Thought Leader

About two years ago I wrote a piece for this site on an important conference for Afrikaans in Europe, which was held in Gent, Belgium, by the NAWG (Nederlands-Afrikaanse Wijsgerige Vereniging, or the Netherlands-Afrikaans Philosophical Society). We are at this biennial conference again, this time in Leiden, Holland, from where it will rotate to South…

Johannesburg, Johannesburg – City of Gold Of dreams and lives and stories told Bright lights and brighter paths Fulfilling its destiny through its arts Never asleep, never surrendered Always bustling, always unending Johannesburg, Johannesburg – City of Gold Of heartbreaking heroism and divided goals Far greater the riches held by a few Far simpler the…

As we commemorate yet another Africa day, I want to take the opportunity to reflect on the African economy or economies in Africa. To start with, it is clear that part of the reason why development has not been good in Africa is that economies in Africa are constrained by the colonial character of the…

By John Hunter, Ph.D If you have ever been invited by an enthusiastic family member, friend, or work colleague to attend the graduation of a seminar that “transformed” their life, but they refused to provide details about what actually took place in this seminar, then you were probably being invited to a large group awareness…

When the first season of True Detective was broadcast — with Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey as two detectives out to solve a case that seemed intractable in the extreme, with a gritty cinematic style and refusal to compromise itself for the sake of satisfying the usual Hollywood saccharine, sentimentalist demands regarding plot structure —…

I said right at the outset, in “New political party in its first election outing“, that: And now we get to 2019, the election that will settle once and for all, whether the ANC actually has ten million votes of its own or not. I followed this up, in “It’s not all GOOD“, with: The…

In a sense, the titular question, above, is redundant. Technology is, after all, already dominant — a claim that hardly needs to be substantiated with evidence; it is there for everyone to perceive on a daily basis. Not that the objects of ‘perception’ are self-evident in any straightforward way. In social reality a good deal…

Recently, a new method of braaing became fashionable in South Africa. It’s called the “MultiChoice Decoder and Satellite Dish Braai”. It’s more a roast, actually. This kind of braai did not appeal to me, to be honest. In the first place, I wasn’t sure how tasty it will be. I wouldn’t be able to chew…

The recent devastating fire that nearly destroyed the more than 800 year-old Parisian Gothic cathedral, Notre Dame, has put something important in perspective. One could not but notice that the shock caused by this event was not restricted to Paris, or even France, which one might have expected. Understandably, Parisians have always loved this architectural…

Two days ago my partner and I went on a whirlwind visit to Gauteng and North-West Province – flying to Johannnesburg and driving from there in a rented car to the Potschefstroom campus of North-West University, where I had been invited to participate in a debate on the question: ‘Is God still necessary for morality?’…