Ubuntu’s Ontological Account in African Philosophy and its Cross-Tradition Engagement on the Issue of Being versus Becoming
Year: 2023
Type: article
Abstract: This paper x-rays Ramose’s ubuntu ontological account in African philosophy and its cross-tradition engagement on the issue of being versus becoming (such as the Yin-Yang, Heraclitean, Nietzschean, Whiteheadean and the Buddhists’ accounts) with a view to showing how convergence and divergence of thoughts in the African, European, and Asian philosophy contexts can advance cross-cultural philosophizing or cross-tradition approach to doing philosophy. Ramose’s ubuntu ontology designates a reconstruction of reality within the framework of motion, as captured in his concept of be-ing-becoming, while the Heraclitean, Nietzschean, Whiteheadean and the Buddhists’ ontological accounts also conceive reality within the confines of endless motion, except the Yin-Yang metaphysical vision that interprets reality within the perspective of complementarity. Attempts are made, in the paper, to highlight the Ramosean ubuntu ontology and how it can constructively engage with other traditions’ ontological accounts, as mentioned above, in a fruitful encounter of the African thought tradition, which Ramose belongs to, and the European and Asian traditions of thought, which the other mentioned ontological accounts belong to.
Author: Anthony Chimankpam OJIMBA
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4316926533