Moral Reciprocity, Ethics of Appropriation of Indigenous Medicinal Plant Knowledge and Associated Biopiracy

[1] ¹Posthumanism is a new approach in contemporary philosophy that deconstructs some of the most fundamental assumptions of modern Western culture, its ontology, epistemology and ethics. It is a critical approach that aims at understanding the role of the human subject in relation to both the natural world and knowledge-production practice, and how that relationship plays out into socio-cultural and socio-political spheres of society.

[2] ²Humanism is here understood as a philosophical school of thought that advocates progressive and critical thinking but tolerates no epistemic space for extrahuman beliefs: the human (cap)ability is the only candidate to lead an ethical life. However, humanistic approaches place human beings at the centre of every research practice, thus discriminating against non-human entities in nature like animals and natural resources.