ABSTRACT

Broome's "Concrete Sumo" is a potentially informative story groaning under the weight of an interpretation it cannot bear. Broome claims the story shows that "engineers may transcend Western ethics by means called 'ethics praxistics'." Broome has an urgent decision to make because two experienced engineers, the superintendent and project manager, failed to act for their employer as faithful agents and trustees. They recklessly deserted their responsibilities—without even a word of instruction or a number to call in an emergency. One difference between the approach to moral decision-making reported in the story of the concrete sumo and the approach of Western ethics is, according to Broome: For the Hausa, the value of these traits lies in the person-to-person situation, in social emollient. Where the Hausa seem to differ from Aristotle, in emphasis if in nothing else, is in deriving the virtues directly from social convention.