Personal-ethical perspectives in the work of Etienne de Villiers

Abstract

With a mixture of hesitation and gratitude, the author undertook a reflection from a pastor’s viewpoint on Etienne de Villiers’s personal-ethical contributions to date. The distinguishing term ‘personal’ in ‘personal ethics’ is problematic, but the discussion thereof provided an opportunity to demonstrate that De Villiers did not develop a narrowed individual ethic, and decidedly also did not elect to take the route of Dilschneider’s ‘personal ethics’, but provided valuable contributions on ethical issues of a more personal nature. De Villiers’s greatest contribution concerns fundamental ethics which, viewed from the perspective of our history, as well as from our current situation, is now most essential for authenticity. This more fundamental focus on ethics has numerous implications for social ethics and also for more personal ethics.