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Thinkers

Mogobe Ramose

African · Africa · born 1945

South African philosopher who has written on ubuntu, a way of being human through our relations with others. He has also written on the politics of African philosophy.

What it is

Mogobe Bernard Ramose is a South African philosopher who teaches at the University of South Africa in Pretoria, where he is Professor Extraordinarius. He is widely credited with helping to make African philosophy, and above all the idea of ubuntu, known well beyond Africa.

Ubuntu is a way of thinking about what it is to be a person that begins from our relations with other people rather than from the single individual. Ramose's name is closely tied to presenting it to readers in philosophy departments around the world.

The main ideas

  • Ubuntu in philosophy. His book African Philosophy through Ubuntu (1999) is his best-known work.
  • Justice, sovereignty, reconciliation. He has written extensively on these themes, and on the place of African thought in the wider world of philosophy.
  • Opening philosophy to other traditions. He argues that philosophy should not be treated as belonging only to the West.
  • Editing. He edited Hegel's Twilight (2013), a collection of essays.

What it looks like in practice

Picture a student who has only ever read philosophy from one continent and is handed a book that starts from a different place: from how people belong to each other, and what that means for justice and for repairing wrongs. Ramose's work is the kind of book that makes such a student ask what else the usual reading list leaves out. This is an illustration of the kind of effect his work has, not a quotation or a documented case.

Life and work

He earned his doctorate in philosophy at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium in 1983, and spent part of his career abroad as a political refugee during apartheid. He lectured or held posts at Tilburg University in the Netherlands, Louvain in Belgium, the University of Zimbabwe and Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia. Across these posts he taught philosophy of law, African philosophy and ethics, and philosophy and development, so his work grew out of teaching in several countries and several fields.

Questions and criticism

  • Who counts as a philosopher? His call to open philosophy to other traditions raises the question of what the field is for and who decides its boundaries.
  • Can one tradition be explained in another's terms? Presenting ubuntu to an international audience means putting it into words and categories that other traditions use. Whether something is gained or lost in that move is an open question.

Close neighbours

Ubuntu has its own page, which gives the wider setting for his work.

Written by epchē in our own words, and checked against independent sources on 10 October 2026. The sources are listed below.

Philosophies they belong to or are close to

Who they connect to

Reacted against

  • G. W. F. Hegel · Ramose criticises the European tradition, including Hegel, for treating Africa as outside philosophy. (scholars disagree about this link)

Runs parallel to

  • Kwasi Wiredu · Both work on African concepts and the politics of African philosophy, from different positions. (scholars disagree about this link)

Other African thinkers

Sources we used

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