Environmental challenges and the place of African relational environmental ethics of Unhu/Ubuntu

Filosofia Theoretica: Journal of African Philosophy, Culture and Religions 13 (3):41-56 (2024)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Questions on understanding the connections between human beings and the natural environment have generally been addressed extensively. However, more effort still needs to be made to augment such research by considering how to further understand human-environment connections from ethical perspectives. In this work, I consider how the human-environment relationship might be approached differently by appealing to some underexplored relational values of existence that are salient in the African philosophy of _unhu/ubuntu_. I argue why these values of _unhu/ubuntu_ ought to be relevant to environmental challenges currently facing the world. After considering some of the implications of the current environmental crisis for the environment and human beings, I will explore what environmental ethical intuitions might be drawn from the African relational ethical view based on _unhu/ubuntu_. In the end, I argue that an appeal to African ethics of _unhu/ubuntu_ ought to be taken seriously in terms of its implications for the ontological connectedness, communality, relationality, harmonious and intergenerational co-existence between different beings. Ultimately, I show how ubuntu can function as the basis for an environmental philosophy for Africa and elsewhere as I consider some of the environmental challenges facing the world.

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 103,388

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Analytics

Added to PP
2024-12-25

Downloads
1 (#1,954,454)

6 months
1 (#1,572,794)

Historical graph of downloads

Sorry, there are not enough data points to plot this chart.
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Munamato Chemhuru
University of Johannesburg (PhD)

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references