Two Steps Forward: An African Relational Account of Moral Standing

This paper replies to a commentary by John-Stewart Gordon on our paper, “The Moral Standing of Social Robots: Untapped Insights from Africa.” In the original paper, we set forth an African relational view of personhood and show its implica- tions for the moral standing of social robots. This reply clarifies our position and answers three objections. The objections concern (1) the ethical significance of intelligence, (2) the meaning of ‘pro-social,’ and (3) the justification for prioritizing humans over pro-social robots

Cultural diversity is crucial for African neuroethics

Mental health, neuroscience and neuroethics researchers must engage local African communities to enable discourses on cultural understandings of mental illness. To ensure that these engagements are both ethical and innovative, they must be facilitated with cultural competence and humility, because serious consideration of different contextual and local factors is critical

The importance of getting the ethics right in a pandemic treaty

The COVID-19 pandemic revealed numerous weaknesses in pandemic preparedness and response, including underfunding, inadequate surveillance, and inequitable distribution of countermeasures. To overcome these weaknesses for future pandemics, WHO released a zero draft of a pandemic treaty in February, 2023, and subsequently a revised bureau's text in May, 2023. COVID-19 made clear that pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response reflect choices and value judgements. These decisions are therefore not a purely scientific or technical exercise, but are fundamentally grounded in ethics. The latest treaty draft reflects these ethical considerations by including a section entitled Guiding Principles and Approaches. Most of these principles are ethical—they establish core values that undergird the treaty. Unfortunately, the treaty draft's set of principles are numerous, overlapping, and show inadequate coherence and consistency. We propose two improvements to this section of the draft pandemic treaty. First, key guiding ethical principles should be clearer and more precise than they currently are. Second, the link between ethical principles and policy implementation should be clearly established and define boundaries on acceptable interpretation, ensuring that signatories abide by these principles

What's yours is ours: waiving intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines

This paper gives an ethical argument for temporarily waiving intellectual property (IP) protections for COVID-19 vaccines. It examines two proposals under discussion at the World Trade Organization (WTO): the India/South Africa proposal and the WTO Director General proposal. Section I explains the background leading up to the WTO debate. Section II rebuts ethical arguments for retaining current IP protections, which appeal to benefiting society by spurring innovation and protecting rightful ownership. It sets forth positive ethical arguments for a temporary waiver that appeal to standing in solidarity and holding companies accountable. After examining built-in exceptions to existing agreements and finding them inadequate, the paper replies to objections to a temporary waiver and concludes, in section III, that the ethical argument for temporarily waiving IP protection for COVID-19 vaccines is strong

Managing local heritage in low- and middle-income countries through small accommodation firms: The case of Ghana

This study aims to provide empirical evidence about how sustainable heritage tourism paths can be developed in Ghana by focusing on the relationship between 20 guesthouses and various other local and multi-local actors. A co-evolutionary analysis is conducted stressing the dialectical nature of this relationship and following a mixed method. Findings from the analysis highlight eight interconnected key factors: five inhibitors and three enablers that are capable of influencing (un)sustainable heritage tourism paths development. In this dynamic, the application of the principle of subsidiarity, coupled with capacity building, can help the various multilevel actors co-adapt effectively. Consequently, the study suggests conceiving heritage tourism paths as co-evolutionary processes generated, and recognized as virtuous, by all actors involved. This research contributes to understanding the socio-economic and environmental dynamics underlying sustainable heritage tourism development in Africa as advocated in literature. Moreover, the findings may help decision makers and policy makers to exploit the huge sustainable potential of heritage tourism.   Questo articolo intende fornire un’evidenza empirica su come percorsi di heritage tourism sostenibile possono essere sviluppati in Ghana, focalizzando la relazione tra 20 guesthouses e vari altri attori, a livello locale e multi-locale. Viene condotta un’analisi co-evolutiva sottolineando la natura dialettica di questa relazione e adottando un metodo misto. I risultati dell’analisi evidenziano otto fattori chiave interconnessi, cinque inibitori e tre abilitanti, in grado di influenzare lo sviluppo di percorsi di heritage tourism (in)sostenibili. In questa dinamica, l’applicazione del principio di sussidiarietà, unita alla capacity building, può aiutare l’efficace co-adattamento tra vari attori multilivello. Di conseguenza, l’articolo suggerisce di concepire i percorsi di heritage tourism sostenibile come processi co-evolutivi generati, e riconosciuti come virtuosi, da tutti gli attori coinvolti. Questa ricerca contribuisce a comprendere le dinamiche socio-economiche e ambientali che sostanziano lo sviluppo di heritage tourism sostenibile in Africa, rispondendo a una esigenza avvertita in letteratura. I risultati possono aiutare decision makers e policy makers a sfruttare il grande potenziale di sostenibilità dell’heritage tourism