In hierdie artikel betoog ek dat die diagnose van, en kuur vir, eietydse Westerse moderniteit wat Bernard Stiegler voorstel, ’n belangrike bydrae lewer tot die voortgaande ontwikkeling van die visie van ’n regverdige, erbarmlike maatskaplike wêreldorde, maar dat sy bydrae versterk mag word deur ’n dialoog met die Zen-Boeddhisme. Eerstens word Stiegler se oorsig van industriële en hiperindustriële Westerse samelewings en hul ongesteldheid, wat Stiegler simboliese ellende noem, aangebied met besondere klem op die rol van aandag. Tweedens word sy kuur van ’n nuwe otium van die volk as die herkultivering van aandag deur kuns en onderwys aangebied. Derdens behandel ek ’n essensiële element van...
In this brief response to Herbert De Vriese’s The Charm of Disenchantment, his attempt to link secularism and modernity is questioned. Criticism is leveled at De Vriese’s use of the correspondence between Voltaire and Frederick the Great without reference to the historical context, notably the confessional states that existed between roughly 1650 and 1800 in Europe. De Vriese’s apology for disenchantment and modernity is also questioned in the light of both modern religious...
As the World Cup kicked off, South Africa has been preparing to show its best face to the world. But the country is tense, and at a crossroads. Will it seize this occasion to emerge at last from more than a century of divisive nationalisms?
This has been a tumultuous year for South Africa so far, even by its own standards. Protests at municipal level against poor services and corruption are at an all-time, post-apartheid high. And the tone of public debate is increasingly tense. The April...
As deel van ’n omvattende ondersoek oor die werk van Bernard Stiegler en uitgevoerde Europese moderniteit word in hierdie artikel ’n weergawe van die Westerse moderniteit aangebied waarvolgens die tegnologiese, teologies-filosofiese en sosio-institusionele oorspronge en kenmerke daarvan herlei word na die drie honderd jaar tussen 1150 en 1450. Nadat ’n rowwe driedelige periodisering van die Westerse moderniteit verskaf word, word in groter besonderhede stilgestaan by enkele...
South Africa’s parliament convenes 5 May and will elect ANC leader Jacob Zuma as the next president. But could Zuma’s strong and polarising language and the ANC’s weak approach to serious problems lead to chaos in SA?
The scene is by now familiar: a beaming Zuma clad in Zulu warrior regalia, leading the ecstatic crowd in his trademark song, Umshini Wam (“Bring me my machine gun”). Equally well-known: Zuma received little formal education, is a polygamist and...
