ABSTRACT
Every ethics presupposes and contains a defmite philosophical anthropology, i.e., a conception of the human person. The communitarian virtue ethics of the Dinka with its emphasis on cieng presupposes a person capable of harmony as a social practice and as flourishing best in a context ofharmony with God, nature and other humans (Deng 1972). Likewise, Greek or Platonic and Aristotelian virtue ethics with its emphasis on biological and social te/os presupposes a person with such an ontological status and as flourishing best if attentive to one's role and status assigned by nature (Irwin 1977; Rorty 1980b). Maatian anthropology, in a similar manner, is presupposed and contained in ancient Egyptian ethics. It is an anthropology which evolves in the texts as a philosophical portrait of the king and later develops into a basic way of viewing humans in general (Ockinga 1984; Hornung 1967). This chapter will offer a critical discussion of Maatian anthropology and its complex evolution from a philosophical portrait of the divine ruler to a moral anthropological understanding of the ordinary person.
