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Personhood in a Communitarian Context


B Hallen

Abstract

Theories regarding the nature and achievement of personhood in a communitarian context appear to differ in significant respects in the writings of several contemporary African philosophers. Ifeanyi Menkiti seems to regard ethnic differences as sufficient to warrant a national accommodation of multiculturalism with respect to moralities and attendant beliefs. Kwasi Wiredu argues that there is a substantive universal moral principle that undercuts such apparent and relatively superficial diversity. Communitarianism also seems to provide a better framework for explaining how a human being becomes a person than classical liberal theory as enunciated by someone like John Rawls.

 

Keywords


Communitarianism, liberalism, multiculturalism, personhood, Masolo, Menkiti, Rawls, Wiredu

Journal Identifiers


eISSN: 2076-7714
print ISSN: 0251-043X