Philosophical racism and ubuntu: In dialogue with Mogobe Ramose

This article discusses two complementary themes that play an important role in contemporary South African political philosophy: (1) the racist tradition in Western philosophy; and (2) the role of ubuntu in regaining an authentic African identity, which was systematically suppressed during the colonial past and apartheid. These are also leading themes in Mogobe Ramose’s African Philosophy Through Ubuntu. The first part concentrates on John Locke. It discusses the thesis that the reprehensible racism of many founders of liberal political philosophy has lethally infected liberal theory

Title to territory: its constitutional implications for contemporary South Africa and Zimbabwe

The present essay is about sovereign title to territoiy and its constitutional implications for contemporary South Africa and Zimbabwe. It is a philosophical analysis of the histoiy, politics and the constitutionality of the law underlying the democratic dispensation in the two countries. It does not purport to be a juridical analysis in the first place. Instead, it will focus upon the area of tension resulting from the inclusion of some "natural facts" and the exclusion of others from the universe of juristic facts

Transforming education in South Africa: paradigm shift or change?

The transformation of the content of the educational curriculum in South Africa is an imperative of historical justice. Though the final constitution of South Africa represents a substantive improvement on the rights condition of many South Africans, it is at the same time an impediment to transformation. This is because it is not vested with credentials that make it a truly homegrown South African constitution. At the same time bounded reasoning in its aspect of impermeable boundaries renders the quest for transformation impossible. It is therefore urged that dialogue from within the permeable boundaries of all those involved is the optimal way to pursue the transformation of the content of the educational curriculum. (South African Journal of Higher Education: 2003 17 (3):137-143

The Bewaji, Van Binsbergen and Ramose debate on 'Ubuntu'

What follows is a discussion, in three parts, of the African concept of ubuntu and related issues. In the first part of the discussion J.A.I. Bewaji assesses an essay by W.M.J. van Binsbergen on Ubuntu and the Globalisation of Southern African Thought and Society (2001). In the second part Bewaji reviews M.B. Ramose's African Philosophy through Ubuntu (2002). And in the third part Ramose responds to both Bewaji and Van Binsbergen. Although Ramose disagrees with some of Bewaji's comments and interpretations – especially with regard to the thesis on which ubuntu is, according to the former, founded (i.e. “that ontology proper is a rheology”) – both Bewaji and Ramose agree that Van Binsbergen's critique of ubuntu philosophy, and specifically of Ramose's explication thereof, is untenable. S. Afr. J. Philos. Vol.22(4) 2003: 378-41