Reciprocity, ubuntu and living an ethical life

The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission is a well known success story in a country plagued with structural segregation and hatred based on race. As Chairman of the Commission, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, had a significant influence in a number of ways, not least because of his powerful personality combined with unremitting faith in humankind. As an Anglican priest he promoted the goal of forgiveness rather than vengeance. Arguably what really did the trick in healing this fractured nation, however, was the presence in the ethos of the Commission, of the homebred concept of ubuntu. Encompassing the western notion of 'humaneness' ubuntu is often expressed by the Xhosa saying 'umuntu ngumuntu ngbabanye bantu', which translates as 'people are people through other people'.

The African philosopher, John Mbiti explained the idea of ubuntu as follows: Whatever happens to the individual happens to the whole group, and whatever happens to the whole group happens to the individual. Therefore the individual can only say: 'I am, because we are; and since we are, therefore I am'. In societies in which individualism is valued above all, ubuntu has much to offer, as a way of encouraging the reciprocity that is necessary for ethical living.

Seidu Alidu, PhD student, and Gavin Fairbairn, Running Stream Professor of Ethics and Language, Leeds Metropolitan University