1001Philosophers

Mogobe Ramose Quotes

Mogobe Ramose is a South African philosopher, professor emeritus at the University of South Africa, and the most influential systematic exponent of ubuntu philosophy in the post-apartheid era. African Philosophy through Ubuntu set out a comprehensive philosophical interpretation of the southern African ethical and ontological framework that holds that to be is to be in relation to others, and that personhood is achieved through right participation in the community of the living, the unborn, and the ancestors. The quotes below are attributed to Mogobe Ramose, organized by topic.

Mogobe Ramose on Justice

  • Attributed to Mogobe Ramose:

    “Justice for African philosophy begins in the restoration of the land.”

Mogobe Ramose on Love

  • Attributed to Mogobe Ramose:

    “I am because we are; ubuntu is the philosophical name of this truth.”

Mogobe Ramose on Mind

  • Attributed to Mogobe Ramose:

    “To be a person is to become one through right relation to other persons.”

Mogobe Ramose on Politics

  • Attributed to Mogobe Ramose:

    “Ubuntu is not the praise of community at the expense of the individual; it is the discovery that there is no such opposition.”

Mogobe Ramose on Virtue

  • Attributed to Mogobe Ramose:

    “Wisdom is the right reading of relations.”