A popular orientation about the meaning of human life in scholarly and public discourses is to conceive of human life as a form of existence whose essential value exists per se, that is, human life is necessary and not contingent on other ideals or entities. The import of this orientation is that human life is valuable in and by itself; and thus held to be sacred. This article employs expository and hermeneutical approaches in arguing for a fluid and ambivalent understanding of human life among the Yorùbá people mostly in Nigeria. By drawing from orature – sayings, anecdotes, proverbs – the article shall argue for the preponderance among the Yorùbá of a situation approach where the quality of life of an individual, social status, moral conduct and the particular context of death determines the value attached to human life. Such contextual ambivalence in the meaning of life ensures that the duty to preserve human life is at one instance considered noble, and in another instance, human life seems to be given less value. Quality of life, individual social status and the moral conduct of individuals function as existential schemes central to an understanding of the Yorùbá attitude to life and post-mortem existence. Beyond the religio-cultural semiotics through which the Yorùbá relate to human life and the passage from life to death, the article submits that a Yorùbá orientation which emphasises that life is meaningful on the basis of the quality of life is the foundation for a Yorùbá ethics of human life.

中文翻译：

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约鲁巴思想中生命意义的情境矛盾

在学术和公共话语中，关于人的生命意义的普遍取向是将人的生命视为一种存在的形式，其本质上本身就存在着价值，也就是说，人的生命是必要的，而不取决于其他理想或实体。这种取向的意义在于，人类生命本身就是有价值的；因此被认为是神圣的。本文采用说明性和诠释性的方法来论证在大多数尼日利亚的约鲁巴人中对人类生活的流动性和矛盾性。该文章应从口述，俗语，轶事，谚语中汲取教训，主张一种在情境方法中占优势的情况，在这种情况下，个人的生活质量，社会地位，道德行为和特定的死亡背景决定了与之相关的价值。人类生活。生命意义上的这种上下文矛盾性确保了在某种情况下维护人类生命的责任被认为是崇高的，而在另一种情况下，人类生命似乎被赋予了较少的价值。生活质量，个人的社会地位和个人的道德行为是生存方案，对于理解约鲁巴人对生活和验尸的态度至关重要。除了约鲁巴人通过宗教文化符号学与人类生活以及从生到死的传递联系起来，文章还提出，约鲁巴人的取向强调生命基于生活质量是有意义的，这是约鲁巴人伦理学的基础。人类生活 人类的生活似乎没有那么有价值。生活质量，个人的社会地位和个人的道德行为是生存方案，对于理解约鲁巴人对生活和验尸的态度至关重要。除了约鲁巴人通过宗教文化符号学与人类生活以及从生到死的传递联系起来，文章还提出，约鲁巴人的取向强调生命基于生活质量是有意义的，这是约鲁巴人伦理学的基础。人类生活 人类的生活似乎没有那么有价值。生活质量，个人的社会地位和个人的道德行为是生存方案，对于理解约鲁巴人对生活和验尸的态度至关重要。除了约鲁巴人通过宗教文化符号学与人类生活以及从生到死的传递联系起来，文章还提出，约鲁巴人的取向强调生命基于生活质量是有意义的，这是约鲁巴人伦理学的基础。人类生活