Ubuntu philosophy for ecological education and environmental policy formulation

  • David Kyei-Nuamah*
  • , Zhengmei Peng
  • *Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

A world faced with global climate change needs actionable ways to curb its effects. We suggest that Ubuntu philosophy is a way to achieve peaceful coexistence between humans and the ecosystem. From an African perspective, we use Ubuntu philosophy's concepts to understand how humans can create environmental policies and environmental education pedagogy. We use historical ecology and document review to explore the connections between humans, ecology, and Ubuntu philosophy. An understanding of how philosophy and ecology relate is proposed to fill the gap in the cosmological premise between the African person and ecology. The study first sets out a relational model of humans and the ecosystem, then applies the ecology of education to environmental policy formulation. The research demonstrates that humanness with humaneness and collectivism, afro-eco-communitarianism, Ubuntu consensus politics, and Ubuntugogy are concepts underlying how the essence of Ubuntu philosophy can inform an ecofriendly society. The ethno-philo-cological underpinnings help conceptualize these concepts of community. Finally, the study's conclusion shows how the concepts of Ubuntu philosophy suggest ways to improve environmental education and policy formulation. Climate concerns can be resolved by handing responsibility to the community.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)540-561
Number of pages22
JournalJournal of Philosophy of Education
Volume58
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 2024

Keywords

  • Ubuntu philosophy
  • ecological education
  • environmental policy formulation
  • humans and ecology

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