Humanness and Harmony: Thad Metz on Ubuntu

• Published in: Philosophical papers (Grahamstown) Vol. 51; no. 2; pp. 203 - 237
• Main Author: Allais, Lucy
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Routledge 04.05.2022
• ISSN: 0556-8641; 1996-8523
• DOI: 10.1080/05568641.2022.2059548

In this paper I present a critique of some aspects of Thad Metz's attempt to develop an African moral theory grounded on the value of ubuntu. I question the sense in which this theory is African, as well as his attempt to ground human rights on his single value theory of ubuntu. In a number of publications Thad Metz has given a clear, analytic account of what ubuntu is. Metz's work on ubuntu does two things: 1) explains the content of ubuntu: what the value/virtue is; 2) presents a moral theory according to which appealing to ubuntu as a basic value enables us to explain what makes all actions right or wrong. He calls this an African moral theory. It is the second part I am skeptical about. He makes it plausible that ubuntu is an important value. And he shows how we can give it some clear content. However, I argue that he does not make plausible a single-value ethical theory based on ubuntu; it is not plausible as an ethical theory, and it is not plausible that such a theory is African in any significant sense.