Full Text Available
Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.
The citizen: an Ubuntu personalism conception
In this thesis, I argue for an Ubuntu personalism conception of the citizen as a foundationalist account of a grounding for the pluralist political arrangement based on human rights. I start with John Rawls who employed what he called a political conception of the citizen to develop a neutralist the...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
Department of Philosophy
2026
|
| Subjects: | |
| Tags: |
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1867613292738904064 |
|---|---|
| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Seale, Wade |
| author2 | Hull, George |
| author_browse | Hull, George Seale, Wade |
| author_facet | Hull, George Seale, Wade |
| author_sort | Seale, Wade |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | In this thesis, I argue for an Ubuntu personalism conception of the citizen as a foundationalist account of a grounding for the pluralist political arrangement based on human rights. I start with John Rawls who employed what he called a political conception of the citizen to develop a neutralist theory of justice. In expounding this, I argue that he excluded certain categories of human beings in an unacceptable way, most notably the severely cognitively disabled; and that the neutralism he targeted – his major contribution – is illusive. I then go in search of an alternative grounding for the pluralist political arrangement based on human rights. I explore philosophical personalism as an alternative, identifying major strengths in the intellectual movement for the purposes of grounding the pluralist political arrangement. But I also identify major weaknesses in personalism – in the thought of Juan Manuel Burgos, which is a current, cutting-edge version of personalism; as well as in the thought of the older John Macmurray – an excellent example of social constitution of persons theory. This opens the way for an exploration of Ubuntu personalism. I explore a metaphysical account of Ubuntu, as well as Ubuntu as an ethic, and show how this leads to a socially constituted conception of the person which sits at the intersection of metaphysics and ethics. I say how the citizen is this kind of person and show how it is this conception of the person that best grounds the pluralist political arrangement based on human rights. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/42660 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | English eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:33:49.949Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| publishDateRange | 2026 |
| publishDateSort | 2026 |
| publisher | Department of Philosophy |
| publisherStr | Department of Philosophy |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/42660 The citizen: an Ubuntu personalism conception Seale, Wade Hull, George Ubuntu Personalism In this thesis, I argue for an Ubuntu personalism conception of the citizen as a foundationalist account of a grounding for the pluralist political arrangement based on human rights. I start with John Rawls who employed what he called a political conception of the citizen to develop a neutralist theory of justice. In expounding this, I argue that he excluded certain categories of human beings in an unacceptable way, most notably the severely cognitively disabled; and that the neutralism he targeted – his major contribution – is illusive. I then go in search of an alternative grounding for the pluralist political arrangement based on human rights. I explore philosophical personalism as an alternative, identifying major strengths in the intellectual movement for the purposes of grounding the pluralist political arrangement. But I also identify major weaknesses in personalism – in the thought of Juan Manuel Burgos, which is a current, cutting-edge version of personalism; as well as in the thought of the older John Macmurray – an excellent example of social constitution of persons theory. This opens the way for an exploration of Ubuntu personalism. I explore a metaphysical account of Ubuntu, as well as Ubuntu as an ethic, and show how this leads to a socially constituted conception of the person which sits at the intersection of metaphysics and ethics. I say how the citizen is this kind of person and show how it is this conception of the person that best grounds the pluralist political arrangement based on human rights. 2026-01-23T10:53:35Z 2026-01-23T10:53:35Z 2025 2026-01-23T09:02:50Z Thesis / Dissertation Doctoral PhD http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42660 en eng application/pdf Department of Philosophy Faculty of Humanities University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Ubuntu Personalism Seale, Wade The citizen: an Ubuntu personalism conception |
| thesis_degree_str | Doctoral |
| title | The citizen: an Ubuntu personalism conception |
| title_full | The citizen: an Ubuntu personalism conception |
| title_fullStr | The citizen: an Ubuntu personalism conception |
| title_full_unstemmed | The citizen: an Ubuntu personalism conception |
| title_short | The citizen: an Ubuntu personalism conception |
| title_sort | citizen an ubuntu personalism conception |
| topic | Ubuntu Personalism |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42660 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT sealewade thecitizenanubuntupersonalismconception AT sealewade citizenanubuntupersonalismconception |