Work · Indigenous Philosophies
The Law of Obligation, Aboriginal Ethics: Australia Becoming, Australia Dreaming
Essay in the philosophy journal Parrhesia that derives Aboriginal ethics from the obligation to care for Land: a Custodial Ethic joining a nurturing relation to Land and community with the autonomy of each Place, against a “survivalist ethos” of rivalry.
Introduction
Published in 2023 in the philosophy journal Parrhesia, the essay asks how Indigenous people and settlers can arrive at a “reflective self” that understands itself through Place. For Aboriginal people, Graham writes, Land is the source of morality and meaning, and ethics begins with caring for country and caring for kin rather than with the Socratic question of how one should live. Two principles together form the Custodial Ethic: a respectful, nurturing relationship with Land, Place and community, and a governance principle of the autonomy and identity of each Place, with no centralising power. “Autonomous regard” for every person counters a “survivalist ethos” that treats others as means. Aboriginal society appears as a “civilisational culture”, not a civilisational state.
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