Welcome, Ubuntu
“I am because we are, and since we are, therefore I am.”
— John Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy
Ubuntu teaches that a person becomes a person through other people — your humanity is bound to the humanity of others. The Ultimate Law agrees that reciprocity is the foundation of ethics. But it adds the constraint Ubuntu sometimes lacks: community cannot override individual consent. Ubuntu without boundaries becomes collectivism; Ubuntu with boundaries becomes the Golden Rule. The Akan tradition stated it perfectly: “What you do not find acceptable if done to you by another, do not do to them.” That is the Ultimate Law in African words.
The Ultimate Law
Logic is the ultimate law.
Do not do to others what they would not want to be done to them, or you will be punished regardless of your will.
The purpose of punishment is to erase guilt, via retribution and restitution.
That is the entire law; it cannot be changed, all the rest is commentary.