In this essay, I aim to affirm Molefe’s attempt of marrying personhood and dignity.

I
strongly support his attempt because of the following: dignity is a deontological feature
therefore we as people are obliged to offer other agents regardless of their wealth and actions.
Everyone deserves respect, my last reason is that we as human beings need each other. I will
show this by using the findings of other scholars.
Molefe aims to correct how African philosophy is understood. According to Molefe African
Philosophy is understood under a patient-centered notion of personhood which does not
understand the values of African people. Firstly, Molefe does this by redefining personhood
as a state where a person has attained being a human being, having a personal identity, having
moral status, and attaining moral virtue. Then he looks at how African scholars analyses the
concept of personhood. Molefe also explains that personhood is achieved from achieving
being a human being by having moral virtue. Molefe then defines being a human being as
being distinguishable from things like stones, and trees and the person must be morally
assessed. Molefe also states that human beings are interdependent. Molefe also says that
human beings ought to respect each other regardless of what an agent owns. Molefe argues
that people who are mentally disturbed and foetuses lack ontological features to achieve
personhood. Molefe outlines that factor such as life, and soul contributes to moral status.
Molefe argues that there is a connection between dignity and personhood he does this by
stating that some parts of personhood e.g., moral status give us a clue of what dignity is.
Molefe presents dignity as the deontological feature that is attained by a human being once
the person has achieved personhood, the person is considered to have dignity. Molefe also
draws a connection between moral status and dignity. Some scholars argue that dignity can
also be defined as a feature that demands recognition and great respect, on the other hand,
moral status is defined as the utmost respect. Molefe explains that human beings entail more
moral standards than animals. Molefe outlines how we as agents owe respect to individuals.
Dignity can either be promoted or honoured. Molefe portrays dignity as how a being can lead
a harmonious life. Molefe opposes the idea of Ikuenobe excluding animals and children in
moral agency, as he says that it does not account for animals and babies. Molefe also
elucidates how morally wrong it is for agents (humans) to grant dignity to a person because
of their economic status and position. Molefe outlines that we ought to respect human beings
since humans have the capability of achieving moral excellence. Molefe shows that as much
as we need to promote our dignity and personhood beings must do this in a way that is
conducive to others. According to Molefe dignity is intrinsic to human beings.
I will anticipate my reasons why I approve of Molefe’s attempt of marrying personhood and
dignity. Since dignity is a deontological feature, it does not depend on our actions as human
beings. Dignity is intrinsic to beings. Everyone deserves to be dignified regardless of their
economic status and interactions with others, for example, St Mother Teresa was one of the
moral agents that understood dignity. Mother Teresa believed that we as beings are obliged to
dignify others since a person is made by the creation of God. It can be argued that everyone
deserves respect. Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela is a good example of an agent that understood
the importance of honoring people. Nelson spent 27years of his life at Robben Island in the
name of ubuntu and peace. Nelson understood the importance of unified people as more of an
interdependent nation. Nelson Mandela and Mother Teresa were agents that portray dignity
and respect on its terms. Although a being may find loopholes to what I have anticipated, for
example, a being may argue and say how do people give dignity to s person that murders and
rapes people? Another question that may arouse is how come do killers and rapists harass
other people if they possess sympathy? Another objection that an agent may impose is that a
person may have moral virtue but lacks ubuntu. Some beings believe that respect is earned.
All these objections fail in weakening my argument thus they do not take to account what
dignity and moral respect are. Dignity is inbuilt everyone has it regardless of their actions.
E.g., if a man kidnaps and rapes a woman that does not condemn us from granting dignity
and respect to that person. It’s our responsibility as moral agents to promote personhood
dignity and ubuntu. The actions of serial killers and molesters make us to questions the moral
virtue of these people.
In this essay, I have affirmed Molefe’s attempt of marrying personhood and dignity. I have
done this by showing my anticipating my reasons. I have discovered that dignity is either
promoted or honoured, and that dignity is a function of our capacity.