On Human Life: Traditional AKAN Ethical Perspectives

Prior to the advent of foreign cultures and religions such as Christianity and Islam, issues such as teenage pregnancy, abortion and suicide that threaten the dignity of human life were very rare among traditional Akans. Currently, the acute prevalence of these aforementioned issues indicates that the success chalked by traditional Akan ethics with its traditional religious values is eroding. Is it because the traditional Akan ethics, with its strong deontological basis, is now gradually being replaced by the modern western cultural eudaimonistic and utilitarian ethical value systems? This paper explores this fast paradigm shift on the dignity of human life among the Akans in Ghana.