An Ethical Approach to the 21st Century Humanity in the Face of Globalization: Towards Redefining the Meaning of Humanity in the Modern Times

BACKGROUND: Historically, every century has a remarkable event for which it is known. These events, apart from giving a peculiar identity to a century, influences the religious, political, and socio-economic lives of the people. Apparently, the underlying element in the plurality of the world-views of the people of a century is the peculiar events of their time. In this light, the 21st century is identical with globalization.

METHODOLOGY: The study used a qualitative design. The methods used were historical, expository, and critical. The historical method was used to trace some centuries before the 21st century to examine their various understandings and approaches to the concept of humanity. The expository method was used to dissect the various anchors of humanity to see the relevance of a redefinition of humanity in the modern times. Finally, the critical method was used to access the 21st century humans to know the expediency for a paradigm shift on the concept of humanity in the modern times.

RESULT: This paper argues that aside the positive effects of globalization, there is an urgent need to redefine the meaning of humanity that is already defaced by its inherent activities.

CONCLUSION: This research recommends that an ethical redress in the understanding of humanity in the face of today’s globalization is expedient to promote reverence for human lives. This will help to avoid the collapse of this century into a game of exploitation of each other, the dead end of narcissism and invariably the dark age of a modern time.