Professor Mogobe Bernard Ramose is an Extraordinary Professor in the Department of Jurisprudence at the University of Pretoria. He is a leading South African philosopher, best known for his application and elaboration of Ubuntu philosophy.

Ramose obtained a Baccalaureate in Philosophy in 1976, Licentiate in Philosophy in 1978 and is a holder of an M.Sc International Relations (cum laude) from the Uni­versity of London, England. In 1983 he obtained his PhD in Philosophy (cum laude) from the Katholieke Universitient Leven, Belgium.

Special awards and recognition

• Anyiam-Asigwe – Nigerian Philosophical Association: “Best book of philosophy in Africa”, 2014 [African philosophy through ubuntu]
• Honorary Research Committee Member 1998-2000 – Leiden University, Department of Anthropology, The Netherlands
• Leading Philosophers of the World (IBC) 2006
• UNISA Chancellor's Prize for Research 2001
• Recipient of festschrift: The tenacity of truthfulness Philosophical essays in honour of Mogobe Bernard Ramose (2019)
• Departmental Leadership Training (Stellenbosch University)
• Special honorary Arts award – Departmental Leadership (Stellenbosch University)

Research and teaching experience

Ramose has extensive research and teaching experience. His teaching experience started in 1990. Professor Ramose has taken up many roles, including the following:

• He was a founding senior Jacobsen Fellow at the University of Zimbabwe from 1987 to 1990.
• From 1993 to 1995, he did co-ordination and Administration under a Dutch programme and Legal Philosophy and Legal Theory in the Netherlands.
• He also lectured in these from 1998 to 2000. He became the Founding Head of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Venda in 1996.
• From 2000 to 2006, he was appointed as the Head of the Department of Political Sciences and Philosophy at the University of South Africa.
• From 2006 to 2009, he became the Founding Country Director at the University of South Africa Regional Learning Centre in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
• Postgraduate supervision since 1992 at different institutions such as University of Zimbabwe, University of South Africa, University of Limpopo and University of Pretoria.
• Acted as an External Assessor and has been on the Academic Promotions Committee of several universities.
• External Examiner for Master’s and Doctoral degrees at various institutions globally.

Affiliations and memberships

• Member of learned societies such as Afro-Asian Philosophy Association, Inter-African Council of Philosophy, International Federation of Philosophical Societies, International Society for African Philosophy and International Society for Universal Dialogue and has had membership in editorial boards from 2008 to 2011.

Notable publications

• Ramose’s notable work is seen in but not limited to, the book Van Eeden kiest voor de maan published in 2020 and African Philosophy Through Ubuntu published in 1999.
• In 2013, he edited a collection of essays entitled Hegel’s Twilight Liber Amicorum Discipulorumque.
• The book African Philosophy Through Ubuntu outlines how justice and law can be understood through Ubuntu philosophy.

Ramose's work displays an unwavering commitment to questions of justice, politics, ethics, and truth. Much of his theoretical work and writing has been influenced by the political thinking of South African Robert Sobukwe, who was the founder of the Pan-Africanist Congress. Professor Ramose has contributed to Pan-Africanist thinking and activism.

Over the years, he has written over 40 journal articles, more than 33 chapters in books and has more than eight book reviews. Ramose is one of the most cited authors in South Africa and has been invited to present at various conferences and a large number of public lectures. His publications continue to be quoted in South Africa and internationally in learned journals on diverse issues of philosophical discourse and public policy.

[March 2021]