Ubuntu

An African philosophical ideal of shared humanity, expressed in the saying that a person is a person through other persons.

Also: African humanism, African communalism

What it means

Ubuntu names a family of African ideas centred on harmonious life together. It is often expressed in the saying "A person is a person through other persons": who we are, and whether we live well, depends on our relationships with others. Related African thought treats personhood as something achieved through taking part in community life and meeting obligations, rather than something one simply has, a view associated with Ifeanyi Menkiti. Ubuntu values such as generosity and forgiveness have been linked to restorative justice, notably in South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Philosophers such as Mogobe Ramose and Thaddeus Metz have developed ubuntu as a basis for moral theory, which, like much African ethics, is social rather than individualistic.

The questions it belongs to

• 3.2.5 Care and Relational ApproachesDoes morality start with rules, or with the people you are responsible for?
• 6.21 Meaning in LifeDoes a life need a point, and where would it come from?

Thinkers

• Mogobe Ramose
• Thaddeus Metz
• Ifeanyi Menkiti

Traditions

• African & Africana

To read

• African Philosophy through Ubuntu — Mogobe B. Ramose

Sources and further reading

• African Philosophical Perspectives on the Meaning of Life (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
• Africana Philosophy (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
• African Ethics (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Written by the Coordinates of Thought editors and checked against the sources above on 29 October 2026. Not peer-reviewed. How we write and check.

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