Motsamai Molefe | |
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Philosophy career | |
Education | University of Witwatersrand BA (Philosophy and Psychology), University of Witwatersrand MA (Development Studies), University of Johannesburg, PhD |
Era | |
Region | African philosophy |
School | |
Institutions | As faculty member: |
Main interests |
Motsamai Molefe is a South African philosopher, one of the thinkers to have popularised African philosophy, and specifically Applied Ethics in context of Ubuntu philosophy. Molefe is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Fort Hare in Alice, Eastern Cape. [1]
Motsamai Molefe obtained his Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Psychology at the University of Witwatersrand. After graduating in 2006, he obtained his MA degree in Development Studies from University of Witwatersrand, and he received his PhD in Philosophy from the University of Johannesburg in South Africa. [2]
He was Lecturer in Ethics at University of KwaZulu-Natal and Senior Lecturer at University of Witwatersrand. [2]
Motsamai Molefe is Director and Founding Member of African Political Theory Association (APTA).
Molefe is a Senior Researcher at the Centre for Leadership Ethics in Africa (CLEA), at the University of Fort Hare, South Africa. [1]
Molefe published three main books. The first, An African Philosophy of Personhood, Morality, and Politics, focused on moral and political issues of personhood. The second, African Personhood and Applied Ethics, addressed the question of nature of personhood in African perspective. The third, An African Ethics of Personhood and Bioethics: A Reflection on Abortion and Euthanasia, focused on the issue of bioethics.
Personhood, in Molefe's view, is a moral quality which human beings earn based on the quality of their behavior in society or on their being objects of dignity. This explanation is present in the book African Personhood and Applied Ethics, published in 2020. [3]
Motsamai Molefe's work has been influenced by several thinkers of African Philosophy as the Nigerian Ifeanyi Menkiti, the Ghanaian Kwame Gyekye, the Ghanaian Kwasi Wiredu and the South African Mogobe Ramose. Molefe has contributed to African philosophy with the notions of personhood and dignity in African perspective. [4]