HUMA Special Lectures 

Speaker: Motsamai Molefe, University of South Africa 

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Bio: Motsamai Molefe is an associate professor at the School of Business Leadership, University of South Africa. He specializes in African philosophy, ethics, and governance. He serves as Chair of the Department of Inter-Africa Trade and Investment and is the editor-in-chief of the South African Journal of Philosophy. 

Topic: The literature on Ubuntu tends to ignore questions posed by modern scientific developments, particularly those associated with new technologies like artificial intelligence and genetic engineering. The literature on Ubuntu tends to focus on the human-to-human and the human-to-environment relationships, and the ontological, ethical and political issues associated with them. This lecture, drawing from my recent book Ubuntu Ethics: Human Dignity, Moral Perfectionism, and Needs, aims to direct our attention towards the human-to-technology relationships, and the ontological and ethical issues associated with them. This lecture identifies three crucial ontological and/or axiological resources from Ubuntu ethics, namely, human dignity, excellence/virtue, and needs, and uses them to reflect on the technological developments. Our reflections will focus on artificial intelligence and genetic engineering. The lecture will provide broad and preliminary reflections on ethical insights Ubuntu ethics might have on artificial intelligence and genetic engineering.

Tea & Coffee will be served at 12:30 SAST (GMT+2).

Register to attend: send us an email at huma@uct.ac.za

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