Traditional Moral Values of the Oromo of Ethiopia: A Philosophical Appraisal of Gada System (Synopsis of a PhD Dissertation)

Abstract

This is a report of my PhD dissertation titled “Traditional Moral Values of the Oromo of Ethiopia: A Philosophical Appraisal of Gada System”. The dissertation ventures to accomplish three missions – one is the mission of bringing the traditional moral values of the Oromo people to light, the other is to critically evaluate the content of these values and the third is to demonstrate the applicability of philosophical inquiry to the concrete life and relations of human beings. The entire text of the dissertation is composed of six chapters. At the end of each chapter there are critical analyses, conclusions, references and notes. Finally at the end of the whole body of the dissertation there is bibliography and appendix. The appendix contains the pictures of some of the elderly informants who orally shared their knowledge of the traditional moral values of the Oromo society. The first chapter attempts to lay out the problems that instigated the research, the general problems that the dissertation addresses, the methods that the researcher employs, and a conceptual and theoretical groundwork for the subsequent chapters.