Individual Assignment

CISB412 ETHICS AND IT PROFESSINAL

PRACTICES
Bachelor in Computer Science (Software Engineering)

Prepared for: DR MARINI OTHMAN

Prepared by:
MUHAMMAD AMIN BIN AB HALIM SW093535

Dani Tribe Finger Cutting Practice

The Dani tribe from Papua, Indonesia, considers amputation as a part of mourning.
Along with amputation, they also smear their face with ashes as a sign of sorrow.
The religious beliefs of the tribe prompted this sort of ritual. If the deceased person
was considered to be powerful, it was believed that their spirits would contain equal
power too. In order to appease and drive away these spirits, several shocking
practices were followed. Girls who were related to the dead had the upper parts of
their fingers cut off. Before being cut, the fingers would be tied with a string for over
30 minutes. After the amputation, the finger tips were allowed to dry, before they

were burned and the ashes buried in a special area.

Another explanation for this bizarre practices is that it symbolize the physical pain
as a suffering for losing their loved ones. Their finger will be cut by another close
family member such as their father or their mother. So that whenever their loved
ones dies, the cut one of their finger. Thus, men or women seeing their hand
amputated symbolize on how many their loved one is dead. From a point of view, it
could be said that the pain and disabilities will remind them of their passed loved
one eternally. However, when all of their finger is cut off then none can be cut again
if another loved one pass away. In a similar bizarre ritual, the tip of the little finger
of babies are bitten off by their mothers. This perhaps originated from a time when
most newborns died, from several causes. The hope was that by biting off the finger
tip, the baby would be different from the others, and would perhaps, live longer.

For a Dani tribe, finger can be interpreted as a symbol of unity and harmony. This is
because, all of the fingers complement each other to make our hand fully
functional. So it can be said when a part of a finger is gone that the hand will not
work properly. When a loved one dies, so there goes one finger, there is a hole in
the past unity. Deep sorrow and hurt the bereaved family members, will be
recovered if the wound had healed and the finger does not hurt anymore. Maybe
that's why the people of the mountains of Papua cut finger when there is a family
who died.

Morality Evaluation
Kantianism (1st Formulation)
According to Kantianism, one must act only from moral rules that you can at the
same time will to be universal moral laws. The people of the Dani considers
themselves as to be able to be amputated because they feel when they lose their

loved ones, he or she must feel the suffering too or because of the suffering, they
feel what they do is the right choice. This is the justification for the second reason of
the amputation.
The maxim for this tradition is that When someone I love or close to me dead, I
must cut one of my finger off and burn it. The universal maxim for it is Anyone
who lose their loved one must cut one of their finger. Does everyone need to hurt
themselves if their loved one passed away? Should everyone become amputated
because of that? It is indeed true when discussing of the graveness when someone
experience the loss, but the consequences of the action is far more bring harm to
the human. He or she could not do their future chores properly because of that. So
the universalized maxim could not be a universal law, thus we have an imperfect
duty not to perform it.
In a nutshell, the act of Dani Tribe cutting their finger is against the Kantianism first
law, so it is immoral for us to do so.

Personal Reasoning
In my opinion, one should cut the finger when their loved one pass away. This is
because the consequences of the action bring far more harm to the person.
Permanently he or she would not be able to daily chores effectively, and might be

difficult for them to find jobs. However, in the Dani Tribe point of view, they feel is
right to do so because of the sorrow and pain they feel when experiencing the loss.
This symbolize the strength of the tribe itself, when relationship from a person to
another person is of a superior bond. One is willing to feel the pain of cutting his or
her finger, to be able to feel the loss, or as a compensation of the loss. For me, their
act of justifying pain for the deceased is unnecessary. A high moral person should
handle the loss in a right way. There are others way for someone to make the
memory of the deceased be in eternal form. Those who still live must carry on.

References

Dani Tribe Practices Finger Cutting Instead of Mourning | Oddity Central - Collecting
Oddities. (2011, December 15). Retrieved March 27, 2015, from
http://www.odditycentral.com/pics/tribe-practices-finger-cutting-as-a-means-ofgrieving.html
Sumarno, B. (2013, December 2). Finger Cut tradition Dani When Grieving.
Retrieved March 27, 2015, from http://primadonablog.blogspot.com/2013/12/fingercut-tradition-grieving-when-dani.html