How not to ground an African moral theory: Metz on the rejection of moral metaphysics

This paper contests Thaddeus Metz’s rejection of ontological or metaphysical grounding in moral theorizing. Despite Metz’s contention that no moral conclusions can be derived from ontological premises, Metz himself engages in moral metaphysics when he derives persons’ moral status from value-conferring properties. Metz thereby violates the hard fact/value distinction he seemingly endorses at the outset of his inquiry. This raises the question whether he only rejects a specifically African ontological grounding, not ontological or metaphysical grounding in general. And this prompts the further question whether we should not approach African ontologies with the same degree of philosophical openness with which we approach contending Western ontologies.