A PHILOSOPHICAL REFLECTION ON TERRORISM AND THE SIGNIFICANCE OF UBUNTU HUMAN VALUES FOR GLOBAL PEACE

Résumé

This paper examines terrorism and the Ubuntu imperative. Terrorism is a major impediment to world peace and security. Terrorism is evil, it brings pains, division, and suffering to man. This brings about the issue of values and morality – right and wrong. Thus, it is the argument of this research that terrorism is on the rise because of the lack or neglect of some priceless human values. Here lies the imperative of Ubuntu philosophy. Ubuntu is a value system that determines humane personal and social actions in the cultural, political, and economic domains of life in a society. It is about our interconnectedness as human beings. The philosophical basis of Ubuntu rests on the belief in, and realization of our common humanity, our sense of perception of being a part of a whole human family. The questions that this paper sets out to interrogate are: Can terrorism be justified within the framework of Ubuntu Philosophy? How can Ubuntu as an indigenous African idea help in solving the problem of terrorism? In order to provide answers to the aforementioned questions, this paper makes use of the method of analysis.