D. C. S. Oosthuizen

Daniel Charl Stephanus Oosthuizen (also known as Daantjie Oosthuizen; 15 January 1926 – 4 April 1969) was a South African philosopher, and an early Afrikaner voice against Apartheid.

The main direction of his philosophical work lay in the field of epistemology and the philosophy of mind.

He was more widely known in South Africa for his moral, political and religious essays, and was described by André Brink as a thorn in the flesh of the establishment.

He was a confidant of Beyers Naude, who acknowledged him as having been one of the original group whose discussions and thoughts led to the founding of the Christian Institute of Southern Africa, of which he was both a founder member and a member of the Board of Management.

He also contributed to the formation of the University Christian Movement.

Oosthuizen was born in Knysna, South Africa, on 15 January 1926, and died in Grahamstown, South Africa, on 4 April 1969.

He was educated at the Laerskool Pretoria-Oos, the Afrikaanse Hoer Seunskool in Pretoria and the Hoer Volkskool at Graaff-Reinet where he matriculated in the first class in 1942.

From 1943 he studied at the University of Stellenbosch and obtained a B.A. in 1945 with distinction in philosophy.

In 1947 he passed the M.A. examination in philosophy with a mark of 90%, and in 1949 graduated M.A. cum laude with the thesis Die Verklaringsdrang: aestetieseckomiese oorweging i.v.m. die verklaringsfilosofie in die rigting van ’n eksistensiele dialektiek (The Urge to Explain: Aesthetic-comical and fragmentary considerations concerning the philosophy of explanation in the direction of an existential dialectic.) Through this he is credited, alongside his contemporaries Johan Degenaar and James Oglethorpe, with introducing the work of the Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard to Stellenbosch.

From 1947 he also studied at the Theological Seminary in Stellenbosch, and in 1949 passed the candidate's examination in theology.

From June 1949 to December 1950 Oosthuizen was junior lecturer in philosophy at the University of Stellenbosch.

From 1950 to 1951 he studied for a year under Prof. G.C. Berkouwer at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam.

From 1951 to 1955 he did research in philosophy at the University of Amsterdam, and in June 1955 he passed cum laude in the doctoral examination with a study on the phenomenology of Husserl.

In 1952 Oosthuizen was married to Ann Schonland, and they had three children.

From 1955 to 1957 he lectured on the history of philosophy, logic and ethics at the University of the Orange Free State.

From January 1958 until his death in April 1969 he was Professor of Philosophy at Rhodes University in Grahamstown.

He spent sabbatical years at Oxford University in 1962, where Gilbert Ryle was his tutor, and again in 1968.

He was appointed Professor of Philosophy at the University of Utrecht in November 1968 but died before he could take up the post.

Oosthuizen wrote prolifically, presenting his work primarily through public addresses, seminars and lectures.

He was an extremely modest man, and published little during his lifetime.

The original presentation details (where they are given in the publication) are also provided in brackets below.

Oosthuizen's writing as an Afrikaner intellectual have been regarded by the philosopher Johan Degenaar as being on a par with the best work of N. P. van Wyk Louw in this genre.

Four of his essays in this genre were published as Analyses of Nationalism, deconstructing the ideology and texts of Afrikaner Nationalism.

The individual papers were:

Also of note are:

Oosthuizen died suddenly at his home in Grahamstown on 4 April 1969.

He is remembered through the annual D. C. S. Oosthuizen Memorial Lecture at Rhodes University, which has a theme on Academic Freedom, and his life was celebrated by Alan Paton in the first of these lectures in 1970.

Eight ethical-religious essays were published posthumously in book form under the title, The ethics of illegal action and other essays, SPROCAS/RAVAN, 1973.