Martin Versfeld

Ernst Wolff is professor of philosophy at the Institute of Philosophy, KU Leuven. Ruth Versfeld works in teacher education and curriculum development in South Africa. Paul van Tongeren is emeritus professor of philosophy at the Radboud University, Nijmegen. Kobus Kruger is emeritus professor of science of religion at the University of South Africa. Marlene van Niekerk, multiple award-winning novelist and poet, is professor of creative writing at the University of Stellenbosch. Antjie Krog, multiple award-winning writer, poet and journalist, is a professor at the University of the Western Cape.

This two-part article explores South African philosopher Martin (Marthinus) Versfeld’s (1909–1995) interpretation (shown to belong within the discipline of the history of ideas) and application (indicated as modern-critical) of medieval philosophy during his uninterrupted career as a lecturer and professor of philosophy at the University of Cape Town (UCT) from 1937 to 1972. [...] This evaluation is the first of its kind in the developing Versfeld scholarship and takes place against the backdrop of a recent and extensive overview of Versfeld’s intellectual legacy and the first monograph on the Capetonian by Leuven philosopher Ernst Wolff (Martin Versfeld: A South African philosopher in dark times, 2021). Johann Beukes, litnet, 2022-10-27, Part 1 and Part 2

• PREFACE – Between joy and disquiet: Philosophising in dark times Major publications by Marthinus Versfeld INTRODUCTIONS 1. “Fertilizer to the last” – Biographical snips(by Ruth Versfeld)2. What was Versfeld doing when he was doing philosophy? 1. On the warts 2. From autobiography to enigma 3. Genre – Or, how to do things with words 4. Theology: A portrait of the philosopher as an odd fish 5. Polyphony of philosophy: Introductions, liberal translations, historical work 6. Apartheid and other empiresque behaviour 7. A note on celebration 8. On its most intimate lesson 9. Conclusion STUDIES 3. Self-knowledge and practical reason in a time of political madness 1. Introduction: Self-knowledge in a period of political madness 2. “Gods” and “idols” 3. War, exploitation, racism. Critique of social and political violence 4. Urgency, time and incarnation 5. Unity and decay 6. The concept of unity – Or, a philosophy of incarnation 7. Reception and continuation 4. Versfeld and Nietzsche: Strange bedfellows(by Paul van Tongeren) 1. Introduction 2. Sounding out idols 3. Man, morality and metaphysics 4. Nihilism 5. Conclusion 5. Grasping the truth from where we are 1. Introduction: Flux, stability and where we are 2. Anthropology as first philosophy 3. Traditions and cultural criticism 4. Using a thorn to take out a thorn, and throwing both away 5. Questioning from where we are 6. Versfeld’s dialogue with Eastern thought(By J. S. Krüger) 1. Introduction 2. Groundbreaking early works 3. Midcareer 4. Mature thought 5. Conclusion 7. Poiesis – On the voice of poets, philosophers and other potters 1. On writing 2. Connectedness 3. Creativity, love, generosity 4. Poiesis 5. Silence 8. Reverberations(poems by Marlene van Niekerk and Antjie Krog) CONCLUSIONS 9. Sanctus Marthinus laudator philosophicus – Or, sitting at the guru’s feet10. What is living and what is dead of the philosophy of Martin Versfeld? – Or, the philosopher read by a vultur 1. Augustine: Ventriloquism or interpretation as independent thought? 2. Plurality 3. Something or nothing? 4. Close to the earth? 5. Land in Klip en klei – You said, “the obvious”? 6. Ecology: The logos on our common home 7. On subtle critique 8. Ambiguities of anthropology 9. The end Bibliography