Ubuntu Ethics

Human Dignity, Moral Perfectionism, and Needs

Motsamai Molefe

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2024
• eBook ISBN: 9781040127346
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Ethics & Moral Philosophy

This book provides a philosophical exposition of Ubuntu ethics, which it does by explaining the saying 'a person is a person through other persons'. Written by one of the world's leading scholars of African philosophy, the book first argues that the focus on umuntu (or, a person) in Ubuntu ethics as intrinsically valuable makes ethical humanism and human dignity vitally important. The book then goes on to consider the role of virtue ethics in driving an ideal of moral perfectionism. This, in turn, provides the basis for what a good society should be: a needs-based political theory. Providing an important guide through Ubuntu ethics as a moral system constructed in terms of moral perfectionism, it will be an important read for researchers of African philosophy, and of the philosophy of virtue ethics and moral perfectionism more generally.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half-Title Page
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Contents
• Introduction to Ubuntu Ethics
• 1 Ubuntu Ethics, Umuntu, and Human Dignity
• 2 Ubuntu Ethics, ubuntu and Human Dignity
• 3 Ubuntu Ethics and Politics
• Index