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Bert Olivier

Bert Olivier

As an undergraduate student, Bert Olivier discovered Philosophy more or less by accident, but has never regretted it. Because Bert knew very little, Philosophy turned out to be right up his alley, as it were, because of Socrates's teaching, that the only thing we know with certainty, is how little we know. Armed with this 'docta ignorantia', Bert set out to teach students the value of questioning, and even found out that one could write cogently about it, which he did during the 1980s and '90s on a variety of subjects, including an opposition to apartheid. In addition to Philosophy, he has been teaching and writing on his other great loves, namely, nature, culture, the arts, architecture and literature. In the face of the many irrational actions on the part of people, and wanting to understand these, later on he branched out into Psychoanalysis and Social Theory as well, and because Philosophy cultivates in one a strong sense of justice, he has more recently been harnessing what little knowledge he has in intellectual opposition to the injustices brought about by the dominant economic system today, to wit, neoliberal capitalism. His motto is taken from Immanuel Kant's work: 'Sapere aude!' ('Dare to think for yourself!') In 2012 Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University conferred a Distinguished Professorship on him. Bert is attached to the University of the Free State as Honorary Professor of Philosophy.

Posted inGeneral

Genesis and Plato’s Aristophanes in the Symposium

Bert Olivier by Bert Olivier 23 June 202123 June 2021

There are striking similarities between the two myths that both seek to explain aspects about humanity

Posted inGeneral

Don’t ever be too certain of who you are

Bert Olivier by Bert Olivier 10 June 202110 June 2021

Binary and linear thinking impoverishes the complexity of life

Posted inHealth

Is the push for the vaccine a push too far?

Bert Olivier by Bert Olivier 31 May 202131 May 2021

In my opinion, there hasn’t been enough safety testing and I won’t be in the queue for a jab

Posted inHealth

They call it a pandemic. It isn’t

Bert Olivier by Bert Olivier 8 May 20218 May 2021

As Elon Musk says, Covid-19 ‘is something with a very low mortality rate and high contagion’

Posted inHealth, Lifestyle

Science fiction’s warning against vaccine passports

Bert Olivier by Bert Olivier 30 April 202130 April 2021

The 1997 film Gattaca reflects the dangers of a surveillance state that discriminates against individuals who resist control

Posted inEquality, General, Health

Good wins in American hospital series

Bert Olivier by Bert Olivier 20 April 202121 April 2021

New Amsterdam is a critique of neoliberal health care in the United States

Posted inGeneral, Health

The passive nihilism of the present age

Bert Olivier by Bert Olivier 10 April 202110 April 2021

Consumerism has turned us into the new proletariat while our devices have switched off our brains

Posted inGeneral

Governments know most people obey — especially in a state of disaster

Bert Olivier by Bert Olivier 29 March 202129 March 2021

Is this a global re-run of the Milgram obedience and the Stanford prison experiments?

Posted inGeneral

Will that which we called iBhayi by any other name sound as sweet?

Bert Olivier by Bert Olivier 2 March 20212 March 2021

The minister of sports, arts and culture and a committee have shown cultural amnesia in choosing Gqeberha and not iBhayi as Port Elizabeth’s new name

Posted inGeneral

Laws outside the law

Bert Olivier by Bert Olivier 11 February 202111 February 2021

New developments regarding ‘homo sacer’ and ‘bare life’ under pandemic conditions

Posted inEnvironment, General

Sir David Attenborough pulls no punches

Bert Olivier by Bert Olivier 1 February 20211 February 2021

The iconic environmentalist reprimands humanity for its short-sightedness in his latest film

Posted inHealth

The case for Ivermectin

Bert Olivier by Bert Olivier 18 January 202119 January 2021

What is the reason governments, including our own, are slow to act on this potential Covid-19 medicine, and aren’t we past the time where their reluctance could be justified?

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