Àgbájọ Ọwọ́ : An African Moral Theory of Survival in the Age of Covid-19

This paper examines some of the moral questions surrounding the novel coronavirus, the cause of a new pandemic that just hit the world between late 2019 and early 2020. Coronaviruses are highly contagious and deadly infectious diseases, and victims are urged to do all within their power to ensure that the infection is not spread to healthy people. The central questions involved include the following: why should a person suffer and possibly die alone due to an infection that they must have contracted from someone else? Why should they choose to act ethically in the face of impending death? Why should people who have contracted the disease through no known fault of their own choice to protect others from contracting it? In summary, why should a person who has contracted coronavirus act selflessly? When the cure is eventually discovered, why should knowledge of it be democratized in a capitalist world? These are some of the questions that this paper addresses by juxtaposing Hobbes’ argument that human beings are fundamentally selfish with the African ethical theory of Àgbájọ ọwọ́. The paper argues that the moral theory, which enhances survival is best in the age of the COVID-19 pandemic.