Die mens as deelname aan ‘n ‘geskonde en besete wêreld’ : C.K. Oberholzer, fenomenologie en Pretoria

Abstract

Human participation in a scarred and frenzied world: C.K. Oberholzer, phenomenology and Pretoria

This article focuses on the living presence of phenomenology as an intellectual tradition at the University of Pretoria, and more specifically the role of C.K. Oberholzer (1904–1983) in creating a space for such reflection. The article consists of four (interrelated) parts: the founding years of philosophy at the University of Pretoria against the colonial backdrop of the British Empire, and the rise of Oberholzer under different circumstances in the 1930s; a succinct definition and description of phenomenology in four chronological waves of influence over the last century; the specific way in which Oberholzer interpreted and appropriated phenomenology in the Pretoria context; and finally, the political implications of Oberholzer’s phenomenology and philosophical anthropology in the apartheid years, the present as well as the future.