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Lessons from Ubuntu for Moral Education

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Comparative and Decolonial Studies in Philosophy of Education

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Abstract

This chapter considers two models of moral education in primary and secondary schools. The first takes moral education to be a discrete subject while the second makes the case that moral education is best understood as being a part of an institution’s culture. The author finds the latter articulation to be more compelling and suggests that the philosophy of ubuntu would support this institutionally global approach to moral education. The author recognises criticisms of ubuntu but concludes that application of Ubuntu-based approaches would nevertheless be a fruitful endeavour.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Pascah Mungwini also remarks “it has become conventional to speak of an African culture each time one refers to the culture of these indigenous peoples [the Bantu speaking people of Africa South of the Sahara] always as a way of distinguishing it from Western culture brought into the continent through colonialisation” (Mungwini, 2011, p. 774).

  2. 2.

    On moral education, moral upbringing, and moral development see Barrow (2007, pp. 180–193).

  3. 3.

    For a book length argument to this effect see Wilson (1990).

  4. 4.

    The views of Oakeshott and Murdoch came to my attention on reading Susan Hekman’s work (Hekman, 1995, p. 134).

  5. 5.

    Some pertinent works on the hidden curriculum include: Jackson (1990 [1968], pp. 1–38), Portelli (1993), Martin (1994, pp. 154–169), and Higgs (2016).

  6. 6.

    For the changing relationship between philosophy and philosophy of education see The Monist (1968), Carr (2004), and Hirst and Carr (2005).

  7. 7.

    For an extensive account of the masculine bias in Western philosophy see Antony (1998), and for theories of human nature see Stevenson et al. (2018).

  8. 8.

    Although relational ethics finds articulation in a number of forms, it is ubuntu that is the focus of this chapter. For the Confucian tradition and moral education see Fengyan (2004), and for feminist ethics of care and moral education see Noddings (2005 [1992]). The connection or otherwise between the ethics of care, African ethics including ubuntu, and the Confucian tradition have also been explored (Harding, 1987; Li, 1994, 2002; Metz, 2013; Star, 2002; Waghid & Smeyers, 2012; Yuan, 2002). For a recent, detailed, articulation of an African relational ethic see Metz (2021).

  9. 9.

    I see similarities between this aphorism and ideas found in conceptions of Western feminist self and identity, for example Baier (1981), Meyers (2018 [1997]), and Alcoff (2021).

  10. 10.

    Relatedly, Mogobe Ramose: “One is enjoined…to actually become a human being. What is decisive then is to prove oneself to be the embodiment of ubu-ntu (bo-tho) because the fundamental ethical, social and legal judgement of human worth and conduct is based upon ubu-ntu” (Ramose, 2005, p. 37).

  11. 11.

    Western communitarians would likely agree, seeing also the self as constituted by one’s community. For discussion of communitarianism see Avineri and de-Shalit (1992) and Mulhall and Swift (1996).

  12. 12.

    Venter draws on Letseka (2000, p. 186).

  13. 13.

    This is not to say that there are not other related candidates such as the ethics of care or ideas in communitarianism.

  14. 14.

    This runs counter to the Hobbesian state of nature that is a constant battle of all against all. The individually competitive element in many Western educational institutions may not be necessarily aimed for by these institutions but appears to be prevalent. See, for example Mungwini (2011, p. 782) who discusses Masschelein and Simons’ work on the entrepreneurial self (Masschelein & Simons, 2002, 2006).

  15. 15.

    See also objections discussed in Enslin and Horsthemke (2004).

  16. 16.

    See Maluleke (1999) for further remarks. Also, consider Horsthemke and Enslin’s warnings that an isolationist approach may be harmful for an African philosophy of education (Horsthemke & Enslin, 2009) and a response (Letseka, 2012).

  17. 17.

    Amanda Gouws and Mikki van Zyl offer a feminist rehabilitation of ubuntu in Gouws and van Zyl (2015).

  18. 18.

    Of course, further research may reveal that there are some contexts where policy borrowing flourishes.

  19. 19.

    Consider also the way in which colonial education rode roughshod over the traditions it both derided and quashed (Mungwini, 2011, p. 778). Moreover, in the same paper Mungwini questions whether ubuntu is practical or desirable in countries still reeling from the ravages of colonialism that are concurrently feeling their way through rampant globalisation.

  20. 20.

    Recall that many aspects of ubuntu predate colonialism (Mungwini, 2011). I thank Penny Enslin for this point.

  21. 21.

    See for example Gilligan and Snider (2018).

  22. 22.

    For philosophical discussion of this concern see, for example Cigman and Davis (2009). At the 2022 Philosophy of Education Conference Great Britain I discovered that ubuntu also is finding popularity in Western philosophy of education. Thus, there is all the more reason to be sensitive and prudent when drawing on its lessons.

  23. 23.

    I am thinking here of Ken Robinson’s claims about creativity (Robinson & Aronica, 2016).

  24. 24.

    Faddism in education is unfortunately commonplace. For discussion see Winch (2022, pp. 238–258).

  25. 25.

    Some of the exchange can be found in Metz (2007b, 2014), Matolino and Kwindingwi (2013), Matolino (2015), and Molefe (2017).

  26. 26.

    See, however, Martha Nussbaum’s work on the possibility of a feminist liberalism and the place of the individual (Nussbaum, 2000).

  27. 27.

    This was certainly an early concern in the intellectual history of care ethics. See for example Card (1990), Hoagland (1990, and Houston (1990).

  28. 28.

    This is not to say that some states do not at least attempt to retreat from being globally connected, or at least heavily censor that which is outside their geographical boundaries.

  29. 29.

    I have continued with examples and scholarship from the African context as this is apt for the subject under discussion. This is not to repeat the objection based on incognisance of the African context.

  30. 30.

    See also Teffo (1998, p. 3) and Le Roux (2000, p. 43) cited by Venter (2004, pp. 151, 159 respectively).

  31. 31.

    Though the extension to the non-human world is relatively recent and is not commonly taken to be a defining feature of ubuntu, I take it to be important enough nonetheless for inclusion at this point.

  32. 32.

    In Western societies that see the normative import of resisting the negative aspects of an undue focus on the individual rather than the individual as constituted by their community.

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Acknowledgments

My extensive thanks to Penny Enslin, David Hebert, Rachel Collier, and course members for their insightful comments on this chapter.

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    Pip Bennett

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    David G. Hebert

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Bennett, P. (2023). Lessons from Ubuntu for Moral Education. In: Hebert, D.G. (eds) Comparative and Decolonial Studies in Philosophy of Education. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-0139-5_7

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