UTUISM: THE AFRICAN DEFINITION OF HUMANISM
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Keywords:
Utuism, Humanism and UtuAbstract
Then human person is the only created being who can transcend the limits of his very being, to comprehend, grasp and appreciate the Creator and even investigate the Being qua Being. In this venture, man realizes that even he himself is a complex reality that is fused into a Metaphysical World. We therefore investigate ourselves concisely. What is the reality underlying our very being? Is the reality that defines and/or composes an individual common to all humanity, and if yes, what is the nature of that reality? This paper expounds on the background of Utuism in relation to humanism from the African perspective. The paper further provides prejudices from earlier scholars that helps in understanding the human person. Further, a review of human person from Western and African Philosophers is also provided.
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References
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Aristotle. Politics, trans. B. Jowett. New York: Modern Library, 1943.
Boethius. The Theological Tractates. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1978.
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Dupre, Louis. Person and Being, trans. Clarke Norris. Milwaukee: Marquette University Press, 1993.
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Finnis, J., Boyle, J. & Grisez, G. IVF: The Critical Issues. Melbourne: Collins Dove, 1989.
Fletcher, Joseph. Morals and Medicine. Boston: Beacon Press, 1960.
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George Rudebusch. Socrates, Pleasure, and Value. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Grice, H. P. “Personal Identity” Perry, John. Personal Identity. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008. 73–95.
Hanson, A. T. The Wrath of the Lamb. London: S.P.C.K., 1957.
Hardare, S. Elizabeth and G. R. T Ross (Eds.). Meditations: The Philosophical Works of Descartes Vol. 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1969.
Harris, Sydney J. The Authentic Person. Niles: Argus Communications, 1972.
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich. The Philosophy of History. New York: Dover Publications, Inc. 1956.
Hellwig, K. Monika. What are they saying about Death and Christian Hope? New York: Paulist Press, 1978.
Heschel, Abraham J. Who is Man. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1965.
Hick, J. Evil and the God of Love. London: Macmillan & Co. Ltd., 1966.
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Idowu, Bolaji. God in Yoruba Belief. London: Longman, 1962.
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Stace, Walter T. The Concept of Morals. New York: The MacMillan Company, 1937; and also reprinted by Peter Smith Publisher Inc, January 1990.
Stanlake, J. W. T. Samkange and S. Samkange. Hunhuism or Ubuntuism: A Zimbabwe Indigenous Political Philosophy. Harare: Graham Publishing, 1980.
Tempels, Placide. “Bantu Ontology”. African Philosophy, ed. by Emmanuel Eze. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers Inc., 1998.
Trofimov, Yaroslav. Faith at War: A Journey on the Frontlines of Islam: From Baghdad to Timbuktu. New York: Picador, 2006.
Tutu, Desmond. No Future without Forgiveness. New York: Doubleday, 1999.
Van Inwagen, Peter. “The Mystery of Metaphysical Freedom”, in Van Inwagen and Dean Zimmerman, Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publication Ltd, 1998.
Massachusetts: Blackwell Publication Ltd, 1998.
Weiner, B. Judgments of Responsibility: A Foundation for a Theory of Social Conduct. New York, NY: Guilford Press, 1995.
William Barclay. The Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of Matthew. Vol. 2. Bangalore: Theological Publications in India, 1995.
Wiredu, Kwasi (ed.). A Companion to African Philosophy. Wiley-Blackwell, 2005.
Wojtyla, Karol. The Acting Person. London: D. Reidel Publishing Company, 1979.
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics (H. Rackham, Ed.) Book II, Chapter 1, 1103a–1103b.
Aristotle. Politics, trans. B. Jowett. New York: Modern Library, 1943.
Boethius. The Theological Tractates. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1978.
Brown, Colin. Christianity and Western Thought. A History of Philosophers, Ideas and Movements, Vol. 1. London: Apollos, 1990.
Carothers, J. Colin. The Mind of Man in Africa. London: Tom Stacey, 1972.
Descartes, Rene. Meditations on the First Principles, Rev. ed. Trans. and intro. By L. J. Lefeur. New York: Library of Liberal Arts, 1960.
Dupre, Louis. Person and Being, trans. Clarke Norris. Milwaukee: Marquette University Press, 1993.
Egner, E. Robert and Lester E. Dennon (Eds.). The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russel, 1903–1959. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1961.
Evans, C. Stephen. Preserving the Person. Illinois: Inter-Varsity Press, 1979.
Finnis, J., Boyle, J. & Grisez, G. IVF: The Critical Issues. Melbourne: Collins Dove, 1989.
Fletcher, Joseph. Morals and Medicine. Boston: Beacon Press, 1960.
Freeth, R. Humanizing Psychiatry and Mental Health Care: The Challenge of the Person-Centred Approach. United Kingdom: Radcliffe Publishing Ltd., 2007.
George Rudebusch. Socrates, Pleasure, and Value. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Grice, H. P. “Personal Identity” Perry, John. Personal Identity. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008. 73–95.
Hanson, A. T. The Wrath of the Lamb. London: S.P.C.K., 1957.
Hardare, S. Elizabeth and G. R. T Ross (Eds.). Meditations: The Philosophical Works of Descartes Vol. 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1969.
Harris, Sydney J. The Authentic Person. Niles: Argus Communications, 1972.
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich. The Philosophy of History. New York: Dover Publications, Inc. 1956.
Hellwig, K. Monika. What are they saying about Death and Christian Hope? New York: Paulist Press, 1978.
Heschel, Abraham J. Who is Man. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1965.
Hick, J. Evil and the God of Love. London: Macmillan & Co. Ltd., 1966.
Hilliard, A. G. III. “Pedagogy in Ancient Kmt” in J. Carruthers and M. Karenga, Kemet and the African worldview. Washington, D.C.: American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education.
Ibuanyidanda, Innocent. The Methods and Principles of Complementary Reflection in and Beyond African Philosophy. Lit Verlag: Munster, 2005.
Idowu, Bolaji. God in Yoruba Belief. London: Longman, 1962.
Ipenburg, A. N. All Good Men. The Development of Lubwa Mission, Chinsali, Zambia, 1905–1967. Peter Lang Pub Inc., 1992.
Jaroslaw, Kupczak. Destined for Liberty: The Human Person in the Philosophy of Karol Wojtyla. Washington: The Catholic University of America Press, 2000.
Kagame, Alexis. La philosophie bantu-rwandaise de l'être, ARSC., Classe des Sc. mor et pol. N. S., XII, 1. Bruxelles, ARSC, 1956.
Karl, Jasper. Man in the Modern Age, trans. Eden and Cedar Paul. New York: Doubleday and Company Inc. 1957.
Kaunda, Kenneth D. Humanism in Zambia and a Guide to its Implementation Part II. Lusaka: Division of National Guidance, 1974.
Kelly Pat. Aristotle’s Moral Philosophy. London: Blueprint Press, 1978.
Kirwen, M. C. (Ed.). African cultural Knowledge: Themes and Embedded Beliefs: Miasm Books, 2005.
Lemay, Eric and Pitts, Jennifer A. Heidegger for Beginners. Danbury: Steer forth Press, 2007.
Lewis, C. S. The Problem of Pain. London: The Centenary Press, 1940.
Mackintosh, H. R. The Christian Experience of Forgiveness. London: Fontana, 1961.
Magesa, Laurenti. African Religion: The Moral Traditions of Abundant Life. Limuru: Kolbe Press, 1998.
Makoko, Makgoba. The Makgoba Affair: A Reflection on Transformation. Florida Hill: Vivlia Publishers and Booksellers, 1997.
Mattei, L. Introduction to Philosophy. Nairobi: Consolata Institute of Philosophy Press, 2007.
Mbae, J. G. “Is there an African Philosophy”. In The Philosophical Focus on Culture and Traditional Thought Systems in Developments, ed. J. M. Nyasani. Nairobi: Rahice Printing Works Limited, 1988.
McCartney, James. Unborn Persons: Pope John Paul II and Abortion Debate. New York: Peter Lang, 1987.
McFague, S. Metaphorical Theology. London: SCM Press Ltd., 1983.
Moberly, E. R. Suffering, Innocent & Guilty. London: S.P.C.K., 1978.
Mondin, Battista. Philosophical Anthropology, Man: An Impossible Project? Rome: Urbaniana University Press, 1985.
Newton, Isaac. The Principia: Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy: A New Translation, trans. I. B. Cohen and Anne Whitman, preceded by “A Guide to Newton’s Principia” by I. B. Cohen. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999.
Nkafu, N. M. African Vitology: A Step Forward in African Thinking. Nairobi: Pauline’s Publications-Africa, 1999.
Nkrumah, Kwame. Consciencism: Philosophy and Ideology for De-Colonization. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1970.
Okemwa, J. Mairura. Self-Determination and Freedom in “The acting Person” by Karol Wojtyla. Nairobi: Paulines Publications-Africa, 1997.
Okere, T. African Philosophy: A Historico-Hermeneutic Investigation of the Conditions of its Possibility. New York: University Press, 1983.
P’Bitek, Okot. “Sociality of Self”. African Philosophy, ed. by Emmanuel Eze Malden. Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers Inc., 1998.
Paul II, John. Homily on World Youth Day. Toronto, July 28, 2002.
Rogers, C. R., Stevens, B., Gendlin, E. T., Shlien, J. M., & Van Dusen, W. Person to person: The Problem of Being Human: A New Trend in Psychology. Lafayette, CA: Real People Press, 1967.
Russell, Razzaque. Human Being to Human Bomb: Inside the Mind of a Terrorist. London: Icon Books, 2008.
Samkange, S. & Samkange, T. M. Hunhuism or Ubuntuism: A Zimbabwe Indigenous Political Philosophy. Salisbury, Harare: Graham Publishing, 1980.
Sean Coughlan. All you need is Ubuntu. BBC News Magazine, Thursday, 28 September 2006.
Sonal, Panse. Ubuntu – African Philosophy (buzzle.com).
Stace, Walter T. The Concept of Morals. New York: The MacMillan Company, 1937; and also reprinted by Peter Smith Publisher Inc, January 1990.
Stanlake, J. W. T. Samkange and S. Samkange. Hunhuism or Ubuntuism: A Zimbabwe Indigenous Political Philosophy. Harare: Graham Publishing, 1980.
Tempels, Placide. “Bantu Ontology”. African Philosophy, ed. by Emmanuel Eze. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers Inc., 1998.
Trofimov, Yaroslav. Faith at War: A Journey on the Frontlines of Islam: From Baghdad to Timbuktu. New York: Picador, 2006.
Tutu, Desmond. No Future without Forgiveness. New York: Doubleday, 1999.
Van Inwagen, Peter. “The Mystery of Metaphysical Freedom”, in Van Inwagen and Dean Zimmerman, Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publication Ltd, 1998.
Massachusetts: Blackwell Publication Ltd, 1998.
Weiner, B. Judgments of Responsibility: A Foundation for a Theory of Social Conduct. New York, NY: Guilford Press, 1995.
William Barclay. The Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of Matthew. Vol. 2. Bangalore: Theological Publications in India, 1995.
Wiredu, Kwasi (ed.). A Companion to African Philosophy. Wiley-Blackwell, 2005.
Wojtyla, Karol. The Acting Person. London: D. Reidel Publishing Company, 1979.
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Published
2019-09-18
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Waitherero, N. (2019). UTUISM: THE AFRICAN DEFINITION OF HUMANISM. Journal of Philosophy, Culture and Religion, 2(1), 45–66. Retrieved from https://www.iprjb.org/journals/index.php/JPCR/article/view/972
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