METAPHYSICAL FOUNDATIONS OF ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS IN AN AFRICAN CULTURE
This study argues that environmental problems cannot be resolved unless we know the foundations for the various failed attempts by scholars, namely, the subjectobject dichotomy upon which all hitherto existing theories are based. It argues that such ontology portrays a consequentialist conception of the environment, which encourages instrumentalization of the object (nature) by the subject (humans), and the resultant abusive use of nature. The study analyses some theories of environmental ethics, and extends this consideration to the debate concerning moral obligation to future generations. The study then x-rays some attempts by some African philosophers to ground environmental ethics on metaphysics, and draws attention to an alternative theory in indigenous Esan thought which is not premised on subject-object dichotomy but on the union of beings.
Keywords: african, culture, environmental, ethics, foundations, metaphysical