Ubuntu and the Ontology of Radical Escape

Bibliographic Data

ID20142560
AuthorsJohn Sodiq Sanni (0000-0003-4050-4492, Political Studies University of the Witwatersrand, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume87
Issue5
Pages1083-1098
Publication date2021-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueTheoria (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0040-5825 • E-ISSN: 1755-2567
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/theo.12330
OpenAlexW3167618187
LanguageEN
References cited20

Communitarianism has been the dominant disposition of many African scholars towards ubuntu. The nature of the concept somewhat limits how one can theorise about ubuntu. However, I argue that there is still a lot more that can be harnessed from the ubuntu concept, especially as it pertains to the ontology of radical escape. I use radical escape as an ontological character of every human being whereby to exist is to escape. In this paper, I argue that ubuntu does not provide the possibility for radical escape. The nature of escape that ubuntu provides is limited to the confines of its communitarian outlook. In this paper, I bring on board the works of Mogobe Ramose, Thaddeus Metz, Kwame Gyekye, Emmanuel Levinas, and Thomas Lear, among others, to substantiate my position. I hope to demonstrate the need to accommodate the concept of radical escape in theorising about ubuntu

Communitarianism · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Kwame · Liberalism · Ontology · Political science · Politics · Sociology · African cultural and philosophical studies · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Anthropology · Law · Philosophy

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