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An African moral approach against the perverted faculty argument: Ukama, partiality and homophobia in Africa.

Luis Cordeiro Rodrigues
Published in: Developing world bioethics (2023)
In Africa, homosexuality is routinely understood as a form of immoral behaviour. This has great implications for the physical and psychological well-being of homosexuals in Africa. One of the reasons why homosexuals are sometimes understood to be behaving immorally is because it is believed that same-sex relations are unnatural. I think that this conception of unnatural is grounded on the perverted faculty argument, although this is not often expressed in such terms. In this article, I will develop a concept of natural grounded on the concept of Ukama. I will show that despite Ukama implying a functional conception of nature, just like in the perverted faculty argument, it does not imply that homosexuality is immoral.
Keyphrases
  • medical students
  • medical education
  • physical activity
  • mental health
  • decision making