culture, respects women’s human rights, stresses prohibition of pre-marital sexual conducts and that it reinforces family ties/links. However, the respondents pointed out that the custom should not be commercialized as heft bride wealth leads to commodification of women. Those who favored abolishment of the custom and other forms of marriage where lobola is paid were a minority. They relegated the custom on grounds that it is at odds with gender equality that contemporary women are fighting for. They also perceived kukumbira and other forms of marriage where lobola is paid as institutions of patriarchy intended to serve males not the women concerned. This study concluded that respondents generally viewed the custom positively although they noted that it is vulnerable to be abuse by some parents who charge heft bride wealth as well as by some husbands and in-laws who abuse the married women’s rights on grounds that they bought her at a price. In view of this conclusion, it was recommended that the custom of kukumbira should be maintained but in such a manner that it builds affinity and social capital between families rather than creating animosity between them, and it do not expose women to abuse in marriage but respects their human rights.

Key words: Customary marriage practice, Kukumbira, Shona, relevance, lobola, Zimbabwe, Africa.

African Journal of Philosophy and Religious Studies ISSN 1621-4587 Vol. 5 (2), pp. 001-008, February, 2019. © International Scholars Journals

Review

The quest for a relevant environmental pedagogy in the African context: Insights from unhu/ubuntu philosophy

Godfrey Museka* and Manasa Munashe Madondo

Department of Curriculum and Arts Education, University of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe.

Accepted 02 January, 2018

ABstract

The quest for environmental sustainability and sustainable use of natural resources has become mandatory if humanity is to successfully manage the environmental fall-out consequent upon industrialisation and modernisation. Educational responses to the environmental crisis involve introducing environmental education or education for sustainable development and of late Climate Change Education for Sustainable Development in formal and non-formal educational contexts. Teaching and learning in these educational offerings is informed by international discourses encapsulated by Chapter 36 of Agenda 21 of 1992 Earth Summit and the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, among others. These initiatives advocate incorporating indigenous ways of learning about environmental issues. The challenge, in post-colonial states like Zimbabwe, is that curricula still have ‘alien’ epistemological and pedagogical practices vitiating effective teaching and learning of environmental issues. There is need to ground environmental pedagogy in philosophies on indigenous cosmology and eco-wisdom so as to ‘green’ curricula. This article advocates a religio-cultural approach, embedded in the philosophy of unhu/ubuntu, for sustainable use of the environment. A phenomenological perspective is used in this study to explore indigenous beliefs and practices that could be used to reduce the wanton abuse of the natural environment.

Key words: Unhu/ubuntu, environmental pedagogy, eco-wisdom, animate, inanimate, cosmology.

African Journal of Philosophy and Religious Studies ISSN 1621-4587 Vol. 5 (1), pp. 001-009, January, 2019. © International Scholars Journals 

Perspective 

Who lives a life worth living? 

Finn Janning

C. de Sant Hermenegild 24, 1-2, 08006 Barcelona, Spain. E-mail: [email protected].

Accepted 10 January, 2019

Abstract

For years, philosophers have thought about what makes a life worth living. Recent research in psychology has put new light on that. This paper places itself in-between philosophy and psychology, and the thoughts about well-being. The title of this paper raises one question: Who lives a life worth living? Based on the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze and subsidiary, recent studies in ‘positive psychology’, this work shows that the prerequisite for a life worth living is freedom; that is being free to enhance one’s capabilities. This form of freedom manifests itself as being strongly related to the logic of sense that is related to capacity. This relationship illustrate that a life can only be evaluated from its immanent mode of existence, and not by some transcendent ideas. Finally, this study discusses some of the differences between a philosophical approach and approaches like positive psychology. In conclusion, it is suggested that future debate about well-being should be less normative.