African Philosophy through Ubuntu

Introduction

Ramose’s book, first published in Harare in 1999, presents ubuntu – known from the Nguni saying “umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu”, a person is a person through other persons – as the basis of a systematic African philosophy. Ramose stresses the hyphen in “ubu-ntu”: “ubu” stands for being in general, “-ntu” for its concrete unfolding, so that being is a continuous process, “be-ing”. Community in this sense includes the living, the living dead and the yet-to-be-born. Further chapters apply the idea to law, politics, religion and medicine. The book is widely cited in South African debates about ubuntu, reconciliation and the decolonisation of philosophy.

Connections

Builds on

• Philosophy and an African Culture1980 · Kwasi Wiredu disputed