Ubuntu

The blog will discuss why in my view Augustine Shutte has the best account of ubuntu. I believe that through showing that ubuntu has distinctly African moral qualities that do not seem to be at the forefront of European though he shows a distinct way of African thinking that creates a different notion of being then the dominant scientific European thought. He also understands that Africa (South Africa particularly) must find a way to link those virtuous moral qualities of African being with those of western thought to create an ethic for a new South Africa. In realising that there is a living way(school) of African thought that existed in precolonial Africa but cannot fully be comprehended due to the colonial period  and in realising that there is a way in which the two mutually independent ways of thinking can be joined to be co-dependent and create an ubuntu that works for the new post-colonial African society that has been influenced by western modes of thought and ideas and the African idea of being.

Shutte’s account of ubuntu ,he says, is made up of the core of the concepts of ubuntu as they seem to be true and significant as they offer something different from what the dominantscientific culture offers (Shutte; 16). The common factors about the ideas put forth by Shutte is that they are central to all the African cultures he has experienced (Shutte;16). He elucidates the concepts of ubuntu through stories (Shutte; 19-27).

The first story of Mr Lucas and Paulus in my view showsubuntu in context and the difference in African and Western thought. Paulus thinks of Mr Lucas as an extended member of his community since they have created a harmonious relationship even outside of work. Paulus therefore having recognizing Mr Lucas as a person, he can be in commune with, extends all the obligations and duties implicated in a person with ubuntu. Even though Mr Lucas saw things mechanically as a continuous search by Paulus formaterialistic things (money) (pg26) Paulus continues to value the relationship with Mr Lucas purely for the sake of the relationship with for Mr Lucas as a fully developed person(Shutte; 30) (Shutte; 63-64). This also promotes the idea of the unlimitedness of a person. Paulus was able to lead a humble and dignified life that promoted his self-growth and his participation in the community which according to Shutteis the goal of morality according to the ethic of ubuntu (Shutte; 30). He encouraged and fostered human happiness. This is a sort of unlimitedness because Paulus gave himself to his community but was also able to exist and extend himselfin a setting out side of his community to someone who didn’t even recognise it (the foreigner to the concept and reality of ubuntu as Shutte puts it pg. 29), this serves to show the African unlimitedness (Shutte; 52. He was also was able to self-determine through interactions with others and although he was in interaction with others. He made choice about his life that where independent of those that were made by other members of his family (even extended), co- workers, and community. Which shows a level of unlimitedness in that one is self-determining and self-conscious (Shutte; 53). This story shows well how  the spirit of ubuntu underlies the coreAfrican thought, but it also shows how the two schools of thought can complement each other in terms of understanding being as unlimited and in terms of how friendship grows one and at the same time grows the friend (the other). The other stories also provide for reasons for why I see as having best account of ubuntu practice and how it can be merged with European thought to create a postmodern ethic for south Africa. I will go over the remaining stories that account for ubuntu and show how alive it still is briefly. Then I shall explain why I see it as the best in comparison to other understandings of ubuntu.

The women’s train “chain” march is a symbol of communal consensus and how ubuntu does not tolerate injustice (Shutte; pg. 20). It’s a symbol of intolerance of injustice because the women had an outcry about an injustice, men were pushing to get to the front and the women caused chaos- marched in human chain groups, until a consensus to put order and barricades was reached (Shutte; pg. 26-27). But the mere fact that the males conceded to the new norm after being made aware of the injustice through “revolution” is a sign of ubuntu because the men are still stronger, it’s just the community has come to a consensus so they keep their commitment. The story of the couple who moved to America show ubuntu ethic in terms of the need to respect the whole African way of thought and relation. The living-dead command just as much respect as the people alive and how the living-dead are just as much part of the community as the living and self-sacrifice for the harmony of the community as a whole (Shutte; pg. 22-23).The nun stories show how even after having fulfilled the materialistic and mechanical functions as obligated by ubuntu or a task, a sense of community is ever present in those who live the ethic of ubuntu (Shutte; pg. 27-28).

I believe this ethic of ubuntu whose moral code is the participation in the community and self- growth to have a full and happy life (Shutte; pg. 30) is the best understanding of ubuntu. But, also that ubuntu involves the growth of the individual, considering the harmony of the community and their active participation in the community. What is again attractive about Shutte’s understanding of ubuntu is that he appreciates the fact that reconciling a fully authentic ubuntu of precolonial Africa with post-colonial Africa is not possible since going back in time is not an option. He also understandsthat ubuntu ethics must be looked at as complimentary to authentic western thought. He promotes this idea through showing that both African and Western school of thought have at the core a sense of unlimitedness. Unlimited in the self-determination (Western) and unlimited in the dependency (African).

I view Shutte’s account the best but that is not to say that thinkers such as Ramose and Praeg are not coherent, I just see Shutte being similar to both the thinkers in that he combines their works in his writing in a way that sits well with me. Ramose’s definition and breakdown of ub-ntu as a verbal noun not just a noun putting ubuntu in a state of continuousmotion that makes ubuntu something that is done towards  a goal related to the person and this is manifested through the different forms and modes of being (Ramose; 35). So, in terms of unlimitedness the theories are compatible because ubuntu consist of continuing self-growth and preservation of harmony in the community and participation in the community for the sake of the self and the community, along with how the exchange of humanness not humanism is  a continual perpetual cycle of growing common welfare between the self and the self and the self and others in the articulation of ubuntu.

On the other hand, he fits well with my understand of Praeg’sview of ubuntu. Both thinkers in my view realise that to understand ubuntu as a praxis (theory in practice) one mustlook back in time with the framework made available today. And that the new Ubuntu (capital letter U- for Praeg ) will naturally be tainted or force to be analysed through or with Western or non-African forms of appraisal therefore making it a glocal phenomenon that retrodicts the behaviours of precolonial Africans within inherited frameworks of thought inherited from a colonial past so view of Christianity and human right filter in to the construction of the Ubuntu constructed today (Praeg ;78). For Shutte, using the core concepts of the African thought, ubuntu, in conjunction with those of virtues of the west that best fit in the post-modern African society is the best way to create an ubuntu/ethic for South Africa that fits post-apartheid times.

Having shown that self-growth and positive communal participation in search for harmony for both the self and community as an organism not a mechanical entity is the core of what underlie the ethic of ubuntu he manged to convince me that his account of ubuntu is the best account of ubuntu. This is because he manged to reconcile for me what might have been in the past and what is seen to be continuing presently with what need to be done in the future and since a Ramose put it ubuntu is not stagnant from this I infer that it has the ability to accept foreign theories (Praeg’s glocalubuntu) that help foster its growth without losing its essence and that is need to continue to grow.

Written by: Menelisi “Ralph” Mkhize