Ubuntu and Deontology with Reference to Severely Mentally Disabled Persons

Abstract

This article attempts, first of all, to normatively discuss the two moral theories namely; Ubuntu and Deontology with the aim of promoting the welfare of severely mentally disabled people. These theories seem to segregate severely mentally disabled human beings because Ubuntu argues that personhood is acquired through one’s participation in communal traditional rituals while Deontology argues that personhood is acquired through autonomy and rationality. Secondly, this article addresses the question of the virtue of why severely mentally retarded people deserve to be respected instead of being used in medical research as research objects. The paper concludes with a recommendation that there is an urgent need to uphold moral duties of human beings towards other vulnerable human beings and value human life.