Violent communication is not alien to ubuntu: Nothing human is alien to Africans

Abstract

Human life is characterised by violence to such an extent that pessimists may be justified to say it is better to never have lived. In contradistinction the author claims that because life is characterised by violence it is worthwhile that the African moral philosophy of ubuntu says people should seek the beautiful, great and good. He contends that over, against and within the violence that defines the condition of being human, ubuntu is open to the varied uses of cooperation and violence in pursuit for the beautiful, great and good. À la Terence, the argument is made here that Africans are human and all things human are possible for Africans.