Humanness and Harmony: Thad Metz on Ubuntu
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...
Saved in:
Published in | Philosophical papers (Grahamstown) Vol. 51; no. 2; pp. 203 - 237 |
---|---|
Main Author | |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Routledge
04.05.2022
|
Online Access | Get full text |
Cover
Loading…
Abstract | 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. |
---|---|
AbstractList | 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. |
Author | Allais, Lucy |
Author_xml | – sequence: 1 givenname: Lucy surname: Allais fullname: Allais, Lucy email: Lucy.Allais@wits.ac.za, LAllais1@jhu.edu organization: University of the Witwatersrand and Johns Hopkins University |
BookMark | eNp9j01LxDAYhIOs4O7qTxB6Frq-aT5MPCmLWmHFy-45pE2ClTaRpEXqr7dl16uXGRhmBp4VWvjgLULXGDYYBNwCY1xwijcFFMUkTDIqztASS8lzwQqyQMu5k8-lC7RK6ROAEoHJEt2UQ6e9tyll2pus1LELfrzP9h_aZG-2_8mCzw7V4PvhEp073SZ7dfI1Ojw_7bdlvnt_ed0-7vKaYOhzVoG0TFNRSG5d5Ri9oxykJBUw6hwxBVhDHUBducpIQggwMDUYPKWUG7JG7Phbx5BStE59xabTcVQY1Ays_oDVDKxOwNPu4bhrvAux098htkb1emxDdFH7ukmK_H_xC-jGXS0 |
CitedBy_id | crossref_primary_10_1080_17533171_2023_2274175 crossref_primary_10_1111_phil_12335 |
Cites_doi | 10.1177/0392192113493737 10.4314/sajpem.v26i4.31493 10.4314/sajpem.v26i4.31492 10.1111/j.1467-9760.2007.00280.x 10.1080/14754830903530300 10.4314/sajpem.v26i4.31490 10.25159/2413-3086/1987 10.4314/sajpem.v26i4.31491 10.1080/02580136.2013.817637 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190245412.001.0001 10.1111/j.1478-0542.2006.00352.x 10.2307/j.ctv224tvwm.10 10.1080/02580136.2015.1035857 10.1017/S0021853711000223 10.1080/05568641.2018.1544033 10.1080/02580136.2016.1247247 10.1093/hrlr/ngq055 10.1007/s12142-011-0200-4 10.1080/05568641.2017.1295616 10.1080/00131857.2014.991502 10.2979/africatoday.66.1.05 10.1080/19962126.2005.11865140 10.1111/j.1540-5842.1999.tb00012.x 10.1080/19962126.2005.11865150 10.1007/s11217-011-9267-2 10.1093/oso/9780198812838.001.0001 10.5195/JFFP.2016.759 10.4314/sajpem.v26i4.31495 |
ContentType | Journal Article |
Copyright | 2022 The Editorial Board, Philosophical Papers 2022 |
Copyright_xml | – notice: 2022 The Editorial Board, Philosophical Papers 2022 |
DBID | AAYXX CITATION |
DOI | 10.1080/05568641.2022.2059548 |
DatabaseName | CrossRef |
DatabaseTitle | CrossRef |
DatabaseTitleList | |
DeliveryMethod | fulltext_linktorsrc |
Discipline | Philosophy |
EISSN | 1996-8523 |
EndPage | 237 |
ExternalDocumentID | 10_1080_05568641_2022_2059548 2059548 |
Genre | Articles |
GroupedDBID | -ET -~X .7I .QK 0BK 0R~ 2DF 3YN 4.4 AAAVI AACJB AAGZJ AAMFJ AAMIU AAPUL AATTQ AAZMC ABBKH ABCCR ABCCY ABFIM ABJVF ABLIJ ABPEM ABPTX ABQHQ ABSSG ABTAI ABXUL ACGFO ACGFS ACLSK ACTIO ACTOA ADAHI ADCVX AECIN AEGXH AEGYZ AEISY AEKEX AEOZL AEPSL AEYOC AEZRU AFOLD AFWLO AGDLA AGMYJ AGRBW AIAGR AIJEM AKBVH ALMA_UNASSIGNED_HOLDINGS ALQZU AVBZW BEJHT BLEHA BMOTO BOHLJ CCCUG CQ1 DGFLZ DKSSO EBS E~B E~C FUNRP G-F GTTXZ H13 HF~ HZ~ IPNFZ J.O KDLKA KYCEM LJTGL M4Z NA5 NV0 O9- P2P RIG RNANH ROSJB RSYQP S-F SJN STATR TEA TFH TFL TFW TN5 TNTFI TRJHH UT5 UT9 V1K ~01 ~S~ .4H AAYXX ABJNI ABXYU ADKVQ ADMHG AHDZW AWYRJ CITATION EHI HMHOC TBQAZ TDBHL TUROJ |
ID | FETCH-LOGICAL-c310t-5b09e5a48296efbf547460993b054ff3d20ed4f00cbfbd9333050dc0d1d4f46d3 |
ISSN | 0556-8641 |
IngestDate | Fri Dec 06 03:02:58 EST 2024 Tue Jul 04 18:18:03 EDT 2023 |
IsPeerReviewed | true |
IsScholarly | true |
Issue | 2 |
Language | English |
LinkModel | OpenURL |
MergedId | FETCHMERGED-LOGICAL-c310t-5b09e5a48296efbf547460993b054ff3d20ed4f00cbfbd9333050dc0d1d4f46d3 |
PageCount | 35 |
ParticipantIDs | informaworld_taylorfrancis_310_1080_05568641_2022_2059548 crossref_primary_10_1080_05568641_2022_2059548 |
PublicationCentury | 2000 |
PublicationDate | 2022-05-04 |
PublicationDateYYYYMMDD | 2022-05-04 |
PublicationDate_xml | – month: 05 year: 2022 text: 2022-05-04 day: 04 |
PublicationDecade | 2020 |
PublicationTitle | Philosophical papers (Grahamstown) |
PublicationYear | 2022 |
Publisher | Routledge |
Publisher_xml | – name: Routledge |
References | CIT0030 Ramose Mogobe B. (CIT0031) 1999 CIT0010 CIT0032 CIT0012 CIT1002 CIT0034 Wiredu J. E. (CIT0037) 1997; 75 CIT0033 Allais Lucy. (CIT0001) 2016; 45 Oyowe Oritsegbubemi. (CIT0027) 2013; 13 Park Peter. (CIT0029) 2013 CIT0014 CIT0036 Immanuel Kant (CIT1007) 1998 CIT0013 CIT1003 CIT0035 CIT1006 CIT0016 CIT0038 CIT0018 CIT0017 CIT0039 Oyowe Oritsegbubemi (CIT0028) 2018; 21 CIT0019 CIT0020 CIT0023 CIT0022 Molefe Motsamai. (CIT0025) 2019 Eze E. C. (CIT0007) 2008; 55 Charles W. Mills (CIT1001) 2017 Metz Thaddeus. (CIT0021) 2011; 11 Eze E. C. (CIT0006) 1997 Masolo D. A. (CIT0011) 2010 Elizabeth Thornberry (CIT1004) 2016 CIT0003 CIT0002 CIT0024 Lea Mwambene (CIT1005) 2011; 11 CIT0005 CIT0004 CIT0026 CIT0009 Mbiti John S. (CIT0015) 1990 CIT0008 |
References_xml | – year: 2019 ident: CIT0025 publication-title: International Encyclopedia of Ethics contributor: fullname: Molefe Motsamai. – volume: 75 start-page: 320 year: 1997 ident: CIT0037 publication-title: Transition, The Anniversary Issue: Selections from Transition 1961–1976 contributor: fullname: Wiredu J. E. – ident: CIT0026 doi: 10.1177/0392192113493737 – volume: 55 start-page: 77 issue: 2 year: 2008 ident: CIT0007 publication-title: Africa Today contributor: fullname: Eze E. C. – ident: CIT0008 doi: 10.4314/sajpem.v26i4.31493 – ident: CIT0009 – volume-title: Self and Community in a Changing World year: 2010 ident: CIT0011 contributor: fullname: Masolo D. A. – ident: CIT0032 doi: 10.4314/sajpem.v26i4.31492 – ident: CIT0017 doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9760.2007.00280.x – volume-title: African Religions & Philosophy year: 1990 ident: CIT0015 contributor: fullname: Mbiti John S. – ident: CIT0020 doi: 10.1080/14754830903530300 – ident: CIT0016 doi: 10.4314/sajpem.v26i4.31490 – ident: CIT0004 doi: 10.25159/2413-3086/1987 – volume: 13 start-page: 103 year: 2013 ident: CIT0027 publication-title: African Human Rights Law Journal contributor: fullname: Oyowe Oritsegbubemi. – ident: CIT0038 doi: 10.4314/sajpem.v26i4.31491 – ident: CIT0014 doi: 10.1080/02580136.2013.817637 – volume-title: Black Rights/White Wrongs year: 2017 ident: CIT1001 doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190245412.001.0001 contributor: fullname: Charles W. Mills – ident: CIT1002 doi: 10.1111/j.1478-0542.2006.00352.x – start-page: 137 volume-title: Marriage by Force? Contestation over Consent and Coercion in Africa year: 2016 ident: CIT1004 doi: 10.2307/j.ctv224tvwm.10 contributor: fullname: Elizabeth Thornberry – ident: CIT0012 doi: 10.1080/02580136.2015.1035857 – ident: CIT1003 doi: 10.1017/S0021853711000223 – ident: CIT0013 doi: 10.1080/05568641.2018.1544033 – ident: CIT0002 doi: 10.1080/02580136.2016.1247247 – volume: 21 start-page: 343 year: 2018 ident: CIT0028 publication-title: African Philosophical Studies contributor: fullname: Oyowe Oritsegbubemi – volume: 11 start-page: 532 issue: 2 year: 2011 ident: CIT0021 publication-title: African Human Rights Law Journal contributor: fullname: Metz Thaddeus. – volume: 11 start-page: 1 issue: 1 year: 2011 ident: CIT1005 publication-title: African Human Rights Law Journal doi: 10.1093/hrlr/ngq055 contributor: fullname: Lea Mwambene – volume-title: Africa, Asia, and the History of Philosophy: Racism in the Formation of the Philosophical Canon 1790–1830 year: 2013 ident: CIT0029 contributor: fullname: Park Peter. – ident: CIT0039 – volume: 45 start-page: 303 issue: 1 year: 2016 ident: CIT0001 publication-title: South African Journal of Philosophy contributor: fullname: Allais Lucy. – ident: CIT0022 doi: 10.1007/s12142-011-0200-4 – ident: CIT0005 doi: 10.1080/05568641.2017.1295616 – ident: CIT0023 doi: 10.1080/00131857.2014.991502 – ident: CIT0024 doi: 10.2979/africatoday.66.1.05 – start-page: 313 volume-title: Postcolonial African Philosophy: A Critical Reader year: 1997 ident: CIT0006 contributor: fullname: Eze E. C. – ident: CIT0019 doi: 10.1080/19962126.2005.11865140 – ident: CIT0003 – volume-title: Practical Philosophy year: 1998 ident: CIT1007 contributor: fullname: Immanuel Kant – ident: CIT0035 doi: 10.1111/j.1540-5842.1999.tb00012.x – ident: CIT1006 doi: 10.1080/19962126.2005.11865150 – ident: CIT0010 doi: 10.1007/s11217-011-9267-2 – ident: CIT0030 – ident: CIT0034 – ident: CIT0036 doi: 10.1093/oso/9780198812838.001.0001 – ident: CIT0033 doi: 10.5195/JFFP.2016.759 – ident: CIT0018 doi: 10.4314/sajpem.v26i4.31495 – volume-title: African Philosophy through Ubuntu year: 1999 ident: CIT0031 contributor: fullname: Ramose Mogobe B. |
SSID | ssj0043813 |
Score | 2.2529297 |
Snippet | 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... |
SourceID | crossref informaworld |
SourceType | Aggregation Database Publisher |
StartPage | 203 |
Title | Humanness and Harmony: Thad Metz on Ubuntu |
URI | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/05568641.2022.2059548 |
Volume | 51 |
hasFullText | 1 |
inHoldings | 1 |
isFullTextHit | |
isPrint | |
link | http://utb.summon.serialssolutions.com/2.0.0/link/0/eLvHCXMwpV3NS8MwFA-6XXYRP_GbHjwpHW3zsdabiFKGE5ENditJk4KXOaQ76F_ve026djjEj0soKWna_MLLy-v7_ULIhcjDSJhA-ZTrgc9iHfoyio0fU11ERulQViz-0aNIJ2w45dPmYMiKXVKqfv6xllfyF1ShDnBFluwvkF0-FCrgGvCFEhCG8kcYVxH4ylZh-DuVb9Dzu82jkPpqZMoP_BcwUQtYWNpe6FN9fkGF0FzOkcVbxQuQNg3uIO7MmwgBzBSrRPCwcBLCLkwAO0xMymvChKv5Rda-cC78WFjdqb6x9g9zkmNuKcC1gXSKsC-tfaqzdgFtLZyRVW_5YpNdEiNKnUFnfXw5KDgqzTWL0DI10N3ZJF2UNmQd0h0_D9O0Xl1RkazKGqhfvmZloV76ui5W_I0VNdqWHzHeJltuA-DdWDR3yIaZ7ZLeEpH3PXK5hNUDWD0H67WHoHoIqvc68yyo-2Ryfze-TX13pIWfgx9d-lwFieGSxVEiTKEKzgZMgJNOFbjORUF1FBjNiiDIVaF0QimY40DngQ6hlglND0hn9jozh8RTJpaMqnwQasmkEgmXAmnJ2uCfXcmPSL_-8GxulUuysBaEdSOV4UhlbqSOSNIenqysQkaFPd8lo9-2Pf5H2xPSaybsKemUbwtzBp5eqc4d-J_p10pd |
link.rule.ids | 314,780,784,27924,27925,59651,60440 |
linkProvider | Taylor & Francis |
linkToHtml | http://utb.summon.serialssolutions.com/2.0.0/link/0/eLvHCXMwpV1LT8MwDLZgO7ALb8R45sAJKaNtHmu5IcRUxjYh1Em7VUmTCAlpQ1N32H49SR_ShgSXXRu5TR3Hdhz7M8Adz_yAa09iwlQX01D5WAShxiFRJtBS-aKo4h-OeDym_QmbrNXCuLRKd4Y2JVBEoavd5nbB6Dol7sEBwIScuuNd4IqpmEMt24Umizizm7OZfPTjuNbHDsOquGe2RNhR1XU8f71ow0Jt4JeuWZ7eAWT1nMuEk6_OIpedbPULznG7nzqE_coxRU-lJB3Bjp4eQ-u97nSwPIH7IuDvVCOyX0GxmFsRXj6i5FMoNNT5Cs2maCwX1oqdwrj3kjzHuGq1gDPr3-WYSS_STNAwiLg20jDapdw6j0Ral84YogJPK2o8L5NGqogQqyY8lXnKt08pV-QMGtPZVJ8DkjoUlMis6ytBheQRE9yVyyrtbhwFa0OnZm_6XSJqpH4NVFrxIHU8SCsetCFaX4Q0L0IZpuw7kpJ_aS-2oL2FvTgZDtLB6-jtElpuqMh0pFfQyOcLfW29kVzeVOL2A5AV0QA |
linkToPdf | http://utb.summon.serialssolutions.com/2.0.0/link/0/eLvHCXMwpV3dS8MwED90A9mL3-L87INPQmbbfKz1TdRRpxtDNvCtJE2CIGxjdg_bX2_SNrAJ-rLXlmva6-XukvzudwA3LAtCpnyBMJVtRCIZIB5GCkVY6lAJGfCiir_XZ8mIdD-oQxN-V7BKu4bWJVFE4avt5J5K7RBxd5b_JWLEru5CW0tFLWnZNtSZbZ9cg_rwvZskzh1bCqvimNkIISvlynj-etBagFqjL10JPJ09EO6VS7zJV2uei1a2_MXmuNE37cNulZZ6D6UdHcCWGh9CY-D6HCyO4LbY7reO0TODeAmfGQNe3HvDTy69nsqX3mTsjcTcxLBjGHWeh48JqhotoMxkdzmiwo8V5SQKY6a00JS0CTOpIxYmodMay9BXkmjfz4QWMsbYOAlfZr4MzFXCJD6B2ngyVqfgCRVxgkXWDiQnXLCYcmaLZaWy542cNqHltJtOSz6NNHA0pZUOUquDtNJBE-LVf5DmxUaGLruOpPhf2bMNZK9hZ_DUSd9e-q_n0LB3CpgjuYBaPpurS5OK5OKqMrYfGIfPpA |
openUrl | ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_enc=info%3Aofi%2Fenc%3AUTF-8&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fsummon.serialssolutions.com&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=Humanness+and+Harmony%3A+Thad+Metz+on+Ubuntu&rft.jtitle=Philosophical+papers+%28Grahamstown%29&rft.au=Allais%2C+Lucy&rft.date=2022-05-04&rft.pub=Routledge&rft.issn=0556-8641&rft.eissn=1996-8523&rft.volume=51&rft.issue=2&rft.spage=203&rft.epage=237&rft_id=info:doi/10.1080%2F05568641.2022.2059548&rft.externalDocID=2059548 |
thumbnail_l | http://covers-cdn.summon.serialssolutions.com/index.aspx?isbn=/lc.gif&issn=0556-8641&client=summon |
thumbnail_m | http://covers-cdn.summon.serialssolutions.com/index.aspx?isbn=/mc.gif&issn=0556-8641&client=summon |
thumbnail_s | http://covers-cdn.summon.serialssolutions.com/index.aspx?isbn=/sc.gif&issn=0556-8641&client=summon |