In your arguments, state if Africans had conscience prior colonialism in the continent. After your entry, comment briefly on two of your classmates' entries.
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
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AGWU GOODNESS; U2013/1835093;
ReplyDeleteAFRICAN CONSCIENCE PRIOR COLONIALISM
Before Africa was colonised, the continent was characterised by a large degree of pluralism and flexibility. The continent consisted not of closed reproducing entities, equipped with unique unchanging cultures, but of more fluid units that would readily incorporate outsiders (even whites) into the community as long as they accepted its customs, and where the sense of obligation and solidarity went beyond that of the nuclear family.
Pre-colonial African societies were of a highly varied nature. They could be either stateless, state run or kingdoms, but most were founded on the principles of communalism in that they were self-governing, autonomous entities, and in that all members took part, directly or indirectly, in the daily running of the tribe. Land was held commonly and could not be bought or sold, although other things, such as cattle, were owned individually. In those societies that were not stateless, the chiefs ran the daily affairs of the tribe together with one or more councils.These councils simultaneously informed the chief, checked his powers and made policy by reaching unanimous decisions. If unanimity was not reached, a village assembly would be called to debate the issue and majority ruling would now apply. The chief would listen silently to all queries during such meetings and every male adult was free to criticise him.
An overarching feature of pre-colonial Africa was that its societies were not designed to be the all-powerful entities that they are today, hence the abundance of confederation-type societies. One reason for this was that the villages and tribes commonly owned the land, a fact that undermined the basis for a market economy and a landed aristocracy, another that there was an abundance of available land to which dissatisfied individuals or groups could move.
In many parts of Africa, especially in the British colonies where indirect rule was the norm, the indigenous system of government survived and was used by the colonial powers alongside the colonial system. This is one of the reasons why the structures of such political institutions still exist in Africa today, although mostly in a more fixed and static form, due to the colonial powers having rearranged the tribal landscape and employed chiefs as virtual colonial administrators that served as buffers between themselves and the masses.
While pre-colonial indigenous African systems had many appealing qualities, something that has been widely advocated, if not practised, by many post-independence African leaders and Africanists generally, they have some obvious weaknesses when attempting to build a centralised state around them. The fact that chieftaincy is mostly based on kinship, for instance, is problematic because of the exclusive nature of leadership that this entails, which is especially problematic in countries with ethnic antagonisms. Secondly, some of the customs of indigenous African society might have been effective in relatively smaller-scale societies but are less likely to be so in the larger states of present day Africa.
An example of this is that of consensus which in a large-scale modern African state would make the political process invariably slow, as well as prone to conformity and authoritarianism that could effectively silence dissent and result in uncontroversial and un-enlightened decisions.It is therefore important to realize that the relevance and usefulness of traditional or pre-colonial African institutions and customs depend upon whether one views African culture, or any culture for that matter, as static, or whether African culture is deemed to have evolved and changed, to some extent because of outside influence and colonialism. Culture must be seen as dynamic, and pre-colonial African cultures seen to be historical manifestations that are relevant in their entirety only to that specific period of time. Otherwise, they are useless as sources of inspiration for contemporary societies.
For better clarity it will be important to define such a key term as conscience in the question above....
DeleteConscience: can be said to be the faculty of a living or human being to help him/her decide on good and bad, right and wrong...
OGBOLOKOT, ADIAHAETE EKRIKA
DeleteMAT NO: U2013/1835051
Introduction
The world is spherical and exist to occupy the earth including the black developing African states dramatically and chronologically grown into her in-depth borne characters that portrait him as a typical placed Africans.
In decades the black habitants (African) involved in traditionally mystical activities and performed ritual involvement which demonstrates whole and over-sizing the noses of the universe as been denied of human conscience which in turn became the objective subject matter.
Before I proceed, it is more important to put forward the meaning of Conscience as an aptitude, intuition or judgment that assists in distinguishing right from wrong. Moral judgment may derive from values or norms (principles and rules).
Life Africans lived in prior colonial era was without conscience due to their countless number of blood sacrifices to gods and deities for personal or family reasons. The reasons for this inhuman act are as follows:
LAND CLEANSING: In the prior colonial era, some African communities believed that the blood of virgin(s) can purge the land from its infirmities. So the chief priest order for the offering of a virgin for an immediate sacrifice to cleanse the land of their sins or infirmities, this is done by killing virgin(s) and using the blood to sprinkle the boundaries of the village.
PROTECTION: Another reason, if some African communities want to go to war, there is human blood sacrifice that is done, the act is exercised by sprinkling it on the warriors foreheads for them to be invisible spiritually to their opponents. Also some Africans kill their fellows by cutting of their heads and used it for sacrifice to the diety for protection from enemies. They do this by drinking from the person’s dead skull.
TABOO: In prior colonialism, some parts of Africa, giving birth to twins is a taboo, it is believed that the twins are evil spirits invoked to earth and if allowed to exist they will cause havoc and hinder the growth the community in which they belong. So they are being taken to an evil forest to die and ferment.
From the above reasons, I am convinced and of the view that in the prior colonialism Africans did not have bearable conscience because of their inhuman activities.
OGBOLOKOT, ADIAHAETE EKRIKA
DeleteMAT NO: U2013/1835051
Introduction
The world is spherical and exist to occupy the earth including the black developing African states dramatically and chronologically grown into her in-depth borne characters that portrait him as a typical placed Africans.
In decades the black habitants (African) involved in traditionally mystical activities and performed ritual involvement which demonstrates whole and over-sizing the noses of the universe as been denied of human conscience which in turn became the objective subject matter.
Before I proceed, it is more important to put forward the meaning of Conscience as an aptitude, intuition or judgment that assists in distinguishing right from wrong. Moral judgment may derive from values or norms (principles and rules).
Life Africans lived in prior colonial era was without conscience due to their countless number of blood sacrifices to gods and deities for personal or family reasons. The reasons for this inhuman act are as follows:
LAND CLEANSING: In the prior colonial era, some African communities believed that the blood of virgin(s) can purge the land from its infirmities. So the chief priest order for the offering of a virgin for an immediate sacrifice to cleanse the land of their sins or infirmities, this is done by killing virgin(s) and using the blood to sprinkle the boundaries of the village.
PROTECTION: Another reason, if some African communities want to go to war, there is human blood sacrifice that is done, the act is exercised by sprinkling it on the warriors foreheads for them to be invisible spiritually to their opponents. Also some Africans kill their fellows by cutting of their heads and used it for sacrifice to the diety for protection from enemies. They do this by drinking from the person’s dead skull.
TABOO: In prior colonialism, some parts of Africa, giving birth to twins is a taboo, it is believed that the twins are evil spirits invoked to earth and if allowed to exist they will cause havoc and hinder the growth the community in which they belong. So they are being taken to an evil forest to die and ferment.
From the above reasons, I am convinced and of the view that in the prior colonialism Africans did not have bearable conscience because of their inhuman activities.
Before going in details we need to understand what conscience is all about. Conscience is the sense of right and wrong, it is a state of awareness or quality of an external object or something within oneself. Africans are seen as barbaric defiant and perpetually desirous of meddling in a statement of un-development, a clear example of these fact is our involvement in the Ashanti slave trade, our precarious superstitious decadence has so much blindfolded our consciousness to conscience to the extent that cannibalism was even the order of the day, man inhumanity to man and a wanton disregard for human right and dignity of the human person frequent violation of human right alongside tribalism were some of the factors that accounted for our backwardness. Be that as it may, I am yet to ascertain a remarkably difference in the attitude of Africans in the light of the present global reality, little wonder, our colonial masters sees us as baboons and animals, and thus, believed it would be difficult for us to migrate from the state of barbarism to civilisation till today I can still say, Africans do not have conscience, Africans are brutish, wicked, and selfish. Imagine a man accumulating what him and his entire generation can't consume while some others live below one dollar a day, if we claim to have conscience, some questions are to be answered, such as; how come we don't care for ourselves?, why the crave for power and fame?. If only power and fame is used positively the case would have been different. But please let us think prior colonialism was not all that perfect but at least it gave rise to awareness of certain things in our society for example it stopped the killing of twins and also seeing their own children as an "outcast". Thus, raising critical consciousness involves sensitisation of the citizens to be self-aware of the right nature and the constitution confer on them as free born citizens. In Sum, I would say, black consciousness origins were deeply rooted in Christianity in 1966, African consciousness was based on the ethics of duty, and not of Right. I conclude by saying that parents out of ignorance and due to what it said to be their so called beliefs killed their own blood (killing of twins or seeing their own children given to them by God as a taboo) also seeing their own blood and flesh as an outcast due to the way they were born or probably the day of birth thus giving their children back to their gods what human with conscience would do such a thing, I put it to you all that Africans do not have conscience considering their barbaric acts.
ReplyDeleteGODWILL ESTHER MAMMA U2013/1835079
DeleteThe fact that some Africans were involved in some barbaric practices such as the killing of twin babies, outcast system does not any way make Africans to be brutish, wicked and selfish and such practices can not be connected to lack of conscience but occurred due to religious believes and practices.
but it a known fact that africans prior to colonialism was characterised by comunial life where everyone looks after one another
DeleteJaphet tonbrapade,u2013/1835061.I support this fact because,even in our present society people still do some wicked acts that will leave one to wonder if they have conscience at all.people still do human sacrifices as a medium to get money.we cannot judge Africans and say that they don't have conscience prior colonialism.every society have set out laws that governs them and we should not see the coming of white men and their judgment about us to judge Africans whether we had conscience or not.
DeleteARUM JUDE CHIDI
DeleteU2013/1835024
Commenting on esther adu's work, those obnoxious practice was part of thier beliefs and that alone is not enough for one to say that Africans had no conscience because conscience is what make humans a living being, thus,saying they had no conscience is as good as saying that Africans were not human being.
if there was no conscience in the advent of colonialism,why petitions,arguments and tribunal where being used by Africans through out the continent
Deleteif conscience is ubiquitous as you said, then africans have indeed contravened that concept because of their active participation in barberic and inhuman practices all in the name of tradition.
DeleteJOSEPH EYIANTSE if conscience is ubiquitous as you said, then africans have indeed contravened that concept because of their active participation in barberic and inhuman practices all in the name of tradition.
Deleteokereke mercy
Deleteu2013/1835078
i support this goodness Africans had the spirit of neighborliness and they feared the gods
OKONKWO BENEDICTA ADA U2013/1835053
ReplyDeleteAfricans in the advent of colonialism had no sense of collective purpose. They sold their brothers out of greed and envy. They think nothing of killing and selling their own kinsmen for a pittance (mirror, guns, cowries etc.). They had no interest in the dying for or fighting for anything which is outside their daily feeding. If a person show signs of any potential or hope of being able to be a great leader to others, he will be exposed, reported or even destroyed for a few morsels (gifts) from the hands of the colonial masters.
I strongly agree that Africans during the advent of colonialism had no conscience with these few points:
Africans saw the birth of twins as a abomination. They saw it as something abnormal, if animals could bear in numbers then humans should not; so they thought. Twins were either killed, used as sacrifice or abandoned in the evil forest.
Africans offered their follow humans to the gods to serve as instrument of the gods. Yet they segregate them; they are not married to, they don’t go to the same market, they are not allowed to share things with them etc. These are the same people who stand as intermediaries between them and the gods yet they are being ostracized and seen as a curse.
At the death of a king, chief or any person held in high esteem, people are buried alive with them. They believe that the journey to the after life is a long and tedious one and that these dead chiefs will need servants to attend to them on the journey. In some other cases, rituals are carried out and heads are used to bury a king. This is majorly practiced in the south western part of Nigeria (the Yoruba's).
In Yoruba land, before a king is crowned, he must eat the heart of the deceased king, this process is known as “ijoba”.
Flogging of a man before he is able to marry a woman is practiced among the Fulani. He is being flogged by the kinsmen of the bride. They do this to know how strong the suitor is.
In Tiv land, women are seen as properties and are used to show appreciation to a male guest. Men give their wives to their guest to lay with. This practice is known as wife-hospitality.
In the early days, Yoruba people believe that one can use the hunch of a hunch-back man to acquire wealth. A person with hunch back is killed and his hunch separated from his body. It is put in a pot and sent to the evil forest by the Ifa priest (chief-priest) after some rituals have been done.
In the early Hausa land, if a man discovers that his wife is not a virgin, he sends her back to her father. The father in turn will either give her out to any warrior, sell her out to slavery or use her for sacrifice.
In some part of Nigeria, babies were pounded in a mortar and used for rituals [to empower oneself and to make wealth]. It is also used in making black soap which is commonly used by the Yoruba's.
With these few points, one will agree with me that Africans had no conscience prior the advent of colonialism.
GODWILL ESTHER MAMMA U2013/1835079
DeleteThere is no doubt that some Africans were engaged in some of the barbaric practices you mentioned here but it does not make Africans to lack conscience. Conscience is what everyone is born with, it is something inside everyone regardless of colour or race. All the practices that some Africans were engaged in, were due to different religious believes and practices and not lack of conscience. Thank you.
i disagree with you in the sense that Africans had no collective purpose. prior to being colonised, African existed communally, they engaged in collective ownership of lands, the young ones help the elderly to clear farm lands, they even fight for one another.
DeleteName Nwaokolo Sarah Chioma
DeleteMatt number: U2013/1835043
I totally agree with u on this, I always feel pity to d innocent souls dat were lost to d conscience less activities of Africans before colonialisms. So I won't try to paint it to look otherwise because am from Africa, the fact remain our fore fathers were without conscience before colonialism. That's all..
NAME: CHINWO, CHIMA SUNNY
ReplyDeleteMAT. NO: U2013/1835082
ARGUMENT FOR THE EXISTENCE OF CONSCIENCE IN AFRICA PRIOR TO COLONIAL ERA
INTRODUCTION
This piece of work is concern with a brief argument supporting the fact that Africans have conscience prior to the colonial era. It is also geared towards eliminating doubts in the heart of any reader who have preconceived that Africans have no conscience prior to the colonial era or missionaries.
Though western scholars like Emile Ludwig thus enormously asserted that “How can the untutored Africans conceive God, for deity is a philosophical concept in which savages are incapable of framing”.
In recent times scholars like Bolaji Edowu and J. S. Mbiti etc have in their works proven otherwise.
In one of their works they asserted that the concept of a supreme being has for long been part and parcel of African cosmology.
Therefore this work shall lend its voice to the fact that Africans have conscience before colonial era.
AN ARGUMENT SUPPORTING THE FACT THAT AFRICANS HAVE CONSCIENCE PRIOR TO COLONIAL ERA
In concordance with the works of Africa traditional religion scholars, I hereby argue that Africans have conscience prior to the colonial era. The definition of the term conscience and its origin clearly supports my argument.
The term conscience is seen as that faculty within the human being that helps him/her to take or make a decision between good and evil, right and wrong.
From the definition of the term conscience one can easily deduce that it is embed in all humans, whether their actions are right or wrong and primitive.
A wrong and primitive decisions or actions still falls under the confines of conscience.
The level of conscience varies especially in the primitive African society in which they formerly fall into the lax form of conscience.
But it is sacrosanct to argue here that a low level of conscience or a society under the lax form of conscience is not a parameter to classify such society as conscience free since conscience varies in degree and in type.
Secondly I further buttress my argument with the origin of conscience. Scholars of thoughts especially in religious domain have identify conscience as the “voice of God” they further asserts that God at creation infused His wisdom into the human being in other to help them in their deliberation especially thinking process.
In following the origin of conscience afore mentioned it is pertinent to argue that conscience is universal phenomenon and that Africans were the first to have it since history has it that the very first place of man is Africa.
Finally I argue that if Africans prior to colonial era were unconscious of the conscience faculty in which the supreme being as they believe or God deposited in them is not a rational ground to conclude rather erroneously that Africans have no conscience.
i completely concur and acquiesce that African where the first to have conscience.
DeleteName: Nwaokolo Sarah Chioma
DeleteMatt number:U2013/1835043
I agree dat conscience can be for good or evil. But on d real sense of the term conscience it's refers to doing what is right, for instance when one does an evil tin he is always said does he or she have conscience? Don't try to paint it to make it seem other wise because u are Africa. We all are from Africa but it's still good to call a spade a spade..
NAME: UCHEGBU, CHRISTIAN
ReplyDeleteMAT. NO: U2013/1835012
ARGUMENT FOR THE EXISTENCE OF CONSCIENCE IN AFRICA PRIOR TO COLONIAL ERA
INTRODUCTION
From the time immemorial Africa is like every other nations created by God, and there is no country that was created without consciences any man or nation without consciences is dead.
CLARIFICATION OF CONSCIENCE
The term conscience is defined as that part of human Psyche that include mental anguish and feelings of guilt when we violate it and feelings of pleasure and well-being when our actions, thoughts and words are in conformity to our value system. Also conscience can be seen as an aptitude, faculty, intuition or judgment that assists in distinguishing right from wrong.
Looking at the argument of some scholars such as Michel Glautier argues that conscience is one of the instincts and drives which enable people to form societies, groups of human without these drives or in whom their insufficient cannot form society and do not reproduce their kind as successfully as those that do.
Base on the above view of some scholars on conscience, one can say that no society or human can exist without conscience.
When we talk about conscience we mean faculty or attitude for a nation, individual, and society which is emerge in culture. One cannot talk about society without talking about culture. The Africa have consciences in the since that Africa had an authentic culture. African had a standard culture that was practice before the colonial masters arrived to African and introduce and alien culture to African.
Despite the foreign culture that was introduce by the colonics master, the African still maintain some of their culture, therefore one cannot maintain culture without conscience. Though there is culture change as a result of colonialism but it is worthy to note that there are some societies in Africa where high ethical and moral standard are still maintain.
For instance in Kogi State of Nigeria, in a society called Igala land Ajawa Ugwolawo taking a view of that society one can concord high ethical standard of living was hand down to them by their fore fathers or progenitors.
Before the coming of the colonial masters, Africa practices their high standard of culture, they live in harmony, and they do all things base on the Africa culture.
Seeing Africa as the societies without conscience was base on the migration of the foreigners who never understand the culture of the people, never take time to study the culture of the people, and concluded, though western scholars like Emile Ludwig thus enormously asserted that “How can the untutored Africans conceive God, for deity is a philosophical concept in which savages are incapable of framing”.
Moreso, Charles Darwin assert that conscience can be view as an outcome of those biological drives that prompt humans to avoid provoking fear or contempt in others. It is important to note that Africans where living without fear, but they maintain the rules, norm and values of their culture.
The practices of Africa culture before the colonial era was not as a result of conscience free.
In summary Africa have conscience, because they were unique societies created by God.
In other to maintain the ethical standard in Africa societies the people of Africa should go back to their belief which will enhance the conscience of Africa.
NWANYANWU FRIDAY CHIMENE
DeleteU2013/1835042
You are perfectly right.
NAME: ANUFORO OLUCHI MARY
DeleteI agree with your point of view because the Africans are indeed morally incline and this is because of their believe system. Their traditional indigenous believe in the ancestor and divinities
Shows the conscience of Africans. Because of the fear of the wrath of their gods (divinities), they thus, tend to behave justly and that is a prove that they had conscience before colonialism and law abiding from the origin.
NAME: ISIDAHOMHEN O. QUEEN
ReplyDeleteMAT. NO: U2013/1835083
ARGUMENT FOR THE EXISTENCE OF CONSCIENCE IN AFRICA PRIOR TO COLONIAL ERA
INTRODUCTION
The term conscience and religion work hand in hand. Africans have for long have been a religious people, a religious society is never far from having conscience. Therefore this work shall briefly argue that Africans have conscience prior to colonial era.
AN ARGUMENT SUPPORTING THAT AFRICANS HAVE CONSCIENCE PRIOR TO COLONIAL ERA
In line with the works of scholars on conscience I hereby argue that Africans are endowed with conscience before colonial era. The term conscience as defined by Onyiloha Chiedu in his lecture note (2015), is that faculty within the human being that helps him/her to make decision between good and evil right and wrong. From the definition I argue that conscience is ubiquitous (found everywhere) though the level of conscience awareness varies. But whether a society operates on the list level of conscience (lax) is not a prerequisite to assert that they have no conscience. Finally I also base my point of argument on the origin of conscience as enumerated by scholars of thought in religious domain. In line with their works, it is said that conscience was given to man by God in time of creation in which they called it “the voice of God” I finally argue in line with the origin of conscience by scholars that Africans prior to colonial era have conscience since all human being is said to be created by God and Africans are not left out it.
if conscience is ubiquitous as you said, then africans have indeed contravened that concept because of their active participation in barberic and inhuman practices all in the name of tradition.
Deleteif conscience is ubiquitous as you said, then africans have indeed contravened that concept because of their active participation in barberic and inhuman practices all in the name of tradition.
DeleteNAME: SORONNADI CHIZOBA MARYANN
ReplyDeleteMAT. NO: U2013/1835003
ARGUMENT ON THE MOTION THAT AFRICAN HAD NO CONSCIENCE IN ADVENT PRIOR OF COLONIALISM.
First what is conscience all about? i see conscience as that inner feeling that informs us when we are doing the right or wrong thing or it’s like a still small voice that judges our reactions, kind of lifestyle, behaviors towards others and the things we do as the day goes by.
In the pre-colonial African society Africans were superstitious, and then they were so bold and satisfied with all they were doing without remorse. in support that Africans don’t have conscience because then the killing of twins, human sacrifice, pounding of new born babies etc were ramped and Africans were so comfortable, they enjoyed it, they never felt bad, human life was nothing to them, they even created osu (outcast )from their own children and family.
Because of the attitudes they portrayed then were what made the see us as primitive and archaic. A white man can’t trust a black man because blacks then kill themselves to gain favors, they never trusted themselves. It’s clear that Africans had no conscience in the pre-colonial era if they had they won’t do all those wicked things without being touched in the process or without a second thought no matter what the circumstances are. i support the motion that Africans in the pre-colonial African society were without conscience.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteJAPHET TONBRAPADE
DeleteU2013/1835061
I will say here that Africans had conscience prior to colonialism and will disagree on your points that they don't have conscience. the killing of twins, pounding of babies were certain set out rules and sacred believes that were being practiced by them and they e whites came and introduced their religion that we see it as bad. see no bad in it because it was accepted by the society. It was when thBut mind you in our present society people still practice such things and whites still betray their fellow whites
JAPHET TONBRAPADE
DeleteU2013/1835061
I will say here that Africans had conscience prior to colonialism and will disagree on your points that they don't have conscience. the killing of twins, pounding of babies were certain set out rules and sacred believes that were being practiced by them and they e whites came and introduced their religion that we see it as bad.africans see no bad in it because it was accepted by the society.But mind you in our present society people still practice such things and whites still betray their fellow whites
Ikiriko siya u013/1835001. How can you say the pounding of babies,killing of twins were certain set out rules of the society it's only a society that lacks conscience and discipline that does such.How will you feel my dear if your child is been killed and you say it's part of the rule of a society,imagine the pains you went through in the labour room.OH! Africa we lack conscience
DeleteNAME:ADIRIMO MICHAEL TAMUNEMI. MATRIC NO:U2013/1835088. I ARGUE ON THE NOTION AFRICANS HAD NO CONSCIENCE.
ReplyDeleteWhat is Conscience: Conscience is define to be the inner sense or feeling of what is wrong or right in ones conduct or motives,compelling one towards right action,and the complex of ethical and moral principles that controls or inhabits the actions or thoughts of an individual...It can also be an enumerator or regulator that constitutes an individual to act morally right...Africa as a continent was described by the westerns as a dark continent because of the experiences they had when they came into contact with africans...cannibalism,slavery,witchcraft,sorcery,killing of twins,human sacrife was predominant in the ancient africa...Credit must be attributed to the catholic missionaries who brought light to africa but lack of conscience from the then dark continent saw most of those earlier missionary men losing their lives,as far as I am concern I stand to be corrected by other young scholars that africans had conscience because as far as I am concerned africans don't
DONATUS CHUKWUDEMENI. MAT.NO:U2013/1835097. ARGUEMENT ON THE MOTION THAT AFRICAN HAS CONSCIENCE IN ADVENT PRIOR TO COLONIALISM. What Is Conscience? Conscience is an aptitude, faculty, intuition or judgment that assists in distinguishing right from wrong. Moral judgment may derive from values or norms (principles and rules). In psychological terms conscience is often described as leading to feelings of remorse when a human commits actions that go against his/her moral values and to feelings of rectitude or integrity when actions conform to such norms..The extent to which conscience informs moral judgment before an action and whether such moral judgments are or should be based in reason has occasioned debate through much of the history of Western philosophy..Africans had conscience before the advent of westerns let me ask which continent of this world who doesn't have one dark age or the other..Africans had organised government e.g oyo kingdom,benin kingdom etc,an organised community like the igbo community,morality was highly met due to reverence for the gods of the land,only the offenders were punished,so I believe africans had conscience
ReplyDeleteIf Africans has conscience, why will most African culture decide to burry a full fleshed individual with a dead king just to satisfy the dead king ? to me that is wickedness.
DeleteName: Malik Khadijat Alifa
DeleteMat. No.: U2013/1835118
I disagree with you that Africans had no conscience because back then, the idea of killing of twins was borne out of ignorance and when there was a realization that it was bad, they stopped it.
Ekanem Offiong Anthonia
Deleteu2013/1835074
Africans had conscience because every humans was born with conscience the fact is that Africans were only ignorant of their acts.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteNAME: IYOYO, WILFRED IYOYO
ReplyDeleteMAT. NO: U2013/1835021
Conscience is inborn. Therefore every human irrespective of their race have conscience whether black or white.
Africans had conscience, before the pre-colonial era we (rules) have norms and values that guide our conducts. For instance shedding of blood is a taboo in African. The certainty of human live is held in high esteem. Prior to the colonialism and before the coming of the missionaries to African, it’s our conscience that tells us what ought to and what ought not to. Although I must admit that there were some obnoxious cultural practices carried out by our forbearers before colonialism but this was done out of ignorance, this is not a enough reason to tagged the black race has people who had no conscience prior to colonialism. I support the motion that Africans in the pre-colonial African society had conscience.
Conscience is part of one’s life it is either it is alive or death. What then is conscience?
Conscience is an aptitude, faculty, intuition or judgment that assists in distinguishing right from wrong. Moral judgment may derive from values or norms (principles and rules). In psychological terms conscience is often described as leading to feelings of remorse when a human commits actions that go against his/her moral values and to feelings of rectitude or integrity when actions conform to such norms. The extent to which conscience informs moral judgment before an action and whether such moral judgments are or should be based in reason has occasioned debate through much of the history of Western philosophy.
Religious views of conscience usually see it as linked to a morality inherent in all humans, to a beneficent universe and/or to divinity. The diverse ritualistic, mythical, doctrinal, legal, institutional and material features of religion may not necessarily cohere with experiential, emotive, spiritual or contemplative considerations about the origin and operation of conscience. Common secular or scientific views regard the capacity for conscience as probably genetically determined, with its subject probably learned or imprinted (like language) as part of a culture.
If shading of blood was/is a taboo, why the killing of twins? Or what the twins have is not called Blood but maybe it's just water,
DeleteHuman life in high esteem? What will you call the selling of their own brothers and sister out for slavery? That's a mathematics I will leave you to solve for another day, if Africans had conscience like you rightly put it, it would have judged them of all their barbaric acts it should have told them that the killing of twins were wrong and that they were gift of double blessing from the supreme, as a matter of fact I still stand with the motion that says Africans had no conscience prior colonisation, they had no remorse of thei evil acts you may call it culture but culture but I put it to you that they had no conscience and lacks civilisation.
If shading of blood was/is a taboo why we're they killing their twins, or are these children having mere water in their cell? Human life in high esteem? What about the selling of their own children and brothers into slavery? I challenge you to take your own a sell out of course u can't do that why because you have a conscience, but still we Africans still kill our own for self fish desires greed etc, if they had conscience that tells them what ought and ought not they would have stopped it even Mary did but instead they had no remorse of the evil deeds, you may call it cultural practices but I tell it's lack of civilisation and lack of knowledge of what conscience was all about. Remember religion and culture are both slippery concept, i put it to you that any Culture without religion is DEMONIC and what we Africans were practicing prior the advent of colonisation was Demonic because even their gods do not permits shedding of innocent blood.
DeleteIf shedding of blood was/is a taboo, why the killing of twins? Or what the twins have is not called Blood but maybe it's just water,
DeleteHuman life in high esteem? What will you call the selling of their own brothers and sister out for slavery? That's a mathematics I will leave you to solve for another day, if Africans had conscience like you rightly put it, it would have judged them of all their barbaric acts it should have told them that the killing of twins were wrong and that they were gift of double blessing from the supreme, as a matter of fact I still stand with the motion that says Africans had no conscience prior colonisation, they had no remorse of thei evil acts you may call it culture but culture but I put it to you that they had no conscience and lacks civilisation.
JOSEPH, STEVEN CHUKWUDI
ReplyDeleteU2013/1825025
Before arguing for or against the above argument, it would be important first to know what conscience is all about.
According to Oxford dictionary, conscience is being defined as the part of your mind that tells you whether your actions are right or wrong. It could also be a guilty feeling about something you have done or failed to do. Conscience also is seen as the faculty within the human being that helps him/her to make a decision between good and evil, right or wrong.
Conscience is in every human being because God at creation infused it into all human beings. It’s just like the brain which enables man to be rational. One could ask; if God infused conscience into all humans, did Africans know God before colonialism? Of course, Africans did not know the Christian God or the Islam Allah, but they knew the African god’s. They were somewhat very religious in the sense that they had divinities that had shrines and priest’s that they worship, there was the concept of morality and ethical living in the pre-colonial African societies. Because of the fear of their Beings; divinities, Spirits and the Supreme Being, and the reverence for the community rulers which include kings and royal chiefs, the people had the obligation of doing the right things and when they do wrong, they would know because of the conscience in them.
Again, conscience is not a concept of colonialism, neither is it a thing of the migrant religions, thus, Africans had conscience rooted right in them before colonialism because they were also created by the Supreme Being and as well having other biological and physiological given the colonialists had.
I completely agree with you that conscience is not a product of colonialism rather, it is what makes the human entity complete. With or without religion conscience is ever present in the minds of Africans.
Deleteif Africans had conscience prior the advent of colonialism why were human heads used for sacrifices during the death of a late chief or even the killing of twins in the name of tradition. people who do such a thing do they have conscience?
DeleteAfricans had no conscience, else they wouldn't kill their twins, bury innocent heads with their kings, sell their children into slavery, you may call it cultural practices, but culture and religion works hand in hand, there is no religion that permits the killing of twins, Africans were ignorant, yes, but an ignorant man is a dead man except life is infused into him and how can this be done only by showing him light cause light gives life, Africans rightly put were not civilised and it was the help of colonisation we became civilised, no doubt God infused conscience all all of His creatures cause even a lion will never take his fellow as a prey, but Africans are worst they cannot be classified as humans neither animals, then what can we classify Africans prior colonisation as? Even the African gods did not permit them to take innocent lives, else why would they kill innocent people and add the blood of an animal in other to convince their gods it was not a pure blood? All society has a layed down principle which enable them live in peace and harmony but Africans forgot to add conscience as part of them simply because they do not know what conscience was, colonisation gave Africans the knowledge of conscience, remember, religion and culture are both slippery concept, thus, any culture without religion is DEMONIC.
DeleteARUM JUDE CHIDI
DeleteU2013/1835024
I completely concur to steven's point,that a Africans had conscience rooted in them beforecolonialism because they were also created by the supreme being and also that the supreme beign at creation infused conscience in us all , and that is the wisdom of God ,that is why sometime we often refers to conscience as the voice of God.
ONYEIWU SYLVIA CHINYERE
ReplyDeleteU2013/1835015
Before colonialism came into Africa, the peoples of Africa had their own belief, culture, norms, values, which were solely based on ethical values and morals (infused by their religion), which has to do with what is right or wrong; good or evil.
Aptly put, conscience is a person's moral sense of right or wrong, viewed as acting as a guide to one's behaviour. It is that part of the mind that makes one aware of being either morally right or wrong. On this note, it is important to assert that there is no individual without a conscience which means whether an individual does good or evil; it is conscience at work.
Conscience in relation to the peoples of Africa prior to the advent of colonialism is an element that was and is still very much present. This is due to the fact that the peoples of Africa knew what they should abstain from and what they should partake in, there were laid down rules and also the principle element of cause and effect which was strictly adhered to. All that the peoples did was encompassed within these rules and principles.
It is essential to state that the peoples of Africa prior to colonialism had a conscience but carried out their actions out of ignorance and fear. Ignorance because they knew nothing other than those beliefs and practices, and fear due to the fact that there were consequences for every action taken, if not taken in the right way(if not taken in accordance to the belief system in practice).
Though looking back at these acts carried out by Africans in pre-colonial era, in terms of the indiscriminate killings of people for ritual purpose or in order to bury a king who have died, dedication of virgins to the gods(in the name of purity), discrimination or condemnation of persons with the belief that they are not the same as the others(for the fact that they are dedicated to the gods, using Osu in the Eastern part of Nigeria for instance), the killing of twins (which was put to as stop by Mary slessor), and other acts which we now consider barbaric. I know some of my colleagues would pick on this point during their argument against the fact that Africans had a conscience. But this is however not enough reason to regard these acts and actions taken because the African peoples lacked conscience but it was due to the fact that they were ignorant; it was a trend which they all had to follow and there was no other option for them until the colonial masters came.
i agree with you ooooo the killing of twin was as result of african belief in order to reverence their god
Deleteif conscience is that abstract moderator internalized in humans, colonialism should not have contributed to either the presence or absence of conscience among Africans
DeleteANUFORO SYLVIA CHUKWUYERE
ReplyDeleteU2013/1835008
Conscience is the part of the mind that makes you aware of your actions as being either morally right or wrong. it can also be referred to as a sense of consciousness of the moral goodness or blame worthiness of ones own conduct, intentions, or character together with a feeling of obligation to do right or be good. therefore, Africans had conscience before the coming of the colonial master. in this context, conscience differ in Africans conscience. African culture was held with high esteem, their norms, value, proverbs, sacrifices, beliefs and faith. before the coming of the colonial masters, Africans had a sense of moral, ethical way of doing things. they had conscience in their way of doing things serving and worshiping their gods and also offering sacrifices. both the killing of twins, offering of human sacrifice in order to pacify their gods. it is justifiable because that what they were taught and what they believed and its their belief system.
before their own eyes, they were doing the right things and in a justifiable way. it is only when the pre-colonial came that things changed, they saw the Africans as being barbaric and a dark continent. if they did not have a conscience, there will be nothing like punishment. there was always punishment to reprehend the wrong doers of their actions.
NWANYANWU FRIDAY CHIMENE
DeleteU2013/1835042
I concur with you.
Chinanu Jennifer Obuah
ReplyDeleteName: Obuah, Chinanu Jennifer
Matric No: U2013/1835020
Introduction
Many anthropologists, historians, political scientists, sociologists, etc. have written on different aspects of the African peoples. Unmistakably, the nature of their belief systems, traditional systems of social control and policing of the various ethnic groups in Africa have been studied by most scholars with sentiments and this has made some believe that Africans had existed without conscience but for the arrival of the colonial masters. However, the unique and sometimes traumatizing methods of offender apprehension and disposal specifically, in many parts of Africa, remained hidden to scholars.
Africans had Conscience Prior Colonialism in the Continent
First, it is crucial to state that conscience is an abstract characteristic of humans irrespective of age, class, sex or generational boundaries. Hence, for better understanding of the argument there is an unavoidable need to look at the meaning of the concept ‘conscience’. The word "conscience" is derived from the Latin conscientia, meaning "privity of knowledge" or "with-knowledge". The English word implies internal awareness of a moral standard in the mind concerning the quality of one's motives, as well as a consciousness of our own actions. Thus conscience considered philosophically may be first, and perhaps most commonly, a largely unexamined "gut feeling" or "vague sense of guilt" about what ought to be or should have been done. Conscience according to May (1983) is an aptitude, faculty, intuition or judgment that assists in distinguishing right from wrong. Moral judgment may derive from values or norms (principles and rules). In psychological terms conscience is often described as leading to feelings of remorse when a human commits actions that go against his/her moral values and to have feelings of rectitude or integrity when actions conform to such norms. So, if conscience is that abstract moderator internalized in humans, colonialism should not have contributed to either the presence or absence of conscience among Africans. To buttress this, deviance is a ubiquitous phenomenon. It is found in every healthy society. Have we ever bordered to ask ourselves the following questions: how did Africans judge right from wrong? How did they punish offenders? How they did lay down heavy penalties (such as throwing into the evil forest the remains of an evil person, making a caught thief dance naked round the village, etc.) for offenders? How is it that there were those lived without breaching these laws? How did Africans commend those seen to be upright prior colonialism? And how did they interpret the law? The answer is clear and simple; they had conscience even without colonial masters nor formal education they passed good judgments. African society had customary standards of conduct and negative sanctions for any breach which are products of conscience.
Therefore, I conclude by saying that if Africans had no conscience prior to the coming of the white man it means that there exists no conscience in the amongst Africans even after colonialism.
African conscience is also heightened by knowledge of dignity and decision of early forebears whose world view was mainly on ancestors as integrals of the living community.
Deletei agree with you; the killing of twin was as result of african belief in order to reverence their god
DeleteGODWILL ESTHER MAMMA,
ReplyDeleteMATRIC NO: U2013/ 1835079
prior to the advert of colonialism, Africans had well established pattern of home-grown political system, governing process and generally acceptable institutional rule making arrangement, such that there was progress in the pace of civilization of Africa and self-styled tempo of technological development. this would not have been possible, if the people had no conscience that guided them in their decision - making process. Therefore, to make my point clear in this argument, it is important to know what conscience is.
conscience is the part of the mind that tell an individual whether his/her actions are right or wrong. it can therefore been seen that the human conscience is an integral part of the human person inherent from birth. Hence, everyone regardless of colour differences has conscience. If everyone has conscience, therefore, the Africans had conscience prior to the advert of colonialism in the continent. The fact that some part of Africa engaged in certain practices such as the killing of twin babies, female circumcision and others can not be connected to a lack of conscience but occurred due to religious believes and practices. Africans had good value system. They believed in the principle of being one's brother's keeper, extended family relationship, they believed in the virtue of honesty and shunned stealing and shedding of innocent blood. Colonialism had its merits and demerits on the Africa soil. It introduced the culture of violence, slave trade and the integration of culturally divergent nations. They gave us Western Education, Abolition of Killing of Twin Babies and Western Civilization among others. I therefore conclude by saying that Africans had conscience prior to the advert of colonialism because Africans are human beings created by God, Africans are not animals.
NWOSU CHISOM SAMPSON
ReplyDeleteU2013/1835101
Before discussing about African's conscience prior colonialism in the continent, we must first of all know the meaning of the word ''conscience''.
Conscience is a persons moral sense of right and wrong, viewed as acting as a guide to ones behavior. It can also be an aptitude, faculty, intuition or judgement that assists in distinguishing right and wrong.
Every human being has conscience and it direct humans towards what is right and wrong, good or bad, etc.
Africans had conscience before colonialism in Africa, the people had their belief system, norms,values, customs,traditions and laws which they abide to. In African society, there are many different indigenous African religious practices, although some share similar or common elements, Many religions believe in one god or the presence of spirits.
Before Africa was colonized the continent was seen as a large degree of plurality that consists with unique unchanging cultures, culture must be dynamic and the pre-colonial African cultures seen to be historical manifestations that are relevant in their specific period of time.
I totally agree wit u that Africans had conscience and that every human being has conscience that direct them towards what is right and wrong. but in as much as we argue that Africans had conscience prior to the advent of colonialism, on what basis is your argument? there are reasons why it is argued that Africans never had conscience what are they?
DeleteName: Obi Amarachi Faith.
ReplyDeleteMatt No: U2013/18355004.
Argument on the motion that African’s had no conscience before the emergence of the colonial matters.
An English dictionary defined conscience as the moral sense of right and wrong, chiefly as it affects one's own behave i our. Conscience is a human faculty that can be developed, so in developing human conscience it only accepts what it feels like that is needed. Man's conscience has to do with what is acceptable to him. In modern societies today people seems to see some certain things as wrong or right due to modernization and his religious belief or education. An ignorant Man does not know what is conscience and does that which he feels is necessary not minding if it is wrong or right. This is the situation of the pre-colonial Africans before the emergence of the whites.
If the pre-colonial Africans has conscience, they will not be of practicing human sacrifices, killing of twins, selling of their children for slavery, using human heads to bury their kings, casting away a child his/her upper teeth came our first to the evil forest, burring of humans alive inside the ground before building an obi (among the Igbo people of west Africa), etc... Although some may argue that it was ignorance but ignorance is not an excuse in the court of law. Most of their Religion was demonic. If they had conscience as humans it could have dawned on them that such is a sin and wickedness against their fellow humans. For e.g., a young girl who grew up in a home where the mother prostitutes and aborts pregnancy when necessary will see it as a normal way of life except someone tells her otherwise, so whenever she does something contrary she feels bad not because she has conscience but because she has come to know that such actions are wrong. Most of us regret our actions because our mind tells us that we have deviated from the right way. Conscience is not inherent in Man, it developed as a result of our understanding about life, that's why kids are often punished when they do wrong in other to let them know what is right or wrong.
a very good point from u.today we have many successful twins in our community. impacting our lives positively. had it been that killing of twin was not stooped due to colonialism, we would have lost all these wonderful people just because of lack of conscience.
DeleteAnyanso gift nwanne
ReplyDeleteu2013 /1835022
my argument is based on the fact that Africans had conscience before the advent of colonialism. Let's look at conscience first, conscience is a person's moral sense of right and wrong viewed as acting as a guide to ones behavior. It is also an aptitude, faculty, intuition, or judgement that assists in distinguishing right from wrong. Before the advent of colonialism, Africans had there way of life that is culture and belief in the supernatural that is religion. It is only a conscious person that will have a way of life,this means he knows his rights and wrong. Let's forget about what some scholars said that Africans are untutored savages who can't conceive God.lets consider what African scholars said that Africans had ways of life before the Europeans came. Only conscious people will have a way of life . Had it been that Africans had no conscience they would have behaved in such an insane way that will make European not to come back again to Africa. Although Africa had some bad practices but they later adjusted to a normal better way of life for example the killing of twins, sacrificing human beings to the gods. It is the work of conscience that Africans were able to adjust with the changing culture. All these attributes are attributes of a conscious person. So Africans had conscience to no right and wrong. Africans had conscience so they were in search of the things that will be benefiting to them. Africans had to welcome the Europeans and collected new gifts from them like mirrors and some technological materials, but the Europeans took advantage of them and exploited Africa. With this few points of mine you will agree will agree with me that Africans had conscience before the advent of colonialism.
Correct, Africans had conscience before colonialism
DeleteOCCONOR JULIET AMAKA
ReplyDeleteU2013/1835005
argument is propose on the motion that Africans had conscience before the advent of colonialism. Firstly what is conscience? Conscience is the inner sense of what is right or wrong in one's conduct or motives, impelling one towards right action. Conscience is one of the dimensions of humans and it is naturally endowed to every human. Considering this fact Africans had conscience before the advent of colonialism. Although Africans practice some wrong things like killing of twins,slave trade etc. But they were able to change to a better way of life, this is the work of conscience. The conscience they had made them understand the implications of those wrong actions that they portrayed. Africans had conscience before the advent of colonialism, there conscience is shown in there way of life and aspects of belief in the supernatural which is culture and religion. It's only people with conscience that can have a way and system of life. Africans had conscience so they began to get ideas and how to get new things. So they were collecting things from the Europeans . Things like mirror , toys,and other technical things .But in a bid to make use of there conscience to no new things the Europeans had to exploit them. Finally if Africa had no conscience ,the Europeans would have not colonised them. If Africans made some mistakes it was out of ignorance but they later adopted the new better way of life after being taught. No man is an island, when Europeans came to Africa ,Africans learnt from Europeans and Europeans learnt from Africa. So therefore with this Africans had conscience before the advent of colonialism.
Accurate, Africans had conscience before the advent of colonialism
DeleteDURU PEACE
DeleteU2013/1835064
Nice article, it is barbaric to say that africans had no conscience, do we now say that we africans were animals who had no sense of humanity you so right with this
Name: Uche chigaemezu
ReplyDeletematric no: U2013/1835054
What is conscience? this is
defined as that part of the human psyche that induces mental anguish and feelings of guilt and when we violate it and feelings of pleasure and well being when our actions, thoughts and word are in conformity to our value system. it tells us what's wrong or right or wrong a better self within representing the claims of morality. Each person is assumed to have an individual conscience urging moral actions or restraint. in my own point of view I think Africans had conscience cos every one created by God has an inbuilt of conscience in them and also conscience and morality are dimension of human beings. I think the act carried by them such as killing of twin children, slavery, human sacrifice etc. was done out of ignorance and lack of fundamental right which guides human actions . And also due to the conscience that africans had made them to accept colonialism and the good things that came with it, and also the conscience africans had made them to live a bit peacefully with the colonial masters. for this reason i strongly support that Africans had conscience.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteNAME: EZIKERE HELEN
DeleteMAT NO.: U2013/1835075
What if the west not abolish slavery? Had Europe not decided to end the slave trade and the new world ceased demanding chattel labour, the transatlantic trade might still be rolling today. The ending of the obnoxious business had nothing to do with African. Rules and traders there would have happily continued to sell humans for as long as there was demand for them. One can only imagine how more determinedly African merchants would have clung on to the business as goods offered by changes in western technology. How many souls would African Chiefs have been, prepared to trade for a television or Car?
Name: Malik Khadijat Alifa
DeleteMat. No.: U2013/1835118
Yes, i totally agree with you that Africans had conscience prior to the colonial era.
NAME: EZIKERE HELEN
ReplyDeleteMAT NO.: U2013/1835075
CONSCIENCE
Conscience: is seen as the faulty within the human being that aids he/her to make a decision between good and evil, right and wrong.
Africans has no conscience prior the advent of colonialism continent considered the issues of slave trade in Africa. The past is what makes the present coherent, said Afro-American whiter James Baldwin, and the past will remain horrible for exactly as long as we refuse to assess it honestly.
Why go back, five centuries to start an explanation of Africa’s crisis in the late 1990s must every story of Africa’s political and economic underdevelopment begin with contact with Europe? The intention is not to produce another nationalist tract subjugated innocent Africans who were living blissfully close to nature. The reason for looking back is that the root of the crisis facing African society is their failure to come to terms with the consequences of that contact. Portuguese seamen first landed in Africa in the fourth decade of the fifteenth century. From the outset they seized Africans and shipped them to Europe. In 1441 ten Africans were kidnapped from the Guinea coast and taken to Portugal as gifts to Prince Henry the Navigator. In subsequent expeditions to the West African coast, inhabitants were taken and shipped to Portugal to be sold as servants and objects of curiosity to households. In the Portuguese ort of Lagos, where the first African slaves landed in 1442, the old slave market now serves as an art gallery. Portuguese adventures who sailed south east along the Gulf of Guinea in 1472 landed on the Coast of what became Nigeria.
Portuguese merchants traded with Africans from trading post, they set up along the cost. They exchanged items like brass and copper bracelets for such products as pepper, cloth, beads and slaves – all part, of an existing internal African trade. Domestic slavery was common in Africa and well before European slave buyers arrived, there was trading in humans. Black slaves were captured or bought by Arabs and exploited across the Saharan desert to the Mediterranean and Near East.
Estimates of the total human loss to African over the four centuries of the transatlantic slave trade range from 30 million to zoo million. The vast majority of slaves taken out of Africa were sold by African rulers, traders and military aristocracy who all grew wealthy from the business. Most slaves were acquired through wars or by kidnapping. The Portuguese Duatrepacheco pereire wrote in the early sixteenth century after a visit to Benin that the kingdom “is usually at war with its neighbours and takes many captives, whom we buy at twelve or fifteen brass bracelets each, or for copper bracelet, which they prize more. Equiano was born in 1745 in an area under the kingdom of Benin. At the age of ten he was kidnapped by slave hunters who also took his sister. He was more fortunate than most other slaves. After serving in America, the West Indies and England he was able to save for and buy his freedom in 1756 at the age of twenty-one.
European slave buyers made the greater profit from the despicable trade, but their African grew strong and fat on profits made from selling their brethren.
Ottobah Cugoano, who was about 13 years old when he was kidnapped in 1770 in Ajumako in today Ghana, had no doubt the shared responsibility of Africans for the horried businesses. Referring to his own capture cugoano wrote after he regained his freedom “I must own, to the shame of my own countrymen, that I was first kidnapped and betrayed by some of my own complexion, who were the first cause of my exile and slavery”. But he added, “If there were no buyers there would be no sellers”. By the same token, if there were no sellers there would be no buyers African had no conscience before they were colonized.
NAME: DESMOND DORIS
ReplyDeleteMAT NO: U2013/1835090
Every human poses the quality of acknowledging the right or wrong, the goodness or other wise of a human action. Conscience on its parts, complement this consciousness as it serves as a surveillance and an alarm to remind the human person of the propriety or otherwise of his actions/inaction, fairness or just in respect of the next person.
My own point of view about this context or argument, I will like to say that every human has a conscience that guide his actions which could either be good or bad, right or wrong.
Back to the topic if Africans had conscience prior the advent of colonialism in the continent, the answer is yes, because right from onset Africans had conscience but because of the norms, tradition, culture and values etc. that guide their societies it makes them look as if they have no conscience. But when you deep down into African’s societies you find out that Africans had conscience. For example, using the killing of twin prior the advent of colonialism. Africans belief in a woman per a child, this I meant that Africans do not have any idea about twin babies so when the scene of twin babies came up, they were kind of shock, confused because they have not encountered such thing. So the Africans considered it as a taboo/abomination that was why the babies were killed. The reason why those babies are being thrown to the evil forest or being killed is because, they see them as evil children, which they belief that one day they will be a trait to them (community).
In conclusion, Africans had conscience because the killing of those twin babies is as a result of protecting themselves against evil because that was what their conscience ask them to do, which they think is the right thing to do.
As stated earlier, the conscience of a man tells him what to do at every point in time which directs him or guide him to success or failure. This means, it could be a right thing or of a wrong thing.
NAME: EZIKERE HELEN
DeleteMAT NO.: U2013/1835075
If Africans has conscience why is it that the rich Africans military sell there fellow African poor Africans for exchanges of economic like brass an copper bracelets for such products as pepper, cloth, beads why is it like that or is it because those poor Africans have nothing to offer?
AJIE, FAITH CHINASA
DeleteU2013/1835027
You are right, Africans did what they did because they have the interest of their community at heart. In other to protect their members from impending dangers they have to do what they did for the betterment of their community. I maintain the fact that if one says Africans had no conscience that means the term conscience never existed in the world.
Yes. i concur that Africans have conscience since they can stop killing of twins because they taught the birth of twins will bring evil. but when they realized that it was bad, they stopped it. so, i totally agree with your point.
Deletename;stephen grace
Deletemat no;u2013/1835026
africans had conscience because with the fear of the gods pouring their anger on them they had to live a life of morality because they had a belief that there is consequence for every act
NNAEMEKA ROSEMARY OGOCHUKUWU
ReplyDeleteMAT NO.U2013\1835092
CONSCIENCE IS AN ATTRIBUTE OF EVERY HUMAN BEING,TO SAY ONE HAS NO CONSCIENCE IS AS GOOD AS SAYING THAT PERSON HAS NO LIFE.Conscience according to oxford dictionary is the moral sense of right or wrong chiefly as it affect ones behavior.conscience is one ability to perceive something right or wrong.It could also be a guilty feeling about something you have done or failed to do. Conscience also is seen as the faculty within the human being that helps him/her to make a decision between good and evil, right or wrong.yes Africans had done somethings we may say to have been barbaric in the past but before their own eyes, they were doing the right things and in a justifiable way. it was after the advent of colonial master, that things changed, they saw the Africans as being barbaric and a dark continent. if they did not have a conscience, there will be nothing like punishment. there was always punishment to reprehend the wrong doers of their actions.how can we say that someone who had no knowledge of Right or Wrong has no good or bad conscience. the killing of twins and human sacrifice among other they did we done because they had no conscience,for example the Africans were so primitive that the colonial master who came where able to convince them to sale their own people,the minds of the primitive Africans men where so blank that you can feel it with what you choose to.it is essential to state that the primitive African men had conscience but carried out their actions out of ignorance and fear. Ignorance because they knew nothing other than those beliefs and practices, and fear due to the fact that there were consequences for every action taken, if not taken in the right way
OKONKWO BENEDICTA ADA
Deleteu2013/1835053
I disagree with you; Africans had no conscience prior the time of colonialism though they had norm and values which guided them on how to live their lives. Anyone who goes contrary to this is severely punished, this is a normal phenomenon and i have no problem with that. My problem is with the kind of punishment melted out on offenders. so therefore i still stand my ground that Africans had little or no conscience prior the advent of colonization.
NAME : NNABUDE BLESSING OZIOMA
ReplyDeleteMAT NO : U2013/1835086
This simply means if Africans has existing moral life, rules, regulation, ethical norms and values before the colonial era.
COLONIALISM is the establishment, exploitation, maintenance, acquisition, and expansion of colony in one territory by a political power from another territory. It is a set of unequal relationships between the colonial power and the colony and often between the colonists and the indigenous population.
CONSCIENCE is an aptitude, faculty, intuition or judgment that assists in distinguishing right from wrong. Moral judgment may derive from values or norms (principles and rules).
In this perspective, Africans does not have conscience during the pre colonial era because they are barbaric in the sense that they use human being for sacrifice such like when a king or chief dies, they use the head of fellow human being to bury the person. Again, the killing of twins which was stopped by MARRY SLESSOR, slave trade, sacrificing some people as an outcast, circumcision of female, and not regarding female child’s.
They committed so many atrocities all in the name of culture and tradition. This was because they lack conscience.
you have defined conscience as part of human and that it assist humans judgement, why are you saying that Africans do not have consciences,can anyone live without a conscience? since it is part of human or have you forgotten that we have lax conscience?
DeleteNsirim Moses chizu
ReplyDeleteU2013/18351
SUPPORTING THE FACT THAT AFRICANS HAD CONSCIENCE PRIOR COLONIALISM
INTRODUCTION
This article is concern with the argument supporting the fact that Africans had conscience prior to the colonial era, geared towards clearing the doubts in the readers mind who have believed that Africans Were without conscience prior to the colonial era.
Conscience is what everyone is born with, it is something inside everyone regardless of colour or race. ccconscience is seen as that faculty in a human which helps him/her to make a decision between good and evil, right and wrong.
From the definition of the term conscience one can easily deduce that it is embed in all humans, whether their actions are right or wrong..
Before the arrival of the colonial masters, Africans practised a high standard of culture, helping them to live in equilibrium among themselves , daily activities were based on their culture.Seeing Africa as the societies without conscience was base on the canal view of the foreigners who never understand the culture of the people.
In other to maintain the ethical standard "were a man commits an atrocity (called Aru among the igbos) is Immediately brought to face justice,When Africans Were couscous of their daily dealings with their fellow human beings in order not to attract punishment from the gobs, where peace n harmony were maintained" I believe if Africans, should re-embibe their cultural norms and values, some of the ethical and political problems the continent faces wil be eradicated. The issue of fraud, money laundering, insecurity, underdevopement e.t.c wil be at a reduced rate and the world will come to understand the uniqueness of African cultural practices thank you.
JAPHET TONBRAPADE
ReplyDeleteU2013/1835061
AFRICANS HAD CONSCIENCE PRIOR TO THE ADVENT OF COLONIALISM
Conscience is that faculty within us (human beings) that helps us to make a distinction between what is good and bad or what is right and wrong. As humans our conscience judges our conducts and actions that is why we are different from animals. I will argue for that prior to the advent of colonialism, Africans had conscience in them. Africans are humans and they know what is good or bad and that is why they were able to set up different set of laws that govern individuals and societal activities. Africans were conscious enough not to break those laws so as not attract punishment from the gods. They avoid stealing, telling of lies, adultery is a serious crime and suicide is seen as a taboo. Africans had conscience in them that is why they were able to distinguish between what is good and bad. Africans are humans not animals; they had conscience in them since their creation and so before the advent of colonialism.
OKONKWO BENEDICTA ADA
DeleteU2013/1835053
Yes, i agree that man is created with conscience but prior to the colonial era, man was in search of answer to somethings that happened around him that he felt was unusual. Thou the rule they made was helpful in maintaining good conduct in the society but the way they carry out justices on offender was brutal. Anything unusual was seen as an abomination and was addressed swiftly and brutally. For this reason i say that Africans prior the advent of colonialism do not have conscience.
This comment has been removed by the author.
Deleteif Africans had conscience prior the advent of colonialism, why do they murder innocent children (twins) in the name of tradition.
Deleteyes to some extent i agree with you that all humans have conscience but i should also remind you that some humans their conscience are dead. how will you feel if your the mother of those twins. after suffering for nine months and then pass through painful labor then in the name of traditional beliefs your child will be taken away from you and then thrown inside the evil forest were the child will die mysteriously.
Greg, they did that because of ignorance. And let me remind you, ignorance is a disease. There are many things you do before, that you don't do now, not because you didn't have conscience, but you were ignorant of them, now the university system and education have opened your eyes to see them as bad. mind you, conscience can never be dead, but rather we have several kinds of conscience; good and bad conscience, lax etc. So your argument holds no water at all...
DeleteARIAGA GREG OGORCHUKWU U2013/1835009
ReplyDeleteScholars have been arguing if Africans had conscience before colonialism but this thesis stands to say NO that Africans lack conscience prior colonialism. Before going on our argument I like us to briefly look at the meaning of the word conscience.
Conscience has been defined "as an inner feeling or voice viewed as acting as a guide to the rightness or wrongness of one's behavior". Conscience is an aptitude, faculty, intuition or judgment that assists in distinguishing right from wrong. It can also be said that conscience is defined as that part of the human psyche that induces mental anguish and feelings of guilt when we violate it and feelings of pleasure and well-being when our actions, thoughts and words are in conformity to our value systems.
Having said this we go back to our argument if Africa had conscience prior colonization.
Africans before colonization had a dark heart, primitive, timid, etc, using the killing of twins as an example, before colonization the African especially the efik of Nigeria were known for the killing of twins before it was stopped by Mary Mitchell Slessor .if this killing of twins had not been stopped most of us today who were born twins would have not been alive. They carry out this act in the name of pleasing the gods and that it was an abomination for a woman to give birth to twins because animals such as goat give birth to twins. They carry out this act not thinking about tomorrow if those children would have turn out to be great men and women.
Conscience as defined "as an inner feeling or voice viewed as acting as a guide to the rightness or wrongness of one's behavior", was what Africans lacked. Using the slave trade for instance our fore fathers sold thousands of our children to the Europeans just for a bottle of dry gin. Today those children who were sold to the Europeans have turn into people who are celebrated today in the world. This entire act were done out of ignorance. Infact they lacked this moral faculty called conscience.
Some of our cultural practices which we Africans practice before colonization and also till now have proven that Africans lacked some atom of conscience. For instance, human sacrifice in the name of religious ritual, in some part of Nigeria certain traditional rites are done to a widow before or after the burial of her late husband, for instance throwing a woman across the grave of her late husband in order to prove her innocence of her husbands death, giving a woman eba (garri) molded with fish bone inside to swallow all in the name of proving her innocence of her husband’s death. This and so many other traditional rites in Africa have proven that Africans lacked some atom of conscience prior and even after colonization.
AJIE, FAITH CHINASA
DeleteU2013/1835027
I write to oppose your argument, If you use only the killing of twins and some ritual activities as a yard stick to measure the level of conscience in Africa, I think you are wrong. The killing of twins was not practice in all part of African and not all part of Nigeria practice it, so you are not suppose to stereotype this issue because it was not practiced by Africans at large. The parts of Nigeria that practiced it were indulging in it because they were protecting the common good of the community, it was there believe that for a woman to give birth like animal is an abomination which will bring the wrath of the gods, so they have to take necessary measure to avoid it for the good of the land.
Name: Okoye Theresa Ngozi
ReplyDeleteMat No: U2013/1835013
Prior to the colonization of Africa, Africans had conscience.
Before i proceed i would like to define what conscience means.
According to Oxford advanced learners dictionary,it defines conscience as the part of your mind that tells you whether your actions are right or wrong.
therefore,following this definition, Africans had conscience by knowing what was wrong or right.
for instance when a man commits adultery with his relation it is a taboo in land and their must ritual cleansing to purify and sanctify the land.So, if they don't have conscience they wouldn't have known the implications or consequences that are in it.again, there are moral conduct in Africa which identifies them as African such as mode of dressing. finally there are laws which everyone in the society abides and anyone
who goes against the laws and norms of the society must be sanctioned adequately.so with this few points of mine energetically and vigorously believe that Africans had conscience prior advent of colonialism.
Name:Ikiriko Siya
ReplyDeleteMatriculation Number: U2013/1835001
Before i go into full details about let me give a brief definition about the term conscience According to the English dictionary conscience is defined as the moral sense of right and wrong chiefly as it affects one's own behavior. The conscience is supposed to be a moral guide that judges the activities and duties of men,it is a moral watch dog that is been inhabited in every living being.
Pre-colonialism which is before the advent of colonialism
I am of the opinion that Africans had no conscience before the advent of colonialism which is also prevalent in our present day.Taking the case study of the killing of twins were innocent babies were killed on daily basis as result of their barbaric custom and culture that was prevalent. They had no regard for life,they saw human life as a common commodity that could be terminated at any time.
Also,Human ritual were people are been massacred and sometimes they say they are been used as a means to cleanse the land,they are been offered to dead gods as sacrifices.Also the issue of slave trade were people are been sold for material assets such as mirror,clothes etc.
Also the issue of female circumcision were female private parts are mutilated.The Osu caste system is not left out were humans are seen as unclean and unfit for certain position:they are seen as the forbidden and were not allowed to mingle freely with the free born.Most females died as a result of bleeding,some are even infected because most of the equipment are not sterilized.How can someone who claim to have conscience terminate life with no respect,sell and treat others with much contempt and hatred??
So i strongly believe Africans lack or have no conscience.
EKANEM OFFIONG ANTHONIA
ReplyDeleteU2013/1835074
Conscience is said to be ones ability to tell whats is good,right,bad or wrong,conscience is an attribute of every human being irrespective of your race color or tribe. Every human on earth has a conscience, good or bad conscience is determined by the person who carries the conscience.
Am of the opinion that Africans had conscience just that they were ignorant of their actions,and those actions made it seem like they had no conscience for example, the killing of twins,human sacrifice etc. they did all these inhumane act out of fear and in the believe of their faith, that those actions were right. prior the advent of colonialism, Africans were primitive and unenlightened to the right sense of human right. How can you say that someone who knows nothing about right or wrong in the normal sense of the world has no conscience?
EKANEM OFFIONG ANTHONIA
ReplyDeleteU2013/1835074
Conscience is said to be ones ability to tell whats is good,right,bad or wrong,conscience is an attribute of every human being irrespective of your race color or tribe. Every human on earth has a conscience, good or bad conscience is determined by the person who carries the conscience.
Am of the opinion that Africans had conscience just that they were ignorant of their actions,and those actions made it seem like they had no conscience for example, the killing of twins,human sacrifice etc. they did all these inhumane act out of fear and in the believe of their faith, that those actions were right. prior the advent of colonialism, Africans were primitive and unenlightened to the right sense of human right. How can you say that someone who knows nothing about right or wrong in the normal sense of the world has no conscience?
Olowu Gift Nne
ReplyDeleteu2013/1835065
Before i argue, i would like to define conscience. conscience is a personification of the moral sense of right and wrong usually in the form of the person, a being or merely a voice that gives moral lesson and advice.
However, from the definition of conscience, i argue that Africans had conscience before the advent of colonialism in the continent. Reasons;
SENSE OF THOUGHT- Africans before colonialism were into the killing of twin babes. this is because from their views and belief, it is only animals that has the ability to give birth to more than one child,therefore they believe that any woman who gives birth to more than one child has the attribute of an animal thus, the both children must be killed.
However, it is the being in them called conscience that deposit such thought in them. this simply means that every human has conscience but the most important fact is that it could be good or bad conscience. Africans saw the killing of twin as something that is good due to their primitive thinking and due to ignorance,though the Africans felt that what they were doing was to protect their belief system therefore they were on the right track but to the present African, such an act is considered abominable. with this point, i am convinced to say that Africans had conscience before the advent of colonialism but it was a bad conscience.
NWANKWO EMMANUEL EMEKA
ReplyDeleteU20131835080
Conscience is the faculty of human beings that helps him/her to make a decision between good and bad or right and wrong. It is the faculty in human that praises him/her when the person does good thing.
Some scholars thought that God at creation infused wisdom into man in order to help him in hi decision especially in using ones mentality wisely. this thinking faculty (Conscience) is what makes humans different from lower animals.
Yes. Africans had conscience before arrival of colonial masters. This is due to the fact that whether good or bad conscience is always there to make decisions for you. Saying Africans had no conscience in the pre-colonial days will mean that the person saying this, does not really knows what conscience stands for. Africans in the pre-colonial days had a sets of rules and regulations by which they abide to. To the African man, stealing fornication/adultery, telling lies and atrocities against the gods is a taboo.This rule and regulation made by pre-colonial Africans were made to ensure harmony and social decorum in the pre- African society.
maybe the reason some of my counterparts argued that Africans had no conscience before the arrival of the colonial masters is not from the misconception the pre-colonial Africans had about life. For example the killing of twins was a result of their African misunderstanding of creation. they thought that giving birth to more than one offspring is characteristics of lower animals like goat,dog cat etc. Even at these it is also their conscience that precipitated their actions and decision in the society.
Therefore, i stand firmly with full confidence to stipulate that Africans had conscience before the arrival of colonial masters.
NAME: OYOR TEMPLE EMMANUEL
ReplyDeleteMAT NO: U2013/1835016
I AM ARGUING AGAINST THE FACT THAT AFRICANS HAD CONSCIENCE BEFORE THE ADVENT OF COLONIAL MASTERS.
Africa is a people mostly seen as the black, they had a communities and people lived in it, this people are characterised by distinct cultures and religious belief system rampant all over the societies. Before I analyse if they really had a conscience let us take a look at conscience as a concept. CONSCIENCE is seen as the moral sense of right and wrong, as on the human behaviour, however it’s a personification of the moral sense of right and wrong, usually in the form of a person, a being or merely a voice that gives moral lesson and advices. I am not here to point out the killing of twins as a fact that Africans had no conscience but if and only the concept of conscience is underlined here then Africans had neither conscience nor attribute of human heart. Many stories and myth of nature and human behaviour, including scholars have seen conscience as a societal construct, I here say that the African society lack the conceptual passion and emotion to build one (conscience). It won’t have been far from the case of the feral children in the PhD thesis of MICHAEL NEWTON which he said “Feral children" are taken to be individuals who have grown up, or spent some part of their childhood, in a condition of solitude. It also refers to infants who have been brought up, or temporarily nurtured, by animals. Then we must not judge the situation by humanity alone, the African societies had been raised by fathers who had totems in animals and wild life. Have we pause to examine the nature of their totems and the effect on their so called conscience or that “human faculty that feels for his fellow human being”? Conscience gives a person an intuition of what the other person feels, conscience interprets the cry and meaning of tears as sailing through human emotions. Where then is African men’s conscience when a father will give out a 12 year old daughter for a sexual marriage in the name of poverty, or a king selling his fellow kin men for slave trade in the wake of exchange of wealth and power, o’ people will say ignorance!! It is selfishness and greed which is the absence of conscience. Space and time words and reason will limit the explanation of the African man’s desperation that has no room for consideration nor insight of conscience and pity for their fellow man. On the wake of this issue a scholar is understood when saying how can the untutored African conceive GOD? (Emile Ludwig in Smith E.W 1950) if they speak of GOD then that of ancient Africans is a withdrawn GOD. If they speak of culture then that of ancient Africans is animalistic. Any religion of theirs is demonic. All these don’t tell if one has a conscience, so I belief the ancient Africans before colonisation had no conscience. In no ritual should a man with conscience disarm his fellow human and call it rites, when they bleed blood and people say its ignorance.
NAME: OYOR TEMPLE EMMANUEL
ReplyDeleteMAT NO: U2013/1835016
I AM ARGUING AGAINST THE FACT THAT AFRICANS HAD CONSCIENCE BEFORE THE ADVENT OF COLONIAL MASTERS.
Africa is a people mostly seen as the black, they had a communities and people lived in it, this people are characterized by distinct cultures and religious belief system rampant all over the societies. Before I analyse if they really had a conscience let us take a look at conscience as a concept. CONSCIENCE is seen as the moral sense of right and wrong, as on the human behaviour, however it’s a personification of the moral sense of right and wrong, usually in the form of a person, a being or merely a voice that gives moral lesson and advises. I am not here to point out the killing of twins as a fact that Africans had no conscience but if and only the concept of conscience is underlined here then Africans had neither conscience nor attribute of human heart. Many stories and myth of nature and human behaviour, including scholars have seen conscience as a societal construct, I here say that the African society lack the conceptual passion and emotion to build one (conscience). It won’t have been far from the case of the feral children in the PhD thesis of MICHAEL NEWTON which he said “Feral children" are taken to be individuals who have grown up, or spent some part of their childhood, in a condition of solitude. It also refers to infants who have been brought up, or temporarily nurtured, by animals. Then we must not judge the situation by humanity alone, the African societies had been raised by fathers who had totems in animals and wild life. Have we pause to examine the nature of their totems and the effect on their so called conscience or that “human faculty that feels for his fellow human being”? Conscience gives a person an intuition of what the other person feels, conscience interprets the cry and meaning of tears as sailing through human emotions. Where then is African men’s conscience when a father will give out a 12 year old daughter for a sexual marriage in the name of poverty, or a king selling his fellow kin men for slave trade in the wake of exchange of wealth and power, o’ people will say ignorance!! It is selfishness and greed which is the absence of conscience. Space and time words and reason will limit the explanation of the African man’s desperation that has no room for consideration nor insight of conscience and pity for their fellow man. On the wake of this issue a scholar is understood when saying how can the untutored African conceive GOD? (Emile Ludwig in Smith E.W 1950) if they speak of GOD then that of ancient Africans is a withdrawn GOD. If they speak of culture then that of ancient Africans is animalistic. Any religion of theirs is demonic. All these don’t tell if one has a conscience, so I belief the ancient Africans before colonization had no conscience. In no ritual should a man with conscience disarm his fellow human and call it rites, when they bleed blood and people say its ignorance.
NAME : NLENEE PRINCE BARIAGARA
ReplyDeleteMAT. NO: U2013 /1835040
my argument is on the notion that Africans don't have conscience before the colonial Era or before the coming of colonial masters to Africa. The period before colonialism was greatly regarded as the darkest phase in the history of mankind in Africa because Africans were more or less seen as carnivorous animals that feeds on their fellow human beings. Africans were involved in so many barbaric act that dehumanize the society, for examples , killings of twins as abomination, female circumcision to stop promiscuity, human sacrifice to appease the gods, harmful and obnoxious widow hood practices that devalued women, sending of wives that birthed female children only away to mention but a few characterize the day to day activities of the African society before the advent of colonialism, so I strongly believe that these practices are of those that have no conscience and those that have conscience will not involve themselves in all these barbaric act mentioned above.
Africans were deeply in darkness prior to the advent of colonialism because of the over rising ignorance that adorned the African societies, therefore, base on these facts I humbly conclude that Africans have no conscience prior to colonial Era in the vast continent called Africa.
Name : Ikiriko Siya
ReplyDeleteMatriculation Number : U2013/1835001
Before i start let me give a brief definition about the term conscience : According to the English dictionary conscience is defined as the moral sense of right and wrong chiefly as it affects one's own behavior.The conscience is supposed to be a moral guide and watch dog that watches the activities of men.
I support the motion that African have no conscience before the advent of colonialism which is also prevalent in the present day. Taking the case study of the killing of twins were innocent babies were killed on daily basis because they are seen as sacrilege and barbaric to their custom and culture that was in existence.
Also,the case of human ritual were people are used as a means to appease their so called gods been given as sacrifices to the gods of their land.
Also,the issue of slave trade where people are sold for material assets that will perish and be of no value in time to come. How about the case of female circumcision,the Osu caste system is not left out where they see other human as unclean and unfit,they were not allowed to mingle freely with the free born as they thought they were.They were not accorded certain rights and privileges. Female mutilation was at it's height women were been infected with various diseases some even die as a result of bleeding because sharp objects were been used.
How can one someone claim to have conscience when they terminate life seeing it as a minor commodity,when they sell and treat others with contempt and hatred so i strongly believe and say Africans have no conscience prior the advent of colonialism.
Name : Ikiriko Siya
ReplyDeleteMatriculation Number : U2013/1835001
Before i start let me give a brief definition about the term conscience : According to the English dictionary conscience is defined as the moral sense of right and wrong chiefly as it affects one's own behavior.The conscience is supposed to be a moral guide and watch dog that watches the activities of men.
I support the motion that African have no conscience before the advent of colonialism which is also prevalent in the present day. Taking the case study of the killing of twins were innocent babies were killed on daily basis because they are seen as sacrilege and barbaric to their custom and culture that was in existence.
Also,the case of human ritual were people are used as a means to appease their so called gods been given as sacrifices to the gods of their land.
Also,the issue of slave trade where people are sold for material assets that will perish and be of no value in time to come. How about the case of female circumcision,the Osu caste system is not left out where they see other human as unclean and unfit,they were not allowed to mingle freely with the free born as they thought they were.They were not accorded certain rights and privileges. Female mutilation was at it's height women were been infected with various diseases some even die as a result of bleeding because sharp objects were been used.
How can one someone claim to have conscience when they terminate life seeing it as a minor commodity,when they sell and treat others with contempt and hatred so i strongly believe and say Africans have no conscience prior the advent of colonialism.
THE PRECOLONIAL AFRICAN MAN AND CONSCIENCE : BY AWOYIBO CHISOM DAVID. U2013/1835014
ReplyDeleteConscience is the moral aspect to one's conduct together with the destiny to seek truth over lies—right over wrong, fact over fiction, justice over inequity, and morality over immorality. However, there is no conscience outside of consciousness (awareness). And consciousness is so much greater than just having information. And there is no consciousness outside of critical thinking. The ethics of a society is embedded in the ideas and beliefs about what is right or wrong, what is a good or bad character; it is also embedded in the conceptions of satisfactory social relations and attitudes held by the members of the society;. African societies, as organized and functioning human communities, have undoubtedly evolved ethical systems—ethical values, principles, rules —intended to guide social and moral behavior.
In as much we understand what conscience is really about, I strongly believe that the precolonial Africans was born in conscience, nurtured in conscience and established in conscience. The culture of the African man entails a strict observance of their norms and value which created a coherent society. Africans existed in culture, culture is seen as the people's way of life; pattern of association, pattern of language, pattern of living, pattern of socialization, pattern of rites, and pattern of death, rituals and burial. It covers both aesthetic living of a social group.
It has been misquoted by eurocentric ideology that the Africans are untutored, uneducated, primitive, and animal like in their cosmos of living. They believed in their myopic view that the precolonial African lacks discipline that deals with conduct especially good or bad (ethics). They concluded ignorantly sitting in their fanciful home diagnosing on the precolonial African. They misjudged us from a wrong prison, abusing Africans of engaging in obnoxious attitudes such as slave trading, heathen worship, juju practice, mana practice, human sacrifice, twin killing, widowhood practice and female circumcision that devalued women in the society, etc. This erroneous practices as viewed by the European brought about subjugation, bastardization of culture, abuse, justice disparity in the minds of African prior to colonization. These practices by the African were traceable to their culture which the Europeans failed to study before using their kleptomaniac fingers on African.
The precolonial African enriched in culture, religion, social and political institution is an evidence of consciousness in the precolonial African before the advent of colonialism. Certain rules and regulations were reached with consequences for non-observers. This laws, norms, and values bathed rites and rituals for pleading peace where social dis-equilibrium has desacralized.All this practices eased man of tension, fear, and evil. Man was highly conscious of his attitude so as not to offend himself, the society at large and, the dieties. This height of consciousness made the precolonial African society a wonderful place vibrant in maintaining ethical norms and values. I solemnly believe that the precolonial African society was born in conscience, nurtured in conscience, symbolized conscience, venerated conscience, articulated in conscience, lived in conscience, and died in conscience.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAJIE, FAITH CHINASA
ReplyDeleteU2013/1835027
ARGUMENT FOR THE MOTION THAT AFRICANS HAD CONSCIENCE PRIOR THE COLONIAL ERA
Before i go into the details of this argument, i will like to define the concept 'Conscience'. Conscience is an aptitude, faculty intuition or judgment that assists in distinguishing right from wrong. With this definition one can observe that conscience in inbuilt in man by his creator, so saying that Africans do not have conscience equally means that the term 'conscience' never existed. Conscience is the intuition that assist an individual to distinguish between right and wrong.
The truth of the matter is that morality is a universal feature of all human societies; and to be moral presupposes rationality. By simple or elementary logic or parity of reasoning, since Africans are rational beings, it follows as a matter of logic, that their traditional value system had a moral status. Morality entails human principles of right and wrong. It deals with how humans treat themselves in order to promote mutual welfare and self-fulfillment in the society. Morality is reflected in the conscience of humankind confirmed by the experience of people in all ages. It has to do with the consequences of our act to ourselves and to others. It recognizes that life has an overall purpose and accepts the inner integrity of each individual. Among the traditional Igbo, for example the level of moral thinking was very high. The Igbo language contains a variety of words to express approval and disapproval, good and bad, pleasant and unpleasant and so on. All these embody moral connotations. Take, for instance, the words 'aru' (pollution) and nma (good). The Igbo word 'nma' as i have earlier said, conveys the idea of goodness or the idea of acting in an ethically appropriate way. In all things, the Igbo expect that individuals will act and conduct themselves in morally good ways while avoiding that which is evil and obnoxious.
Generally, in Africa, the norms of right or wrong is said to be social custom. As with most other societies of the world. in Africa the good is usually that which receives the community's approval while the bad is that which the community prohibits or frowns at.
Africans are not only rational but are also imbued with the sense of rectitude and propriety, morality is basically concerned with society and with the relations between men and their fellow men.
AJIE, FAITH CHINASA
ReplyDeleteU2013/1835027
Before i go into details of this argument, i will like to define the concept Conscience. Conscience is an aptitude, faculty intuition or judgment that assists in distinguishing right from wrong. With this definition one can observe that conscience in inbuilt in man by his creator, so saying that Africans do not have conscience equally means that the term 'conscience' never existed. Conscience is the intuition that assist an individual to distinguish between right and wrong.
The truth of the matter is that morality is a universal feature of all human societies; and to be moral presupposes rationality. By simple or elementary logic or parity of reasoning, since Africans are rational beings, it follows as a matter of logic, that their traditional value system had a moral status. Morality entails human principles of right and wrong. It deals with how humans treat themselves in order to promote mutual welfare and self-fulfillment in the society. Morality is reflected in the conscience of humankind confirmed by the experience of people in all ages. It has to do with the consequences of our act to ourselves and to others. It recognizes that life has an overall purpose and accepts the inner integrity of each individual. Among the traditional Igbo, for example the level of moral thinking was very high. The Igbo language contains a variety of words to express approval and disapproval, good and bad, pleasant and unpleasant and so on. All these embody moral connotations. Take, for instance, the words 'aru' (pollution) and nma (good). The Igbo word 'nma' as i have earliers said, conveys the idea of goodness or the idea of acting in an ethically appropriate way. In all things, the Igbo expect that individuals will act and conduct themselves in morally good ways while avoiding that which is evil and obnoxious.
Generally, in Africa, the norms of right or wrong is said to be social custom. As with most other societies of the world. in Africa the good is usually that which receives the community's approval while the bad is that which the community prohibits or frowns at.
Africans are not only rational but are also imbued with the sense of rectitude and propriety, morality is basically concerned with society and with the relations between men and their fellow men.
AJIE, FAITH CHINASA
ReplyDeleteU2013/1835027
ARGUMENT FOR THE MOTION THAT AFRICANS HAD CONSCIENCE PRIOR THE COLONIAL ERA
Before i go into details of this argument, i will like to define the concept Conscience. Conscience is an aptitude, faculty intuition or judgment that assists in distinguishing right from wrong. With this definition one can observe that conscience in inbuilt in man by his creator, so saying that Africans do not have conscience equally means that the term 'conscience' never existed. Conscience is the intuition that assist an individual to distinguish between right and wrong.
The truth of the matter is that morality is a universal feature of all human societies; and to be moral presupposes rationality. By simple or elementary logic or parity of reasoning, since Africans are rational beings, it follows as a matter of logic, that their traditional value system had a moral status. Morality entails human principles of right and wrong. It deals with how humans treat themselves in order to promote mutual welfare and self-fulfillment in the society. Morality is reflected in the conscience of humankind confirmed by the experience of people in all ages. It has to do with the consequences of our act to ourselves and to others. It recognizes that life has an overall purpose and accepts the inner integrity of each individual. Among the traditional Igbo, for example the level of moral thinking was very high. The Igbo language contains a variety of words to express approval and disapproval, good and bad, pleasant and unpleasant and so on. All these embody moral connotations. Take, for instance, the words 'aru' (pollution) and nma (good). The Igbo word 'nma' as i have earliers said, conveys the idea of goodness or the idea of acting in an ethically appropriate way. In all things, the Igbo expect that individuals will act and conduct themselves in morally good ways while avoiding that which is evil and obnoxious.
Generally, in Africa, the norms of right or wrong is said to be social custom. As with most other societies of the world. in Africa the good is usually that which receives the community's approval while the bad is that which the community prohibits or frowns at.
Africans are not only rational but are also imbued with the sense of rectitude and propriety, morality is basically concerned with society and with the relations between men and their fellow men.
GRANT KETUNI
ReplyDeleteU2013/1835049
Before answering this question, what one ought to know is; what is conscience, and how is conscience found in man? These both questions answer all arguments here.
Firstly, conscience is seen as the faculty within the human being that helps him/her to make decisions between good and evil, right and wrong. Conscience also tells one when he has done good and when he has done bad or evil. It is said to be a tiny little voice in man. Some scholars say it is the “voice of God”
Now secondly, theologically or let me say religiously, conscience is said to being infused in man by God during creation, that is all men have this faculty of human conduct, that is all men have this faculty of human conduct (conscience) in them. Thus, if all humans created by God have conscience in them from creation, how will one say Africans didn’t have conscience before colonialism, or was this God a bias God, that He would give the faculty of decision making of good or bad conduct to some set of people and not give to others? Is this God a tribalistic God or a racist? All these questions and many more are the questions I expect those who say Africans never had conscience prior to colonialism to answer.
Therefore, my stand on this argument is that Africans had conscience prior to colonialism, but they were being blinded by ignorance, thus their actions didn’t show they had conscience, so please, we shouldn’t be deceived by their actions into saying they never did had conscience. Thanks.
GRANT KETUNI
ReplyDeleteU2013/1835049
Before answering this question, what one ought to know is; what is conscience, and how is conscience found in man? These both questions answer all arguments here.
Firstly, conscience is seen as the faculty within the human being that helps him/her to make decisions between good and evil, right and wrong. Conscience also tells one when he has done good and when he has done bad or evil. It is said to be a tiny little voice in man. Some scholars say it is the “voice of God”
Now secondly, theologically or let me say religiously, conscience is said to being infused in man by God during creation, that is all men have this faculty of human conduct, that is all men have this faculty of human conduct (conscience) in them. Thus, if all humans created by God have conscience in them from creation, how will one say Africans didn’t have conscience before colonialism, or was this God a bias God, that He would give the faculty of decision making of good or bad conduct to some set of people and not give to others? Is this God a tribalistic God or a racist? All these questions and many more are the questions I expect those who say Africans never had conscience prior to colonialism to answer.
Therefore, my stand on this argument is that Africans had conscience prior to colonialism, but they were being blinded by ignorance, thus their actions didn’t show they had conscience, so please, we shouldn’t be deceived by their actions into saying they never did had conscience. Thanks.
GRANT KETUNI
ReplyDeleteU2013/1835049
Before answering this question, what one ought to know is; what is conscience, and how is conscience found in man? These both questions answer all arguments here.
Firstly, conscience is seen as the faculty within the human being that helps him/her to make decisions between good and evil, right and wrong. Conscience also tells one when he has done good and when he has done bad or evil. It is said to be a tiny little voice in man. Some scholars say it is the “voice of God”
Now secondly, theologically or let me say religiously, conscience is said to being infused in man by God during creation, that is all men have this faculty of human conduct, that is all men have this faculty of human conduct (conscience) in them. Thus, if all humans created by God have conscience in them from creation, how will one say Africans didn’t have conscience before colonialism, or was this God a bias God, that He would give the faculty of decision making of good or bad conduct to some set of people and not give to others? Is this God a tribalistic God or a racist? All these questions and many more are the questions I expect those who say Africans never had conscience prior to colonialism to answer.
Therefore, my stand on this argument is that Africans had conscience prior to colonialism, but they were being blinded by ignorance, thus their actions didn’t show they had conscience, so please, we shouldn’t be deceived by their actions into saying they never did had conscience. Thanks.
GRANT KETUNI
ReplyDeleteU2013/1835049
Before answering this question, what one ought to know is; what is conscience, and how is conscience found in man? These both questions answer all arguments here.
Firstly, conscience is seen as the faculty within the human being that helps him/her to make decisions between good and evil, right and wrong. Conscience also tells one when he has done good and when he has done bad or evil. It is said to be a tiny little voice in man. Some scholars say it is the “voice of God”
Now secondly, theologically or let me say religiously, conscience is said to being infused in man by God during creation, that is all men have this faculty of human conduct, that is all men have this faculty of human conduct (conscience) in them. Thus, if all humans created by God have conscience in them from creation, how will one say Africans didn’t have conscience before colonialism, or was this God a bias God, that He would give the faculty of decision making of good or bad conduct to some set of people and not give to others? Is this God a tribalistic God or a racist? All these questions and many more are the questions I expect those who say Africans never had conscience prior to colonialism to answer.
Therefore, my stand on this argument is that Africans had conscience prior to colonialism, but they were being blinded by ignorance, thus their actions didn’t show they had conscience, so please, we shouldn’t be deceived by their actions into saying they never did had conscience. Thanks.
GRANT KETUNI
ReplyDeleteU2013/1835049
Before answering this question, what one ought to know is; what is conscience, and how is conscience found in man? These both questions answer all arguments here.
Firstly, conscience is seen as the faculty within the human being that helps him/her to make decisions between good and evil, right and wrong. Conscience also tells one when he has done good and when he has done bad or evil. It is said to be a tiny little voice in man. Some scholars say it is the “voice of God”
Now secondly, theologically or let me say religiously, conscience is said to being infused in man by God during creation, that is all men have this faculty of human conduct, that is all men have this faculty of human conduct (conscience) in them. Thus, if all humans created by God have conscience in them from creation, how will one say Africans didn’t have conscience before colonialism, or was this God a bias God, that He would give the faculty of decision making of good or bad conduct to some set of people and not give to others? Is this God a tribalistic God or a racist? All these questions and many more are the questions I expect those who say Africans never had conscience prior to colonialism to answer.
Therefore, my stand on this argument is that Africans had conscience prior to colonialism, but they were being blinded by ignorance, thus their actions didn’t show they had conscience, so please, we shouldn’t be deceived by their actions into saying they never did had conscience. Thanks.
GRANT KETUNI
ReplyDeleteU2013/1835049
Before answering this question, what one ought to know is; what is conscience, and how is conscience found in man? These both questions answer all arguments here.
Firstly, conscience is seen as the faculty within the human being that helps him/her to make decisions between good and evil, right and wrong. Conscience also tells one when he has done good and when he has done bad or evil. It is said to be a tiny little voice in man. Some scholars say it is the “voice of God”
Now secondly, theologically or let me say religiously, conscience is said to being infused in man by God during creation, that is all men have this faculty of human conduct, that is all men have this faculty of human conduct (conscience) in them. Thus, if all humans created by God have conscience in them from creation, how will one say Africans didn’t have conscience before colonialism, or was this God a bias God, that He would give the faculty of decision making of good or bad conduct to some set of people and not give to others? Is this God a tribalistic God or a racist? All these questions and many more are the questions I expect those who say Africans never had conscience prior to colonialism to answer.
Therefore, my stand on this argument is that Africans had conscience prior to colonialism, but they were being blinded by ignorance, thus their actions didn’t show they had conscience, so please, we shouldn’t be deceived by their actions into saying they never did had conscience. Thanks.
Name: Malik Khadijat Alifa
ReplyDeleteMatric. No.: U2013/1835118
Conscience can be defined as the moral sense of right and wrong chiefly as it affects one’s own behavior. In other words, Conscience is seen as the faulty within the human being that aids he/her to make a decision between good and evil, right and wrong. Considering this fact, Africans had conscience before the advent of colonialism. Although Africans practice some wrong things like killing of twins, slave trade etc. But they were able to change to a better way of life; this is the work of conscience. In as much as we do some wrong and unexplainable things, we still have conscience because it is our first judge. Conscience in relation to the peoples of Africa prior to the advent of colonialism is an element that was and is still very much present. This is due to the fact that the people of Africa knew what they should abstain from and what they should partake in, there were laid down rules and also the principle element of cause and effect which was strictly adhered to.
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ReplyDeleteThe general understanding of conscience is the inner voice that cautions a person on what the good and evil is or might be. Etymologically, it come from the Latin word conscientia which relate to the Greek word “syneideisis” which originally meant joint knowledge or knowledge of right and wrong. According to St. Paul, conscience is called laws written on man’s heart, which attached to them some moral obligations. This is partly the origin of taboo. It is traditionally believed that the supreme being (God) mad man and put his laws in his inward parts, which today is called “conscience”. Therefore, it is believed that conscience/morality is the embodied will of the spiritual being. Therefore Africans have conscience prior to colonialism since conscience is embedded in man’s heart. Colonialism did not brought conscience in Africa in any way so ever.
ReplyDeleteThe general understanding of conscience is the inner voice that cautions a person on what the good and evil is or might be. Etymologically, it come from the Latin word conscientia which relate to the Greek word “syneideisis” which originally meant joint knowledge or knowledge of right and wrong. According to St. Paul, conscience is called laws written on man’s heart, which attached to them some moral obligations. This is partly the origin of taboo. It is traditionally believed that the supreme being (God) mad man and put his laws in his inward parts, which today is called “conscience”. Therefore, it is believed that conscience/morality is the embodied will of the spiritual being. Therefore Africans have conscience prior to colonialism since conscience is embedded in man’s heart. Colonialism did not brought conscience in Africa in any way so ever.
ReplyDeleteNAME: ANUFORO OLUCHI MARY
DeleteWaheed believe that conscience is innate and that is because it is possible that the colonial masters brought it to Africa. I also agreed with him because this innateness of conscience in man begins when man sin against his creator God, from that time man became aware of what is right and wrong. Man originally by the virtue of sin has had conscience pre-colonialism and that is my stand point. So I agree with Waheed that conscience is innate and was not brought to Africa by colonialism
ADU ENININE ESTHER
ReplyDeleteU2013/1835062
Before going in details we need to understand what conscience is all about. Conscience is the sense of right and wrong, it is a state of awareness or quality of an external object or something within oneself. Africans are seen as barbaric defiant and perpetually desirous of meddling in a statement of un-development, a clear example of these fact is our involvement in the Ashanti slave trade, our precarious superstitious decadence has so much blindfolded our consciousness to conscience to the extent that cannibalism was even the order of the day, man inhumanity to man and a wanton disregard for human right and dignity of the human person frequent violation of human right alongside tribalism were some of the factors that accounted for our backwardness. Be that as it may, I am yet to ascertain a remarkably difference in the attitude of Africans in the light of the present global reality, little wonder, our colonial masters sees us as baboons and animals, and thus, believed it would be difficult for us to migrate from the state of barbarism to civilisation till today I can still say, Africans do not have conscience, Africans are brutish, wicked, and selfish. Imagine a man accumulating what him and his entire generation can't consume while some others live below one dollar a day, if we claim to have conscience, some questions are to be answered, such as; how come we don't care for ourselves?, why the crave for power and fame?. If only power and fame is used positively the case would have been different. But please let us think prior colonialism was not all that perfect but at least it gave rise to awareness of certain things in our society for example it stopped the killing of twins and also seeing their own children as an "outcast". Thus, raising critical consciousness involves sensitisation of the citizens to be self-aware of the right nature and the constitution confer on them as free born citizens. In Sum, I would say, black consciousness origins were deeply rooted in Christianity in 1966, African consciousness was based on the ethics of duty, and not of Right. I conclude by saying that parents out of ignorance and due to what it said to be their so called beliefs killed their own blood (killing of twins or seeing their own children given to them by God as a taboo) also seeing their own blood and flesh as an outcast due to the way they were born or probably the day of birth thus giving their children back to their gods what human with conscience would do such a thing, I put it to you all that Africans do not have conscience considering their barbaric acts.
Yes dude africans had conscience
ReplyDeleteYez
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteNAME; STEPHEN GRACE
MAT NO; u2013/1835026
Prior to the advent of colonialism in nigeria i would support the motion that africans really had conscience before the colonial era because they involved in trade and other business to help them support their means of income instead of going into stealing and some social vices instead of engaging into this bad activities they work so hard to get their income
Also,they respected the laws of ethics though christainity was'nt introduced to us by then but they had the insight of morality and some ethical code of conducts which they had learnt even from stories of those who lived before them. Conscience is in built in every human being this conscience teaches us that which is wrong or right so saying nigerians were without conscience before the advent of colonialism is highly barbaric and not true its like saying we were really arrogant and acted without reasoning it is therefore important to realize that the relevance and usefulness of traditional or pre-colonial African institutions and customs depend upon whether one views African culture, or any culture for that matter, as static, or whether African culture is deemed to have evolved and changed, to some extent because of outside influence and colonialism. Culture must be seen as dynamic, and pre-colonial African cultures seen to be historical manifestations that are relevant in their entirety only to that specific period of time. Otherwise, they are useless as sources of inspiration for contemporary societies.
NAME: OKECHUKWU, PRISCILLIA AMARACHI
DeleteMAT NO: U2013/1835112
I would support that African had really conscience before the colonial era because it involved trade and other business that help them in support of their means of income which can help them in not going in to stealing and other bad activities. supporting what Stephen Grace has said
NAME: OKECHUKWU, PRISCILLIA AMARACHI
DeleteMAT NO: U2013/1835112
I would support that African had really conscience before the colonial era because it involved trade and other business that help them in support of their means of income which can help them in not going in to stealing and other bad activities. supporting what Stephen Grace has said
Ikiriko siya u2013/1835001. I guess we should also blame ignorance for the shedding of innocent blood on daily basis please just get it that Africans had no conscience
DeleteNAME: AUGUSTINE RITA
ReplyDeleteMAT NO: U2013/1835046
ASSIGNMENT ON: ARGUE FOR ORGANIST IF AFRICANS HAD CONSCIENCE PRIOR THE ADVENT OF COLONIALISM
Pre-colonial African societies were of highly varied nature. They could be either stateless, state run or kingdoms, but most were founded on the principle of “communalism” in that they were self-governing, autonomous entities and in that all members took part, directly or indirectly, in the daily running of the tribes, land was held commonly and could not be bought or sold, although other things such as cattles were owned by individually, in those societies that were not stateless, the chiefs ran the daily affairs of the tribe together with one or more councils. These councils simultaneously informed the chief, checked his powers and made policy by reaching unanimous decisions. It unamunity was not reached, a village assembly would be called to debate the issues and majority ruling would now apply. The chiefs would listen silently to all queries during such meetings; every male adult was free to criticize him.
In many parts of Africa, especially in the British colonies where “indirect ruler” was the norm, the indigenous system of government survived and was used by the colonial powers alongside the colonial system. This is one of the reasons why the structures of such political institutions still exist in Africa to-day, although mostly on a more fixed and static form due to the colonial powers having rearranged the tribal landscape and employed chiefs as virtual colonial administrators that served as buffers between themselves and the masses.
It is therefore important to realize that the relevance and usefulness of traditional or pre-colonial African institutions and customs depends upon whether one views African culture or any culture for that matter, as static or whether African culture is deemed to have envolved and changed to some extent because of outside influence and colonialism.
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ReplyDeleteNAME: OKECHUKWU, PRISCILLIA AMARACHI
ReplyDeleteMAT NO: U2013/1835112
ASSIGNMENT ON: ARGUE FOR ORGANIST IF AFRICANS HAD CONSCIENCE PRIOR THE ADVENT OF COLONIALISM
Before Africa was colonized, the continent was characterized by a large degree of pluralism and flexibility. The continent consisted not of closed reproducing entities, equipped with unique unchanging cultures, but off more fluid unit that would readily in corporate outsiders (ever whites) into the community as long as they accepted it’s customs and where the sense of obligation and solidarity went beyond that of the nuclear family, an example of such inclusiveness were the “xhosa” who limited xhosadom not along ethnic or geographical lines but along political. All persons who accepted the rule of the paramount chief become xhosa.
Pre-colonial Africa societies were off highly varied nature. They could be either stateless, state run or kingdoms, but most were founded on the principles of “communalism” in that they were self-governing, autonomous entities and in that all members took part, directly or indirectly, in the daily running of the tribe, land was held commonly and could not be brought or sold, although other things such as those cattle were owned individually. In those societies that were not stateless, the chiefs ran the daily affairs of the tribe together with one or more councils. These councils simultaneously informed the chiefs checked in powers and made policy by reaching unanimous decisions. If unamunity was not reached, a village assembly would be called to debate the issue and majority ruling would now apply. The chief would listen silently to all queries during such meetings; every male adult was free to criticize him.
While pre-colonial indigenous African systems had appealing qualities, some things that has been widely advocated, it not practiced, by many post-independence African leaders and “Africanists” generally, they have some obvious weakness when attempting to build a centralized state around them. The fact instance is problematic because of the exclusive nature of leadership that thus entails, which is especially problematic in countries with ethnic antagonisms. Secondly, some of the customs of indigenous African society might have been effective in relatively smaller-scale societies but are less likely to be so in the larger state of present day Africa. An example of this is that of consensus which in a large-scale modern African state would make the political process invariably show, as well as prone to conformely and authoritarianism that could effectively silence dissent and result in uncontroversial and un-enlightened decisions.
It is therefore important to realize that the relevance and usefulness of traditional or pre-colonial African institution and customs depend upon whether one views African culture is deemed, to have envolued and changed, to some extent because of outside influence and colonialism.
Culture must be seen as dynamic and pre-colonial African culture seen to be historical manifestations that are relevant in their entirely only to that specific period of time. Otherwise they are useless as source of inspirations for contemporary societies.
NAME NWANYANWU FRIDAY CHIMENE
ReplyDeleteU2013/1835042.
Unequivocally,Africans had conscience before colonialism because they were reasonable homo sapience that was created with wisdom as well as endowed with different types of knowledge.The following reasons can be adduced for this assertion.They had their faith system prior to colonialism,they also had established customs and traditions and taboos as well.
NAME ONYEMA AMARACHI JULIET
ReplyDeleteCARRY OVER.
U2011/1835089.
Africans had conscience before the arrival of the colonial masters.This is because they had already developed their own legal system that help them to relate well with one another.
NAME: EDWARD OGAR IYE
ReplyDeleteMAT NO: U2013/1835122
COURSE CODE: RCS 212.2
COURSE TITLE: RELIGION AND ETHICS IN AFRICA
ASSIGNMENT QUESTION
DID AFRICANS HAVE CONSCIENCE PRIOR COLONIALISM OR BEFORE THE ARRIVAL OF THE COLONIAL MASTERS.
Africa have a sound mental conscience from the beginning of their ancestors, before the coming of our great colonial master Africa have good conscience that is why we have laws in the land, norms customs and tradition in our African locality. These laws and customs have really guide us so that we can know between good and bad, that is why we were able to receive our colonial masters that came and corrupt our land and exploit our economy to their countries.
ARGUE FOR AFRICANS HAVE CONSCIENCE PRIOR TO THE ADVENT OF COLONIALISM
ReplyDeletePRESENTED
BY
WORLU HOPE.N
2013/2540002
INTRODUCTION:
Actually there is no human being created by God without conscience, even though some along the line sold theirs by hardening their heart. The Africa continent although characterized by some measure of barbaric act before the colonial era does not remove the fact that they are morally inclined. Before going forward into discussion of the topic I will like to define the term “conscience”.
The word conscience which is a ‘NOUN’ refers to moral sense of right and wrong, mainly as it affects one’s own behavior; a personification of the moral sense of right and wrong, usually in the form of a person, a being or merely a voice that gives moral lessons and advices. Some school of thought within the religious field has identified this phenomenon as: ‘the voice of God’ for them, they believe that God at creation infused his wisdom into the human beings in order to assist them in their deliberation in particularly thinking processes, it means conscience is the faculty of the judgment of human conduct.
The worth of a thing is determined by the people of such society as such different society has their values which are cherished and herd in high esteem by rational mind. The Africa values which served as an instrument in shaping their society morally, politically and economically in the past also reflect their conscience. The Africa man as a conscience being has both exhibit good and bad conscience but we shall restrict ourselves to the good aspect of the conscience of the Africa such as:
(a) Kinship (b) Communal living (c) Religious beliefs (d) Legal system (e) Oral traditional.
KINSHIP
Kinship which happens to a system in Africa society which discourages isolation and support functionality. A person is an individual to the extent that he is a member of a given family or community only a rational minded person who want to keep the bond of relationship by way of promotion of kinship can be that concerned.
COMMUNAL LIVING
The Africa society although largely polygamous in nature accommodates all. There is a bearing of one another burden and mutual relationship. The buoyant members of the Africa society for instance, in a home were a man marries more than two wives, the elderly child or well to do within the home help to train other children this way they are building the bond of unity.
RELIGIOUS BELIEFS:
Africans are religious minded people and their beliefs shape their life style. All that Africa does within its society reflect conscience; they use religious view in handing vital issues, and the religious places a check on their day-today activities.
ORAL TRADITION:
One of the great learning enhancement and impaction of conscience by Africa of old is by way of oral transmission, here the offspring of African and pupils grows to be well informed of their societies and are able to contribute effectively to it.
CONCLUSION
The Africans are not animals but human beings with conscience that they made one or two errors in the past do not grantee anybody to assume them to be without conscience.
ARUM JUDE CHIDI
ReplyDeleteMAT NO U2013/1835024
ARGUMENT THAT AFRICANS HAD CONSCIENCE PRIOR COLONIALISM
Before goig into the arguement i want to first define the term conscience: Conscience is the moral sense of right and wrong'chieflt as it affects ones own behaviour.
It is a personification of the moral sense of right and wrong,usually in the form of a person,a being or merely a voice that gives moral lessons and advices. It is seen as the faculty within the human being that helps him or her to make a decision between good and evil and right andwrong.
I strongly believe that africans had conscience prior to colonialism because, conscience is one of the essential attribute or characteristic that distinguishes human from non human, so saying that africans had no conscience is as good as that they were not living being.
Conscience is regarded as the voice of thus,saying that we africans had no conscience is like saying that africans in the pre colonial era had no knowledge about god. And i believe that we all knows that africans believe in god(supreme being).
Conscience,however,is not the property of the colonial masters but the property of God,that is why we believe that God,at creation,infused his wisdom into the human beings-inorder to help them in their deliberations especially thinking process.thus,conscience was given to all being at creation by God. So Africans had conscience
However, i must admitt that africans prior to colonialism had various bad and obnoxious practices that made the colonial masters to believe that Africans lacked conscience but, i must say that it was part of their belief system, and that alone is never an enough excuse for anybody to say that pre colonial Africans had no conscience.
Pre colonial africans had several practices that judtifies this arguement.
Such as, when some one commits murder, adultary incest , homicide etc ,such a person would be severely purnised and
might even be banished from the community. Hence, Africans had moral code onduct that stipulated the dos and don'ts in the community so why would some one said that they had no conscience?
Conscience is the faculty of judgement of human coducty and it contradistinquishes humans from non-human being. However, with this few points of mine i will boldly and proudly contends that Pre colonial Africans had conscience.
NAME: OWENYIE NAALORBARI
ReplyDeleteMAT NO: U2013/1835006
COURSE TITLE: RELIGION AND ETHICS IN AFRICA
COURSE CODE: RCS 212.2
QUESTION
AN ARGUMENT FOR AFRICAN CONSCIENCES PRIOR THE ADVENT OF COLONIALISM IN THE CONTINENT
CONSCIENCE
Conscience is considered as the faculty within the human being, which helps him or her to make a decision between good and right, between good and evil, right and wrong.
Types of Conscience
• Lax conscience
• Scrupulous conscience
• Certain conscience etc.
This article argues that the shifts in the colonial administration after world war, one should analyze it from two intertwined perspectives:
Firstly the new international system of the mandates and its language of development, and secondly the concrete colonial situations in Africa while the new international system provided different norms and rationalization, as well as alternative opportunities for African actors in the colonies, continuity was nonetheless more commonly experienced and dominated societal currents more so than the shifts.
The same argument might also be put forward in case of the transferred German colonies as mandates of the league of nation, administered by the Allied forces.
Based on what have been said above, we can see that Africans in the colonial era had consciences, but they were influenced by the German colonies, since in African Traditional Religion, we were taught that there were some wrong terms which the Africans were called by the foreigners based on their low forms of education. So it was in the same manner that they were also influence into doing the same thing by killing their fellow Africans in order to gain favor into a position.
Even an arm rubber is aware of what he/she is doing because his conscience will tell him whether good or bad for no one can live without a conscience because it will judge him or her. Everyone have that inner spirit which tells when one is right or wrong.
If there was no consciences while petitions, arguments and tribunals, where being used by Africans throughout the continent.
Prior to the colonization of Africa, Africans had conscience.
ReplyDeleteBefore i proceed i would like to define what conscience means.
According to Oxford advanced learners dictionary,it defines conscience as the part of your mind that tells you whether your actions are right or wrong.
therefore,following this definition, Africans had conscience by knowing what was wrong or right.
for instance when a man commits adultery with his relation it is a taboo in land and their must ritual cleansing to purify and sanctify the land.So, if they don't have conscience they wouldn't have known the implications or consequences that are in it.again, there are moral conduct in Africa which identifies them as African such as mode of dressing. finally there are laws which everyone in the society abides and anyone
who goes against the laws and norms of the society must be sanctioned adequately.so with this few points of mine energetically and vigorously believe that Africans had conscience prior advent of colonialism.
AISAGBONBUOMWAN VIVIAN
ReplyDeleteU2013/1835011
I am supporting the motion that says, Africans had Conscience prior the advent of colonialism.
First, Whats is Conscience? Conscience is the moral sense of right and wrong, chiefly as it affects one's own behaviour. Also Conscience was given to us by DR CA ONYILOHA, as the faculty within the human being, that helps him/her to make a decision between good and right, other than between good and evil. I will lay my conviction on this simple definition, that Africans had conscience piror conlonialism. My reason is this, following the definition, Conscience is The Faculty Within the Human Being....., which means, every human being has this faculty within, as fars you are a human being, be it in pre colonialism or post colonialism, be it ancient time or present, prior colonialism is not excluded, the defintion says, "The faculty within the human being...", and africans before colonialism where human beings. From this definition, it is therefore a truism that Africans had conscience prior colonialism.
Also in concomitance with the definition, "....that helps him/her to make a decision between good and right other than between good and evil". taking it from this pepective i will say. Africans had conscience before the advent of colonialism. Before the coming of colonia masters, Africans had rules and regulations guilding their moral conduct that shows that Africans had conscience. African's morality can not be separated from his religion. The gods underpin moral laws,the gods punish moral offenders, it was with the help of their conscience that they were able to make decision between good and evil in order not to bring the wrath of the gods upon themselve. Conscience assit them in their delibration, especiall thinking process. With conscience they had respect for human life, human life was respected no matter the situation, this made pratices such as abortion, euthanasia, and suicide abomination in pre coloni African. Also, in pre colonial Africa, life in the community was life for all,no man is an island, all members of the community was seen as one. This made the training of a chid the responsibilty of the community. Africans before colonialism had moral standard, rules and regulation that all revolves on conscience.
Conscience was the faculty of judgment prior colonialism and present, it contradict humans from non himan. So with this, i strongly stand on the ground that Africans had conscience before the advent of colonialism. I hope that with this few point of mine, that i have being able to convince someone that Africans had conscience before the advent of colonialism.
Nnawuihe Deborah Munachi
DeleteThat's right, I convinced. The way I see it, Africans had more conscience then than now. Back then the sacrifices they did was for the good of the whole community, to appease the gods so they thought, but now people make human sacrifices base on personal gains, wealth and fame.
EYIANTSE JOSEPH .A
ReplyDeleteU2013/2540062. EDF.
I am of the openion that africans had no conscience prior the advent of colonialism with my following points.
conscience is seen as that faculty of a person that punishes you when you do something wrong and praises you when you do something right. AFRICANS engaged in all sort of barbaric acts, for example the killing of twins,africans saw the birth of twins an abominable act, twins were killed and used for sacrifices or dumped in the evil forest, not minding the fact that these babies had brighter future ahead of them. Africans also offered their fellow humans to the gods to be used as an instrument to serve the gods and to induce pains to the people. Africans also used human heads to bury their dead kings or rather buried alive with them all in the name of tradition. with these few points, africans lack conscience. infact they had dead conscience prior the advent of colonialism.
NAME: OKOYOVWO OGHENEKEVWE MATILDA
ReplyDeleteMAT NO: U2013/1835068
My argument proposes the motion that Africans had conscience before colonialism. Conscience refers to a person’s sense of right and wrong. Having a conscience involves being aware of the moral rightness or wrongness of one’s actions, or the goodness or badness of one’s intentions.
Conscience has to do with innateness, is born with. Generally African’s as one body has conscience but lost their conscience when the colonial masters emerged due to greed and curiosity. Let’s take Nigeria as a case study, during the colonial era, people were practicing slave trade in other to have a taste of what the colonial masters came with. Ever since the colonial era, Africans are no longer themselves rather they tend to live another mans life (westerners) which has no culture, because conscience ironically has to do with peoples culture, religion and up-bringing. So therefore, Africans had conscience but due to the lust over materials things which was brought by the white man, they sold their conscience.
OHAKWE IJEOMA BLESSING
ReplyDeleteAm glad you said that africans have conscience but lost it not because of material things but because they were carried away by fear of loosing all they have if not they would know that it is not right for one to kill his fellow human.
NAME: ALIKOR MERIT
ReplyDeleteMAT NO: U2013/1835041
Pre-colonial Africa had precapitalist class structures ranging from slave colonialism and the subsequent ersatz independence, much of the continent beturcated into two distinct worlds the new-colonialist and the post-colonialist-within the same geographical space. New-colonialist Africa is led by the surrogates of former colonial masters and other foreign interests while the continent’s intellectual class leads on the post-colonialist within the same geographical space. Neo-colonialist Africa is led by the surrogates of former colonial masters and other foreign interests while the continents intellectual class leads on the post colonialist front. Between these two “Africas” have been socio-economic and political crises that have resulted in the stagnation of the continents growth the development. Using the dual perspectives of post-colonial and neo-colonial and neo-colonial studies portrays the tranmalizing impact of the neo-colonialist leadership on Africa’s creative writers as a strand of the continent’s intellectual class striving for genuine independence. It shows the African writer as a frequent site for the clashes in the struggle by post-colonialist Africans to wrest true independence from the grip of neo-colonialist leadership. It further traces this rift to the realities of western capitalism’s predatory domination of Africa, which began with the brutalizing commoditization of Africans as slaves was followed by the arbitrary creation of inworkable states, and now has reincarnated in neo-colonialism’s garb and submits that the true and lasting peace and harmony can be achieved by the human race only if western capitalism and advances in science and technology are aligned with the pre-industrial, pre-capitalist and pre-racialist human values.
Secondly, neo-uberal capitalism, rather than terrorism or racism or religion, constitutes the greatest threat to humankind yet, it is a mistake for anyone to think that the brawn and brains and gold of the advanced economies will continue to keep the rest of the world down; or that the ignorance being cultivated in the helpless nations of the world will thrive influtely, or that their dloubles – speak and double acts, will continele to be masked to the rest of the world. To think so is to be ignorant of the history of humankind. The only solution is therefore a relatively fair redlistribution of wealth such that the poor will not have to be kept awake by hunger, as their being awake will not allow the rich to sleep.
All these ideas and many other similar positive ones are necessary at this time of our history so that we can return to our two Africas to one continent so that we can return our two worlds to one world, so that we can rehumanise our commodified world by making it conscience – driven rather than gold – governed.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteNWALA CELINE CHIDINMA
ReplyDeleteU2013/1835102
I AM OF THE NOTION THAT AFRICANS HAD CONSCIENCE PRIOR THE ADVENT OF COLONIALISM.
Africa is one of the continents in the world, and by geographic discription, africa is situated in the southern hemisphere, this continent is inhabited bymillions of people with distinct ethnic groups, language,culture, tradition, religion etc.
Conscience simply put, is the moral sense of right and wrong as relates to ones behaviour, conscience helps individual to make a decision between good or bad.
Before the arrival of the colonial masters, Africans practised a high standard of culture, helping them to live in equilibrium among themselves , daily activities were based on their culture.Seeing Africa as the societies without conscience was base on the canal view of the foreigners who never understand the culture of the people.
In other to maintain the ethical standard "were a man commits an atrocity (called Aru among the igbos) is Immediately brought to face justice,When Africans Were couscous of their daily dealings with their fellow human beings in order not to attract punishment from the gobs, where peace n harmony were maintained" I believe if Africans, should re-embibe their cultural norms and values, some of the ethical and political problems the continent faces wil be eradicated. The issue of fraud, money laundering, insecurity, underdevopement e.t.c wil be at a reduced rate and the world will come to understand the uniqueness of African cultural practices thank you.
Nnawuihe Deborah Munachimso...
DeleteI do concur, Africans might have done some things that are considered barbaric but they still had their good side. At least there was peace, respect. And orderliness then which only people who had conscience could uphold.
OGBOLOKOT ADIAHAETE EKRIKA
DeleteMAT NO:U2013/1835051
I vividly disagree with you following the fact that africans did many outrageous things
NWALA CELINE CHIDINMA
ReplyDeleteU2013/1835102
I AM OF THE NOTION THAT AFRICANS HAD CONSCIENCE PRIOR THE ADVENT OF COLONIALISM.
Africa is one of the continents in the world, and by geographic discription, africa is situated in the southern hemisphere, this continent is inhabited bymillions of people with distinct ethnic groups, language,culture, tradition, religion etc.
Conscience simply put, is the moral sense of right and wrong as relates to ones behaviour, conscience helps individual to make a decision between good or bad.
Before the arrival of the colonial masters, Africans practised a high standard of culture, helping them to live in equilibrium among themselves , daily activities were based on their culture.Seeing Africa as the societies without conscience was base on the canal view of the foreigners who never understand the culture of the people.
In other to maintain the ethical standard "were a man commits an atrocity (called Aru among the igbos) is Immediately brought to face justice,When Africans Were couscous of their daily dealings with their fellow human beings in order not to attract punishment from the gobs, where peace n harmony were maintained" I believe if Africans, should re-embibe their cultural norms and values, some of the ethical and political problems the continent faces wil be eradicated. The issue of fraud, money laundering, insecurity, underdevopement e.t.c wil be at a reduced rate and the world will come to understand the uniqueness of African cultural practices thank you.
MARUICHECHI NYEOMANU
ReplyDeleteU2013/1835017
Pre-colonial African societies were of a highly varied nature. They could be either stateless, state run or kingdoms, but most were founded on the principles of communalism in that they were self-governing, autonomous entities, and in that all members took part, directly or indirectly, in the daily running of the tribe. Land was held commonly and could not be bought or sold, although other things, such as cattle, were owned individually. In those societies that were not stateless, the chiefs ran the daily affairs of the tribe together with one or more councils.These councils simultaneously informed the chief, checked his powers and made policy by reaching unanimous decisions. If unanimity was not reached, a village assembly would be called to debate the issue and majority ruling would now apply. The chief would listen silently to all queries during such meetings and every male adult was free to criticise him.
An overarching feature of pre-colonial Africa was that its societies were not designed to be the all-powerful entities that they are today, hence the abundance of confederation-type societies. One reason for this was that the villages and tribes commonly owned the land, a fact that undermined the basis for a market economy and a landed aristocracy, another that there was an abundance of available land to which dissatisfied individuals or groups could move.
In many parts of Africa, especially in the British colonies where indirect rule was the norm, the indigenous system of government survived and was used by the colonial powers alongside the colonial system. This is one of the reasons why the structures of such political institutions still exist in Africa today, although mostly in a more fixed and static form, due to the colonial powers having rearranged the tribal landscape and employed chiefs as virtual colonial administrators that served as buffers between themselves and the masses.
While pre-colonial indigenous African systems had many appealing qualities, something that has been widely advocated, if not practised, by many post-independence African leaders and Africanists generally, they have some obvious weaknesses when attempting to build a centralised state around them. The fact that chieftaincy is mostly based on kinship, for instance, is problematic because of the exclusive nature of leadership that this entails, which is especially problematic in countries with ethnic antagonisms. Secondly, some of the customs of indigenous African society might have been effective in relatively smaller-scale societies but are less likely to be so in the larger states of present day Africa.
OHAKWE IJEOMA BLESSING
ReplyDeleteU2013/2540008. EDF
Prior to the advent of colonialism in nigeria i would support the motion that africans really had conscience before the colonial era because they involved in trade and other business to help them support their means of income instead of going into stealing and some social vices instead of engaging into this bad activities they work so hard to get their income
Also,they respected the laws of ethics though christainity was'nt introduced to us by then but they had the insight of morality and some ethical code of conducts which they had learnt even from stories of those who lived before them. Conscience is in built in every human being this conscience teaches us that which is wrong or right so saying nigerians were without conscience before the advent of colonialism is highly barbaric and not true its like saying we were really arrogant and acted without reasoning it is therefore important to realize that the relevance and usefulness of traditional or pre-colonial African institutions and customs depend upon whether one views African culture, or any culture for that matter, as static, or whether African culture is deemed to have evolved and changed, to some extent because of outside influence and colonialism. Culture must be seen as dynamic, and pre-colonial African cultures seen to be historical manifestations that are relevant in their entirety only to that specific period of time. Otherwise, they are useless as sources of inspiration for contemporary societies.
Nnawuihe Deborah Munachimso
ReplyDeleteU2013/1835023
Before going into details let's try to know what the word conscience is all about. Conscience is a sense of right and wrong, it is a state of awareness or quality of an eternal object or something within oneself. Conscience is a part of human psyche that includes mental anguish and feeling of guilt when one goes wrong or violate it and a feeling of pleasure and well being when we go in line with it.
African as a continent and it's people were created by God, and God made each and every individual with a conscience to tell him or her the right and good thing to do. So saying that Africans before the pre colonial era had no conscience is a little out of line. Yes, they might have done some awfully bad things like killing of twins, sacrifIcing human beings to their gods, burying most people alive with their dead chiefs, segregating some human which they themselves gave to their gods and even sold their brothers off to the white men for pittance, the white men who claimed to have conscience encouraged it any ways. But this is however not enough reason to regard Africans as a people that lacked conscience because of their acts or way of practice. What they did, they did out of ignorance and their cultural belief.
They still had some good part, viewing it from a different perspective. Africans before the pre colonial era were a peace loving people who helped and encouraged one another, fought for each other, crimes was not rampant because of fear for their gods, there were respect for the old, activities for the youth and love and care for the children. There was orderliness in communities no much greed strife for power as one can commonly notice now.
Now how can a people that are said to have no conscience be so orderly, Co operative and loving? I beg to disagree because to me Africans had conscience before the pre colonial era I think what they did, they did out of sheer ignorance or out of respect for their culture and tradition which they find themselves in.
WONAH STEPHEN, U2013/1835045
ReplyDeleteAfrican ethical principles and moral codes regulated the lives of individuals in the community before the advent of colonialism and missionary activities in Africa. Law and order, stability and social harmony were maintained and preserved through a strict adherence to and observance of the normative ethical principles, this indicates that Africans had conscience to preserve their values. Mbiti (1969, p.205), in his pioneer work on African Religions and Philosophy, observes that: there exist many laws, customs, set forms of behavior, regulations, rules, observances and taboos constituting the moral code and ethics of a given community or society in Africa. Any breach of this code of behavior is considered evil, wrong or bad, for it is an injury or destruction to the accepted social order and peace. As in all societies of the world, social order and peace are recognized by African people as essential and sacred, where the sense of life is so deep, it is inevitable that the solidarity (and stability) of the community must be maintained otherwise there is disintegration and destruction.
Elsewhere, Mbiti (1969, p.175) also states that “African peoples have a deep sense of right and wrong … this moral sense has produced customs, rules, laws, traditions and taboos which can be observed in each society”. This implies that African traditional ethics predates the coming of Europeans to Africa. Every community, towns and villages in Africa had a system of morals and good conscience which are preserved in their customs and tradition. “There is no society (in Africa) that has no set of dos and don’ts. A society that has no norms or ethically intelligible way of ascertaining and enforcing good conduct is bound to disappear in the short or long run” (Ozumba, 1995, p.55). This explains why Opoku (1978, p.166) rightly observes that “the solidarity of the community is maintained by laws, customs, taboos and set forms of behavior which constitutes the moral code”.
By observing the customs, prohibitions or taboos and other normative values, social order and stability were ensured. Commenting on Igbo ethics, Ilogu (1975, p.23) says that: Omenala (customs) is the means by which the traditional Ibo society enforces conformity. Culturally speaking, omenala is the means by which the social ethos is measured, the values of the society are continued from one generation to another and the process of socialization through the education of the young ones are facilitated. Harmony and equilibrium are in this way maintained as every member of the society knows what to expect from his neighbor and what to give to them, simply by observing the well known customary law of behavior and moral code, that is omenala (which existed before the advent of colonialism in Africa).
Therefore, I strongly belief that Africans had conscience prior colonialism in the continent based on the fact that their actions were guided by laws, customs, set forms of behavior, regulations, rules, observances and taboos constituting the moral code and ethics in other to sustain the values of the society. Traditional African society made no clear distinction between religious law and moral law. “It is what religion forbids that the society also forbids and the society approves what religion approves hereby maintaining harmony and equilibrium in the society.
WONAH STEPHEN,
ReplyDeleteMat. No. U2013/1835045
African ethical principles and moral codes regulated the lives of individuals in the community prior the advent of colonialism and missionary activities in Africa. Law and order, stability and social harmony were maintained and preserved through a strict adherence to and observance of the normative ethical principles, which indicates that Africans had conscience in preserving their society and religious values. Mbiti (1969, p.205), in his pioneer work on African Religions and Philosophy, observes that: there exist many laws, customs, set forms of behavior, regulations, rules, observances and taboos constituting the moral code and ethics of a given community or society in Africa. Any breach of this code of behavior is considered evil, wrong or bad (evidence of conscience, a state of judging between what is good and bad), for it is an injury or destruction to the accepted social order and peace.
Elsewhere, Mbiti (1969, p.175) also states that “African peoples have a deep sense of right and wrong(conscience) … this moral sense has produced customs, rules, laws, traditions and taboos which can be observed in each society”. This implies that African traditional ethics predates the coming of Europeans to Africa. Every community, towns and villages in Africa had a system of morals and good conscience to determine what is good and bad which are preserved in their customs and tradition. “There is no society (in Africa) that has no set of dos and don’ts. A society that has no conscience or ethically intelligible way of ascertaining and enforcing good conduct is bound to disappear in the short or long run” (Ozumba, 1995, p.55).
By observing the customs, prohibitions or taboos and other normative values, social order and stability were ensured in the society. Commenting on Igbo ethics, Ilogu (1975, p.23) says that: Omenala (customs) is the means by which the traditional Ibo society enforces conformity. Culturally speaking, Omenala is the means by which the social ethos is measured, the values of the society are continued from one generation to another and the process of socialization through the education of the young ones are facilitated. Harmony and equilibrium are in this way maintained as every member of the society knows what to expect from his neighbor and what to give to them, simply by observing the well known customary law of behavior and moral code, that is Omenala (which existed prior the advent of colonialism in Africa).
Therefore, I strongly belief that Africans had conscience prior colonialism in the continent based on the fact that their actions were guided by laws, customs, set forms of behavior, regulations, rules, observances and taboos constituting the moral code and ethics in other to sustain the values of the society. The use of humans for sacrifice and the killing of twins were purely religious activities done to appease there gods (deities). “It is what religion forbids that the society also forbids and the society approves what religion approves” hereby acting in good conscience in maintaining harmony and equilibrium in the society.
WONAH STEPHEN,
ReplyDeleteMat. No. U2013/1835045
African ethical principles and moral codes regulated the lives of individuals in the community prior the advent of colonialism and missionary activities in Africa. Law and order, stability and social harmony were maintained and preserved through a strict adherence to and observance of the normative ethical principles, which indicates that Africans had conscience in preserving their society and religious values. Mbiti (1969, p.205), in his pioneer work on African Religions and Philosophy, observes that: there exist many laws, customs, set forms of behavior, regulations, rules, observances and taboos constituting the moral code and ethics of a given community or society in Africa. Any breach of this code of behavior is considered evil, wrong or bad (evidence of conscience, a state of judging between what is good and bad), for it is an injury or destruction to the accepted social order and peace.
Elsewhere, Mbiti (1969, p.175) also states that “African peoples have a deep sense of right and wrong(conscience) … this moral sense has produced customs, rules, laws, traditions and taboos which can be observed in each society”. This implies that African traditional ethics predates the coming of Europeans to Africa. Every community, towns and villages in Africa had a system of morals and good conscience to determine what is good and bad which are preserved in their customs and tradition. “There is no society (in Africa) that has no set of dos and don’ts. A society that has no conscience or ethically intelligible way of ascertaining and enforcing good conduct is bound to disappear in the short or long run” (Ozumba, 1995, p.55).
By observing the customs, prohibitions or taboos and other normative values, social order and stability were ensured in the society. Commenting on Igbo ethics, Ilogu (1975, p.23) says that: Omenala (customs) is the means by which the traditional Ibo society enforces conformity. Culturally speaking, Omenala is the means by which the social ethos is measured, the values of the society are continued from one generation to another and the process of socialization through the education of the young ones are facilitated. Harmony and equilibrium are in this way maintained as every member of the society knows what to expect from his neighbor and what to give to them, simply by observing the well known customary law of behavior and moral code, that is Omenala (which existed prior the advent of colonialism in Africa).
Therefore, I strongly belief that Africans had conscience prior colonialism in the continent based on the fact that their actions were guided by laws, customs, set forms of behavior, regulations, rules, observances and taboos constituting the moral code and ethics in other to sustain the values of the society. The use of humans for sacrifice and the killing of twins were purely religious activities done to appease there gods (deities). “It is what religion forbids that the society also forbids and the society approves what religion approves” hereby acting in good conscience in maintaining harmony and equilibrium in the society.
WONAH STEPHEN,
ReplyDeleteMat. No. U2013/1835045
African ethical principles and moral codes regulated the lives of individuals in the community prior the advent of colonialism and missionary activities in Africa. Law and order, stability and social harmony were maintained and preserved through a strict adherence to and observance of the normative ethical principles, which indicates that Africans had conscience in preserving their society and religious values. Mbiti (1969, p.205), in his pioneer work on African Religions and Philosophy, observes that: there exist many laws, customs, set forms of behavior, regulations, rules, observances and taboos constituting the moral code and ethics of a given community or society in Africa. Any breach of this code of behavior is considered evil, wrong or bad (evidence of conscience, a state of judging between what is good and bad), for it is an injury or destruction to the accepted social order and peace.
Elsewhere, Mbiti (1969, p.175) also states that “African peoples have a deep sense of right and wrong(conscience) … this moral sense has produced customs, rules, laws, traditions and taboos which can be observed in each society”. This implies that African traditional ethics predates the coming of Europeans to Africa. Every community, towns and villages in Africa had a system of morals and good conscience to determine what is good and bad which are preserved in their customs and tradition. “There is no society (in Africa) that has no set of dos and don’ts. A society that has no conscience or ethically intelligible way of ascertaining and enforcing good conduct is bound to disappear in the short or long run” (Ozumba, 1995, p.55).
By observing the customs, prohibitions or taboos and other normative values, social order and stability were ensured in the society. Commenting on Igbo ethics, Ilogu (1975, p.23) says that: Omenala (customs) is the means by which the traditional Ibo society enforces conformity. Culturally speaking, Omenala is the means by which the social ethos is measured, the values of the society are continued from one generation to another and the process of socialization through the education of the young ones are facilitated. Harmony and equilibrium are in this way maintained as every member of the society knows what to expect from his neighbor and what to give to them, simply by observing the well known customary law of behavior and moral code, that is Omenala (which existed prior the advent of colonialism in Africa).
Therefore, I strongly belief that Africans had conscience prior colonialism in the continent based on the fact that their actions were guided by laws, customs, set forms of behavior, regulations, rules, observances and taboos constituting the moral code and ethics in other to sustain the values of the society. The use of humans for sacrifice and the killing of twins were purely religious activities done to appease there gods (deities). “It is what religion forbids that the society also forbids and the society approves what religion approves” hereby acting in good conscience in maintaining harmony and equilibrium in the society.
name; Duru Peace
ReplyDeletematric no;u2013/1835064
Assignment on if Nigerians had conscience before the advent of colonialism
I would support this motion with this points; I would start by defining conscience. Conscience is an aptitude , faculty , intuition or judgment that assists in distinguishing right from wrong. Moral judgment may derive from values or norms (principles and rules). In psychological terms conscience is often described as leading to feelings of remorse when a human commits actions that go against his/her moral values and to feelings of rectitude or integrity when actions conform to such norms. The extent to which conscience informs moral judgment before an action and whether such moral judgments are or should be based in reason has occasioned debate through much of the history of Western philosophy. It is barbaric to say Nigerians had no conscience before colonialism to support this I would say Nigerians had the belief in the supreme God and other deities who are assumed to be representatives of the supreme being they feared this deities by having good moral conducts for fear of severe punishment from the deities this really proved that Nigerians had conscience because before they do anything they weigh the consequence of their actions. Colonialism only brought imitation, jealousy and social vices
Throughout the colonial period, most Nigerians were stuck in ignorance and poverty. The trappings of flash cars, houses and success of the colonists may influence the poor to see the colonist as symbols of success and to emulate the colonists’ indifferent political ways. Involvement in the agenda of colonial rule may also in hit idealism in the early stage of the nascent nation’s development. A view commonly held during the colonial days was that the colonists property (cars, houses,
Farms, etc) is not “out” property. Thus vandalism and looting of public property was not seen as a crime against society. Colonialism only brought about some bad conducts amongst Nigerians.
name; okereke mercy
ReplyDeletemat no; u2013/1835078
i support the motion that Africans had conscience because it is barbaric to say Africans had no conscience before colonialism then what did Africans have then? Africans feared the wrath of the gods so they tried to make sure abominations and sacrilege didn't stain their lands now come to think of it its after the colonial era that acts like robbery,homosexuality and immoral dresses started to emerge and all this was because of the coming of the colonial era. So i stand to say Africans had conscience which they utilized well even when Christianity wasn't introduced to them
Name: Nwaokolo Sarah Chioma
ReplyDeleteMatriculation number: U2013/1835043
Conscience can be said to be the faculty within the human being that helps him or her to make a decision between good and right other than
between good and evil, tight and wrong.
As stated above, conscience is doing what is good other than wrong. Africans before colonialisms were people that do not work with conscience, they had many culture and traditions that contradicts one having conscience and they carry out this traditions and culture which in most cases have to do with spilling of innocent blood. For instance the killing of twins which was practised in some parts of African e.g Nigeria before it was stopped by Mary slessor ,and also the case of burying servants along with dead masters or kings even in some cases d wife's of d kings,also be heading of human beings for d head to be buried with d kings in some cases with d point that they would serve the king at the land of the dead. Another conscience less practice by the Africans is the case were parents sale there children to slavery because of money and because of the reason that they are many children's and no means of feeding because of hardship.
How can a society or individuals that have conscience carry out this abominable acts? Africans never had conscience prior the advent of colonialism,it was due to colonialism that most of this abominable acts were abolished though, sadly in some parts of Africans there are still some abominable acts still carried out..
Name: Nwaokolo Sarah Chioma
ReplyDeleteMatt number: U2013/1835043
Conscience can be said to be the faculty within the human being that helps him or her to make a decision between good and right other than
between good and evil, tight and wrong.
As stated above, conscience is doing what is good other than wrong. Africans before colonialisms were people that do not work with conscience, they had many culture and traditions that contradicts one having conscience and they carry out this traditions and culture which in most cases have to do with spilling of innocent blood. For instance the killing of twins which was practised in some parts of African e.g Nigeria before it was stopped by Mary slessor ,and also the case of burying servants along with dead masters or kings even in some cases d wife's of d kings,also be heading of human beings for d head to be buried with d kings in some cases with d point that they would serve the king at the land of the dead. Another conscience less practice by the Africans is the case were parents sale there children to slavery because of money and because of the reason that they are many children's and no means of feeding because of hardship.
How can a society or individuals that have conscience carry out this abominable acts? Africans never had conscience prior the advent of colonialism,it was due to colonialism that most of this abominable acts were abolished though, sadly in some parts of Africans there are still some abominable acts still carried out..
NAME: JOHNSON AWAJIONYI PRINCESS
ReplyDeleteMAT. NO. U2013/1835087
Before we make up our minds on whether a particular act is good or evil, we must first examine the end of the act. By end we mean; the object in itself (human beings) the circumstance or situation, the intention or motive of the agent and the consequences or outcome of the act – conscience is the subjective norm of morality. It is the habitual state of intellectual readiness to apprehend what is good and what is evil without prior reflection.
However, conscience is not infallible. If we act without doubt convinced about the good in the act, our action is morally, subjectively and formally good even if on the long run it turns out to be evil. It is only physical, objectively and materially evil.
Conscience is the faculties of knowing, thinking, reasoning, willing, deciding, choosing, and acting. The part of mind that makes you aware of your actions as being either morally right or wrong (by Merriam Webster), some scholars argue that conscience should be employed as the touchstone in judging human conduct. Conscience is referred to as the “voice of God” and so should be considered the moral standard. Conscience tells us what is right or wrong. However, the conscience of different people tells them different things (Izibili, 2005:84-85).
Thus, what may appear to one individual as an abomination, unimaginable and unthinkable may not mean anything to another. This fact that what one individual may view as evil may be the hobby of yet another man makes it difficult for us to approve of conscience as an acceptable yardstick in judging human actions.
Following all the explanations above, one can deduce that before /prior the advent of colonialism in Africa continents, the Africans had conscience for their moral right in their tradition, customs, values, norms etc. Those barbaric acts done by Africans as people may say, were carried out based on the African traditions, custom etc as then, and not that the conscience was not there.
Finally, before the emergence of colonialism, Africa has a systematic conscience of religion and culture, and also the policy of assimilation, association and indirect rule is aprove of African conscience.
STATE IF AFRICANS HAD CONSCIENCE PRIOR COLONIALISM IN THE CONTINENT.
ReplyDeleteINTRODUCTION
AGUARAYESA KATE OMOJEVWE
U2013/1835035
Before Africa was colonised, the continent was characterised by a large degree of pluralism and flexibility. The continent consisted not of closed reproducing entities, equipped with unique unchanging cultures, but of more fluid units that would readily incorporate outsiders (even whites) into the community as long as they accepted its customs, and where the sense of obligation and solidarity went beyond that of the nuclear family. An example of such inclusiveness were the Xhosa who limited Xhosadom not along ethnic or geographical lines but along political. All persons or groups who accepted the rule of the paramount chief became Xhosa.
Pre-colonial African societies were of a highly varied nature. They could be either stateless, state run or kingdoms, but most were founded on the principles of communalism in that they were self-governing, autonomous entities, and in that all members took part, directly or indirectly, in the daily running of the tribe. Land was held commonly and could not be bought or sold, although other things, such as cattle, were owned individually. In those societies that were not stateless, the chiefs ran the daily affairs of the tribe together with one or more councils.These councils simultaneously informed the chief, checked his powers and made policy by reaching unanimous decisions. If unanimity was not reached, a village assembly would be called to debate the issue and majority ruling would now apply. The chief would listen silently to all queries during such meetings and every male adult was free to criticise him.
The role of the chief during such meetings was to sum up what had been said and attempt to form some consensus among the diverse opinions. Hence the chief did not rule or dictate but led by consensus. Many tribes, especially those that were stateless, had no central authority and no class system, and many of those that did could depose a chief that was thought to have abused his power.
In many parts of Africa, especially in the British colonies where indirect rule was the norm, the indigenous system of government survived and was used by the colonial powers alongside the colonial system. This is one of the reasons why the structures of such political institutions still exist in Africa today, although mostly in a more fixed and static form, due to the colonial powers having rearranged the tribal landscape and employed chiefs as virtual colonial administrators that served as buffers between themselves and the masses.
British indirect rule in countries such as South Africa thereby reduced chiefs to salaried officials, responsible to white magistrates, corrupted by the control of an unsympathetic white government. Where there were elements of participatory democracy and a lack of rigid ethnicity in pre-colonial Africa, these were less likely to be found in post-independence Africa where only Botswana built its society and government on indigenous institutions, and where the rigidities of colonial “invented tradition” and centralised government became dominant.
It is therefore important to realize that the relevance and usefulness of traditional or pre-colonial African institutions and customs depend upon whether one views African culture, or any culture for that matter, as static, or whether African culture is deemed to have evolved and changed, to some extent because of outside influence and colonialism.so prior to colonialism, we African had conscience and know where we were heading in development strides and culture.
NAME: WORLU FAVOUR CHINYEMKEM
ReplyDeleteMAT NO: U2013/1835028
ARGUMENT FOR THE EXISTENCE OF CONSCIENCE IN AFRICA PRIOR TO COLONIAL ERA
INTRODUCTION
From the time immemorial Africa is like every other nations created by God, and there is no country that was created without consciences any man or nation without consciences is dead.
CLARIFICATION OF CONSCIENCE
The term conscience is defined as that part of human Psyche that include mental anguish and feelings of guilt when we violate it and feelings of pleasure and well-being when our actions, thoughts and words are in conformity to our value system. Also conscience can be seen as an aptitude, faculty, intuition or judgment that assists in distinguishing right from wrong.
Looking at the argument of some scholars such as Michel Glautier argues that conscience is one of the instincts and drives which enable people to form societies, groups of human without these drives or in whom their insufficient cannot form society and do not reproduce their kind as successfully as those that do.
Base on the above view of some scholars on conscience, one can say that no society or human can exist without conscience.
When we talk about conscience we mean faculty or attitude for a nation, individual, and society which is emerge in culture. One cannot talk about society without talking about culture. The Africa have consciences in the since that Africa had an authentic culture. African had a standard culture that was practice before the colonial masters arrived to African and introduce and alien culture to African.
Despite the foreign culture that was introduce by the colonics master, the African still maintain some of their culture, therefore one cannot maintain culture without conscience. Though there is culture change as a result of colonialism but it is worthy to note that there are some societies in Africa where high ethical and moral standard are still maintain.
For instance in Kogi State of Nigeria, in a society called Igala land Ajawa Ugwolawo taking a view of that society one can concord high ethical standard of living was hand down to them by their fore fathers or progenitors.
Before the coming of the colonial masters, Africa practices their high standard of culture, they live in harmony, and they do all things base on the Africa culture.
Seeing Africa as the societies without conscience was base on the migration of the foreigners who never understand the culture of the people, never take time to study the culture of the people, and concluded, though western scholars like Emile Ludwig thus enormously asserted that “How can the untutored Africans conceive God, for deity is a philosophical concept in which savages are incapable of framing”.
Moreso, Charles Darwin assert that conscience can be view as an outcome of those biological drives that prompt humans to avoid provoking fear or contempt in others. It is important to note that Africans where living without fear, but they maintain the rules, norm and values of their culture.
The practices of Africa culture before the colonial era was not as a result of conscience free.
In summary Africa have conscience, because they were unique societies created by God.
In other to maintain the ethical standard in Africa societies the people of Africa should go back to their belief which will enhance the conscience of Africa.
NAME: UDO UDUAK BASSEY
ReplyDeleteMAT NO: U2013/1835048
The Africans had conscience before colonialism it is essential to look at the concept “conscience” before digging to the nitty-gritty. A dictionary definition of conscience is a moral sense of right and wrong especially as felt by a person and affecting behaviour conscience can also be seen as the faculty within the human being that helps him/her to make a decision between good and wrong or between good and evil, right and wrong. It is a troism that African had conscience before the colonialism because a normal human being cannot do without conscience. Below are some reasons that’s support this facts.
1. They were enlightened before the colonialization
2. They new what ought and what ought not
3. It was their conscience that dictate when they have clear and guilty conscience
4. With their conscience they were able to decide a conflict of principles
5. It was their conscience that permits all citizens a free choice of religion
6. With their conscience they were able to pre-empt and preclude actions. It will be so pusillanimously to repudiate the fact that African did not have conscience before the colonialism.
UCHEGBU KINDNESS RITA OBILOR
ReplyDeleteMAT. NO. U2013/1835103
Mbiti (1969, p.175) states that “African peoples have a deep sense of right and wrong(conscience) … this moral sense has produced customs, rules, laws, traditions and taboos which can be observed in each society”. This implies that African traditional ethics predates the coming of Europeans to Africa. Every community, towns and villages in Africa had a system of morals and good conscience to determine what is good and bad which are preserved in their customs and tradition. “There is no society (in Africa) that has no set of dos and don’ts. A society that has no conscience or ethically intelligible way of ascertaining and enforcing good conduct is bound to disappear in the short or long run” (Ozumba, 1995, p.55).
I strongly support the motion that Africans had conscience prior colonialism in the continent based on the fact that their actions were guided by laws, customs, set forms of behavior, regulations, rules, observances and taboos constituting the moral code and ethics in other to sustain the values of their Religion and the society. The use of humans for sacrifice and the killing of twins were purely religious activities done to appease there gods (deities). “It is what religion forbids that the society also forbids and the society approves what religion approves”. Africans, the way I view their life style lived a life of ignorance and not out of wickedness as people that do not have conscience before the advent of colonialism.
NAME: BARIMA GIFT BARINE
ReplyDeleteMATRIC NO:U2013/1835116
I argue for that before the pre-colonial master came to Africa. There was conscience; this is true to the extent that colonialism serves as a vehicle of implantation of cultural imperialism in Africa.
First, what is conscience? Conscience is the subjective norm of morality. It is the habitual state of intellectual readiness to apprehend what is good and what is evil without prior inflection conscience is not infallible.
From this definition we are all convince that Africans before now have a conscience. There was a value of conscience. There was values means, religion, orderliness of norms and peaceful co-existence western civilization was just another concept of domination that is imposition of incoming new culture over traditional culture over traditional cultural values. Colonialism is an imposition of foreign rule indigenous political setting and foreign dominance and subjugation of African people in all spheres of their social, political, cultural, economic and religious civilization, infact, and the trend of cultural westernization of Africa has become very pervasive and prevalent, such that western civilization has taken precedence and the laver Africans values and culture and the latter is regarded as inferior to the formal and this effect African politically ,economically and socially.
The political effect the western civilization submerged and dismantles indigenous institution and its place, a foreign rule was established. The traditional institutions before then were regarded as not political but also custodian of culture.
Economically, there was imposition of taxation which focal Africans into wage labour and also there was sudden shift in production mode from products of food crops to cash crop, a situation that caused hunger and starvation in Africa. Africa began to produce more of what she need less and produce less of what she need most.
Socially, family/social relation, extended family giving way to nuclear family, traditional African family values breaking very rapidly extended family that was wonderful instrument like a social new, social society in our own community have given way to nuclear family in the wonder that there is no more respect for age, no more respect for values that we held sacrosanct in Africa younger one now find it difficult to greet elder ones.
From this point you can all see that Africans had conscience..
NAME: BARIMA GIFT BARINE
ReplyDeleteMATRIC NO:U2013/1835116
I argue for that before the pre-colonial master came to Africa. There was conscience; this is true to the extent that colonialism serves as a vehicle of implantation of cultural imperialism in Africa.
First, what is conscience? Conscience is the subjective norm of morality. It is the habitual state of intellectual readiness to apprehend what is good and what is evil without prior inflection conscience is not infallible.
From this definition we are all convince that Africans before now have a conscience. There was a value of conscience. There was values means, religion, orderliness of norms and peaceful co-existence western civilization was just another concept of domination that is imposition of incoming new culture over traditional culture over traditional cultural values. Colonialism is an imposition of foreign rule indigenous political setting and foreign dominance and subjugation of African people in all spheres of their social, political, cultural, economic and religious civilization, infact, and the trend of cultural westernization of Africa has become very pervasive and prevalent, such that western civilization has taken precedence and the laver Africans values and culture and the latter is regarded as inferior to the formal and this effect African politically ,economically and socially.
The political effect the western civilization submerged and dismantles indigenous institution and its place, a foreign rule was established. The traditional institutions before then were regarded as not political but also custodian of culture.
Economically, there was imposition of taxation which focal Africans into wage labour and also there was sudden shift in production mode from products of food crops to cash crop, a situation that caused hunger and starvation in Africa. Africa began to produce more of what she need less and produce less of what she need most.
Socially, family/social relation, extended family giving way to nuclear family, traditional African family values breaking very rapidly extended family that was wonderful instrument like a social new, social society in our own community have given way to nuclear family in the wonder that there is no more respect for age, no more respect for values that we held sacrosanct in Africa younger one now find it difficult to greet elder ones.
From this point you can all see that Africans had conscience..
ReplyDeleteLINUS GODGIFT
U2013/1835099
INTRODUCTION
Africans had conscience prior to colonialism judging form every ramifications.Before going in details we need to understand what conscience is all about. Conscience is the sense of right and wrong, it is a state of awareness or quality of an external object or something within oneself. Africans are seen as barbaric defiant and perpetually desirous of meddling in a statement of un-development, a clear example of these fact is our involvement in the Ashanti slave trade, our precarious superstitious decadence has so much blindfolded our consciousness to conscience to the extent that cannibalism was even the order of the day, man inhumanity to man and a wanton disregard for human right and dignity of the human person frequent violation of human right alongside tribalism were some of the factors that accounted for our backwardness. Be that as it may, I am yet to ascertain a remarkably difference in the attitude of Africans in the light of the present global reality, little wonder, our colonial masters sees us as baboons and animals, and thus, believed it would be difficult for us to migrate from the state of barbarism to civilisation till today I can still say, Africans do not have conscience, Africans are brutish, wicked, and selfish. Imagine a man accumulating what him and his entire generation can't consume while some others live below one dollar a day, if we claim to have conscience, some questions are to be answered, such as; how come we don't care for ourselves?, why the crave for power and fame?. If only power and fame is used positively the case would have been different. But please let us think prior colonialism was not all that perfect but at least it gave rise to awareness of certain things in our society for example it stopped the killing of twins and also seeing their own children as an "outcast". Thus, raising critical consciousness involves sensitisation of the citizens to be self-aware of the right nature and the constitution confer on them as free born citizens. In Sum, I would say, black consciousness origins were deeply rooted in Christianity in 1966, African consciousness was based on the ethics of duty, and not of Right. I conclude by saying that parents out of ignorance and due to what it said to be their so called beliefs killed their own blood (killing of twins or seeing their own children given to them by God as a taboo) also seeing their own blood and flesh as an outcast due to the way they were born or probably the day of birth thus giving their children back to their gods what human with conscience would do such a thing, I put it to you all that Africans do not have conscience considering their barbaric acts.
GRANT KETUNI
ReplyDeleteU2013/1835049
Before answering this question, what one ought to know is; what is conscience, and how is conscience found in man? These both questions answer all arguments here.
Firstly, conscience is seen as the faculty within the human being that helps him/her to make decisions between good and evil, right and wrong. Conscience also tells one when he has done good and when he has done bad or evil. It is said to be a tiny little voice in man. Some scholars say it is the “voice of God”
Now secondly, theologically or let me say religiously, conscience is said to being infused in man by God during creation, that is all men have this faculty of human conduct, that is all men have this faculty of human conduct (conscience) in them. Thus, if all humans created by God have conscience in them from creation, how will one say Africans didn’t have conscience before colonialism, or was this God a bias God, that He would give the faculty of decision making of good or bad conduct to some set of people and not give to others? Is this God a tribalistic God or a racist? All these questions and many more are the questions I expect those who say Africans never had conscience prior to colonialism to answer.
Therefore, my stand on this argument is that Africans had conscience prior to colonialism, but they were being blinded by ignorance, thus their actions didn’t show they had conscience, so please, we shouldn’t be deceived by their actions into saying they never did had conscience. Thanks.
GRANT KETUNI
ReplyDeleteU2013/1835049
Before answering this question, what one ought to know is; what is conscience, and how is conscience found in man? These both questions answer all arguments here.
Firstly, conscience is seen as the faculty within the human being that helps him/her to make decisions between good and evil, right and wrong. Conscience also tells one when he has done good and when he has done bad or evil. It is said to be a tiny little voice in man. Some scholars say it is the “voice of God”
Now secondly, theologically or let me say religiously, conscience is said to being infused in man by God during creation, that is all men have this faculty of human conduct, that is all men have this faculty of human conduct (conscience) in them. Thus, if all humans created by God have conscience in them from creation, how will one say Africans didn’t have conscience before colonialism, or was this God a bias God, that He would give the faculty of decision making of good or bad conduct to some set of people and not give to others? Is this God a tribalistic God or a racist? All these questions and many more are the questions I expect those who say Africans never had conscience prior to colonialism to answer.
Therefore, my stand on this argument is that Africans had conscience prior to colonialism, but they were being blinded by ignorance, thus their actions didn’t show they had conscience, so please, we shouldn’t be deceived by their actions into saying they never did had conscience. Thanks.
NAME : ANUFORO OLUCHI MARY
ReplyDeleteMAT NO :U2013/1835108
RCS 212.2
In order to hold a point view of this topic either for or against, one must first understand the term in question.
Conscience; is the moral sense of right and wrong chiefly as it affects one’s own behavior.
With the definition one knows what the term is about. The pre-colonial African societies were of a highly varied nature. They could be either stateless, state run or kingdoms but most were founded on the principles of communalism in that they were self governing, autonomous entities, and in that all members took part, directly or indirectly, in the daily running of the tribe.
There are various forms through which one can explain and back up its point that Africans had conscience prior colonialism. One form of explaining my point here is the communal life style of the Africans prior colonization.
Africans before now lived a communal life whereby they share everything in common without disparities. They lived a brother-hood life where the interest of person affects the others and such a communal life style can be said to have the content of conscience because it is only through the knowledge of what is right or wrong that such a practice could be adhere strictly to because they had an atom of conscience they could thus live communality.
The idea of providing shelter for themselves before colonialism is also a form the existence of conscience in Africa. They knew that they needed a shelter to cover themselves after the wondering days in the forest and this is an evidence of conscience because they could understand the effect and non-effect of having a shelter.
Africans and man generally had conscience prior colonialism and this was after man’s disobedience to God in the Garden of Eden. After that time man became aware of conscience since then till date. Another way of proving that Africans had conscience is through their religious faith. Prior to this time Africans practice their indigenous religion known as African Traditional Religion. (ATR). And this basic characteristic of this religious practice is the belief in the supreme being (God), the believe in Ancestors, Spirit and divinities. And the believe in all these is as a result of the conscience they posses. They already have the knowledge that their believes works according to their experience of the past on it, thus the knowledge in the power of their supreme being and adhering to the practices or norms and regulations of their religious faith shows that Africans knew that there are good and bad behavior pattern that the good one is what is required by their religious faith so therefore they choose to behave in accordance to that which is good and required by their faith.
The practice of African Traditional Religion which is guided by religious moral or norm show that African prior to colonialism had conscience because the ability to adhere strictly to their religious morals or rule shows that they knew and could separate what was right from wrong.
Finally, Africans prior to colonialism knew about conscience and this could be analyzed in various forms even as I have stated above thus; I take my stand on the fact that Africans prior colonialism had conscience.