Johan Degenaar



I remember well that [N.P.van Wyk Louw] spoke with great respect about a mutual friend, the philosopher Daantjie Oosthuizen, who with his keen analytical focus had impressed us both as the South African philosopher who had succeeded in applying the Socratic method of critical questioning. We called him the Socrates of South Africa.  Louw had learned to know Daantjie in Amsterdam, while I had already become friends with him while a student in Stellenbosch in the 1940's. He was the first Afrikaner I met who questioned the politics of apartheid in a convincing manner.

[Ek herinner my goed dat hy met groot waardering gepraat het van 'n gemeenskaplike vriend, die filosoof Daantjie Oosthuizen, wat met sy skerp analitiese instelling ons beide beindruk het as diƩ Suid-Afrikaanse filosoof wat daarin geslaag het om die Sokratiese metode van kritiese vraagstelling toe te pas. Die Sokrates van Suid-Afrika het ons hom genoem. Louw het Daantjie in Amsterdam leer ken terwyl ek reeds met horn as student op Stellenbosch bevriend geraak het in die veertigerjare. Hy was die eerste Afrikaner wat vir my op oortuigende wyse die politiek van apartheid tot vraag gestel het.]


(from J. J. Degenaar, 'Die betekenis van N. P. van Wyk Louw vir my eie denke', Standpunte)

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