Abstract

DUVENAGE, Pieter. Human participation in a scarred and frenzied world: C.K. Oberholzer, phenomenology and Pretoria. Herv. teol. stud. [online]. 2009, vol.65, n.1. ISSN 2072-8050.

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.

Keywords : fenomenologie; denke; filosofiese benaderings; hermeneutiek; soeke na waarheid.

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