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Ubuntu as a Metaphysical Concept

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Notes

  1. See indicatively Augustine Shutte, Ubuntu: An Ethic for a New South Africa (Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications, 2001); T. Metz, “Towards an African moral theory,” The Journal of political philosophy, Vol. 15, No. 3, (2007a); T. Metz, “Ubuntu as a moral theory: reply to four critics,” South African Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 26, No.4, (2007b). However, I acknowledge attempts already made in this regards by B. Magobe Ramose, African Philosophy through Ubuntu (Harare: Mond Books, 2002) and “The ethics of ubuntu,” in P.H.Coetzee &A.P. Roux, eds., Philosophy from Africa (London: Routledge, 2nd edition, 2003), pp. 325–331); and to a lesser extent by M. Mnyaka & M. Motlhabi, “The African concept of ubuntu/botho and its socio-moral significance,” Black theology,Vol. 3, No. 2, (2005).

  2. See Emmanuel Levinas, Totality and infinity, trans. A. Lingis (Pittsburgh: Duquesne University, 1969). See also S. Crowell, “Why is Ethics First Philosophy? Levinas in phenomenological context,” European Journal of Philosophy. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0378.2012.00550.x.

  3. As a member of the Bantu people, I prefer to talk of o(ntu)logy since as will be seen later, in bantu Languages, being is referred to as “ntu”.

  4. See Jacques Maritain, On the philosophy of history, (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1959), pp.10–11.

  5. See M. Nkonko Kamwangamalu, “Ubuntu in South Africa: A sociolinguistic Perspective to a Pan-African Concept,” Critical Arts, Vol. 13, No. 2, (1999), pp. 24–41.

  6. See C. Filippo, K. Bostoen, M. Stoneking, & B. Pakendorf, (2012). “Bringing together linguistic and genetic evidence to test the Bantu expansion,” The proceedings of the Royal Society B, Vol. 279, (2012), pp. 3256–3263; V. Montano, G. Ferri, V. Marcari, C. Batini, O. Anyaele, G. Destro-Bisol, & D. Comas, D. (2011). “The Bantu expansion revisited: a new analysis of Y chromosome variation in Central Western Africa,” Molecular Ecology, Vol. 20, No.13, (2011); G. Berniel-Lee, F. Calafel, E. Bosch, E. Heyer, L. Sica, P. Mouguiama-Daouda, D. Comas, “Genetic and demographic implications of the Bantu expansion: insights from human paternal lineages”, Molecular biology and evolution, Vol. 26, No. 7, (2009); John Reader, A bibliography of the continent (New York: Vintage Books, 1998), p. 183.

  7. Joseph H. Greenberg, The languages of Africa (The Hague: Mouton, 1966).

  8. See Map. 7, in John Reader, Op.cit., p. 692.

  9. See M. Guthrie, Comparative bantu: an introduction to the comparative linguistics and prehistory of the bantu languages (Farnborough: Gregg, 1967/1970).

  10. Alexis Kagame, La philosophie Bantu Rwandaise de l'Etre (Bruxels: Academie Royale des Sciences Coloniales, 1956), pp.107–109.

  11. Kagame, Op.cit (1956).

  12. Alexis Kagame, La philosophie bantu comparée (Paris: Présence Africaine, 1976).

  13. Placide Tempels, Bantu Philosophy (Paris: Présence Africaine, 1946]1959).

  14. Kagame, Op. cit (1956), p. 107ff.

  15. Certain African thinkers criticised Kagame for being too Aristotelian in his elaboration of the Bantu philosophy of being, or that Kagame’s thinking is a scholarly exercise in Aristotelian philosophy. I believe that philosophy is universal to the extent that fundamental philosophical questions tend to be common to all people and all the time. Certainly Aristotle was known to him as he was schooled in Western catholic academic institutions. Yet, I would concur with Masolo (1994, p. 93–4) who argue that it is wrong to think the Aristotelian system was being used by Kagame.

  16. Kagame, Op.cit (1976), p. 102.

  17. In certain languages such as Swahili in East Africa or Sotho in Southern Africa, there might be phonological variations and grammatical irregularities of these categories. But such discussion is beyond the point of this paper.

  18. See Ntumba Tshamagelenga, La vision "ntu" de l'homme (Kinshasa: Facultés Catholiques de Kinshasa, 1973).

  19. See Kagame, Op.cit. (1956); E.N. Mujyinya, L'homme dans l'univers des Bantu (Lubumbashi: PUZ, 1972); Vincent Mulago, Le visage africain du christianisme (Paris: Présence Africaine, 1965).

  20. See Symphorien Ntibagirirwa, Philosophical premises for african economic development: Sen's capability approach (Pretoria: University of Pretoria, 2012), p. 85.

  21. Ramose, Op.cit., p:203.

  22. Liboire Kagabo, “Alexis Kagame (1912–1981): Life and Thought”, in K. Wiredu (Ed.), A Companion to African Philosophy (London: Blackwell, 2006), pp. 231–242).

  23. Kagame cited by Kagabo, Op.cit., p. 236.

  24. It is possible that Tempels drew on Bergson’s evolutionary philosophy. Bergson talks of a vital principle (élan vital) which he contrasts to inert matter. See H. Bergson, The creative mind (London: Philosophical Library, 1946). Using the same contrast, Tempels compares the vital force in Bantu ontology with the static being in Western metaphysics. Tempels believed that in Bantu philosophy, all beings have and are force and that there is a constant interaction betwen them. This interaction is a passive existential property which unites all beings. See D. Masolo, African Philosophy in Search of Identity (Nairobi: East African Educational Publishers), 1994), pp. 48–49).

  25. Mulago, Op.cit., pp. 152–153.

  26. Kagabo, Op.cit., p. 235.

  27. Masoro, Op.cit., p. 98.

  28. See B. Mfenyana, “Ubuntu, abantu abelungu”, The African Sash Magazine (February 1986), p. 18.

  29. N. Mkhize, “Ubuntu and Harmony: An African Approach to Morality and Ethics”, in R. Nicolson (Ed.), Persons in Community: An African Ethics in a Global Culture (Scottsville: University of Kwa-Zulu Natal Press, 2008), pp. 35–44).

  30. Ramose, Op.cit., p. 325.

  31. Jahaneinz Jahn, Muntu: An outline of neo-African culture (London: Faber and Faber, 1990), p. 101.

  32. C. Gade, “What is ubuntu? Different interpretations among South Africans of African Descent”, South African Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 31, No. 3, pp. 484–503.

  33. See the inventory developed by C. Gade, “The historical development of the written discourse on Ubuntu”, South African Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 30, No.3, p. 307–308.

  34. See Kamwangamalu, Op.cit., p. 25, see also Mfenyana, Op. cit and Mkhize, Op.cit.).

  35. For Ramose (2002, p. 41, see also Mkhize, 2008, p. 41) ubuntu has two particles, the prefix ubu and the stem ntu. But actually there are three particles: u which is an article, bu which denotes the abstract.

  36. Ramose, Op.cit. (2002), p. 141.

  37. This point is developed somewhere else. See S. Ntibagirirwa, Op. cit. (2012); S. Ntibagirirwa, “Cultural values, economic growth and development,”Journal of business ethics, Vol. 84, No. 3, pp. 297–311.

  38. For other beings in other categories, ntu has to be specific and specified, as for example, ububwa for imbwa (dog) (the dogness of a dog), ubuti for igiti (the woodness of the wood), etc.

  39. I am not sure whether “ubumuntu” was coined by scholars to mean human nature. I never heard it used by ordinary people. Instead one hears the ordinary Rwandese talk of “kamere” to mean specificity, particularity, or the “nature of…”.

  40. Kagame, Op. cit. (1956).

  41. F. Rodegem, Précis de grammaire rundi (Bruxelles: Story-Scienta, 1967).

  42. J. Butler & L. Thompson, Change in contemporary Africa (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1975), p. 213.

  43. See A. Kimenyi, Studies in Kinyarwanda and Bantu phonology (Edmonton: Linguistic Research, 1979), p. 75); see also C. Nyembezi, Zulu proverbs (Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press, 1963).

  44. See Centre Ubuntu du Burundi 2014.

  45. See Reuel J. Khoza, Attuned Leadership: African Humanism as Compass (Johannesburg: Penguin, 2011), p. 87.

  46. N.A. Gianan, “Delving into the ethical dimension of ubuntu philosophy”, Cultura. International Journal of philosophy of culture and axiology, Vol. 8, No. 1, (2011), p. 63).

  47. The words in parentheses are mine to show that I don’t confuse Ubuntu as a metaphysical concept and Ubuntu as a phenomenon.

  48. Khoza, Op. cit. p. 86.

  49. Ramose, Op. cit. (2002).

  50. Metz, Op.Cit. (2007a); Metz, Op.cit. (2007b); see Shutte, Op.cit.

  51. See L.J. Sebidi, Towards a definition of Ubuntu as an African humanism (Unpublished,1988); Khoza, Op.cit.

  52. See S. Samkange & T. M. Samkanga, Hunhuism or Ubuntuism: A Zimbabwe Indigenous Political Philosophy (Salisbury: Graham Publishing, 1980).

  53. See D. Tutu, No future without forgiveness (London: Rider, 1999).

  54. Mkhize cited in Barbara Nussbaum, “Ubuntu: Reflections of a South African on our common humanity,” Reflections, Vol. 4, No. 4, (2003), p. 21.

  55. See P. Enslin & K. Horsthemke, “Can ubuntu provide a model for citizenship education in African democracies,” Comparative education, Vol. 40, No. 4, (2010), pp. 545–558.

  56. Enslin & Horsthemke, Op.cit., p. 548.

  57. See M. Ramphele, “Ubuntu doesn’t mean a friendly greeting to your gardner. What it does mean is another question…”, Sunday Independent, (1995), p. 15.

  58. Gianan, Op. cit., p. 74.

  59. See J. O. Yum, “Confucianism and communication: Jen, Li, and Ubuntu,” China media research, Vol. 3, No. 4, (2007); see also Gianan, Op. cit.; D. Bell & T. Metz, “Confucianism and Ubuntu: Reflections on a dialogue between Chines and African traditions,” Journal of Chinese Philosophy, Vol. 38, (2011), pp. 78–95.

  60. See R. Gaylard, R. (2004). "Welcome to the world of our humanity: (African) Humanism, Ubuntu and Black South African Writing,”. Journal of Literary Studies, Vol. 20, Nos. 3/4, (2004), pp. 265–282.

  61. Cf. Khoza, Op. Cit, pp. 443–444; Gaylard, Op. cit, p. 266ff.

  62. Bell &Metz, Op. cit., p. 80.

  63. See Nussbaum, Op. cit.; Gaylard, Op. cit.; Gianan, Cit. cit, p. 64; see aslo E.D. Prinsloo, “The African view of participatory management,” Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 25, No. 4, (2000), p. 280.

  64. Cf. Kagame, Op. cit.(1956), p. 305.

  65. See, Ramose, Op.Cit., p. 41. I could also refer to Heiddeger who argues that the best place to start the study of Being is the human being (dasein) because, the human being is the only being that asks the question of being. “The entity which each of us is himself and which includes inquiring as one of the possibilities of its being we shall denote by the term ‘Dasein’. See Martin Heidegger, Being and Time (New York: Harper and Row, 1962), pp. 32ff.

  66. See Jahn, Op. cit., pp. 122–123.

  67. See Jahn, Op. cit., p. 122–123.

  68. See J. Nida-Rumelin, “Philosophical grounds of humanism in economics”, in H. Spitzeck, M. Pirson, W. Amann, S. Khan, & E. Von Kimakowitz (Eds.), Humanism in Business (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), p. 15.

  69. My italics.

  70. See Leopold Sedar Senghor, On African Socialism (London: Pall Mall Press, Senghor, 1964), p. 72.

  71. See T. Metz & J. Gaie, The African ethic of ubuntu/botho: implications for research on morality. Journal of Moral Education, Vol. 39, No. 3,(2010), 273–290.

  72. See Dominic Notomb, Un humanisme africain. Valeurs et pierres d'attente (Bruxelles: Editions Lumen Vitae, 1965).

  73. See Ramose, Op. cit. (2003), p. 41 & 93.

  74. See Peter Kasenene, P 1994. “Ethics in African Theology”. in C Villa-Vicencio and J de Gruchy(eds), Doing Ethics in Context: South African Perspectives (Cape Town: David Philip Publishers and Maryknoll NY: Orbis Books, 1994).

  75. Today I am reflecting in terms of citizenship as a way of achieved greater community.

  76. See Valentin-Yves Mudimbe, The Invention of Africa: Gnosis, Philosophy and the Order of Knowledge. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1988), p. 150.

  77. Mkhize, Op.cit., p. 40.

  78. See Augustine Shutte, Philosophy for Africa (Cape Town: University of Cape Town Press, 1993) Augustine Shutte (1993); Ifeanyi Menkiti, “On the Normative Conception of a person”, in K. Wiredu (Ed.), A Companion to African Philosophy, (Oxford: Blackwell, 2006), pp. 324–331. Ifeanyi Menkiti, “Person and Community in Traditional African Thought”, in R. Wright (Ed.), African Philosophy: An Introduction Lanham: University Press of America, 1984), pp. 171–181.

  79. Shutte, Op. cit. (1993); Shutte, Op.cit. (2001).

  80. Italics in the original.

  81. Italics in the original.

  82. Shutte, Op. cit. (2001), pp. 22–23.

  83. See Menkiti, Op. cit. (1984), Menkiti, Op. cit. (2006).

  84. See Menkiti, Op. Cit. (1984), pp. 172 & 174).

  85. Menkiti, Op. cit. (1984), pp. 173–174; Menkiti, Op. cit. (2006), p. 325.

  86. See Kwesi Wiredu & Kwame Gyekye, Person and Community: Ghanaina Philosophical Studies. (Washington, DC: Council for Research in Values and Philosophy, 1992), p. 108.

  87. Cf. Julius Nyerere, J. (1968). Freedom and Socialism (London: Oxford University Press, 1968), p. 107.

  88. See W. V. Binsbergen, “Ubuntu and the globalisation of Southern African thought and society,” Quest, Vol. 15, No. 1/2, (2000), pp. 53–89.

  89. See C. Marx, “Ubu and Ubuntu: On the dialectics of Apartheid and nation building,” Politikon, Vol. 29, No 1, (2000), pp. 49–69.

  90. See Ezra Venter, “The notion of ubuntu and communalism in African educational discourse,” Studies in philosophy and education, No. 23, (2004), pp. 149–160.

  91. See M. Deacon, “The ethic(s) of Ubuntu,” in J. H. Smit, M. Deacon, & A. Shutte (eds.), Ubuntu in a christian perspective. Potchefstroom, South Africa: Potchefstroomse Universiteit, 1999), p. 30.

  92. See Gaylard, Op. cit. p. 267–8.

  93. Gade, Op. cit. 2011, See Leonhard Praeg, African philosophy and the quest for autonomy: a philosophical investigation. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2000), p. 108.

  94. Enslin & Horsthemke, Op.cit.; see also Piet Naudé, www.mba.co.za/infocentrearticle.aspx ? s = 48&c = 11&a = 4835&p = 3. Retrieved June 04, 2014, from http://mba.nmmu.ac.za/.

Acknowledgement

I thank Joanna Ciulla, Terry Price, Javier Hidalgo and Christopher R. von Rueden for their comments and suggestions on the first draft of this paper. I benefit a lot from valuable questions asked by students during the classes at Jepson School of Leadership Studies, University of Richmond where I was invited as Zuzana Simoniova Cmelikova Visiting International Scholar in Leadership Ethics in 2013–2014. The earlier draft is enriched thanks to discussions with colleagues during the ISBEE congress in Shanghai in China (2016) and other forums where the concept is discussed. The insightful comments and observations by the peer reviewers are highly appreciated.

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Ntibagirirwa, S. Ubuntu as a Metaphysical Concept. J Value Inquiry 52, 113–133 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10790-017-9605-x

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