Philosophy under Apartheid
Two of the better known philosophers in 20th century South Africa were
R.F.A. Hoernlé (1880-1943) and Andrew Murray (1905-1997). Though both
were influenced by British liberal thought, Hoernlé and Murray took
very public--and significantly different--stands on racial and ethnic
integration in South Africa. Hoernlé, was a founding member of the
South African Institute on Race Relations, and one of the leading
liberals in South Africa in the 1920s and 1930s. Murray, who taught at
the Universities of Witwatersrand and Cape Town from 1931-1970,
defended the National Party in South Africa, and by extension,
apartheid.
In this paper, I want to place their
respective views in the context of the debate from the 1930s through to
the 1960s, and examine how their respective ‘pluralisms’ resisted (or,
as the case may be, were influenced by) the multi-cultural
context and by the political and economic movements in South Africa. I
draw on a number of the arguments given by Hoernlé and by Murray
(particularly in Murray’s unpublished books on pluralism) for their
views.