Abstract

The history of South African philosophy is only recently becoming widely known. Recent books and articles have been written on figures such as Martin Versfeld, Mongameli Mabona, Andrew H. Murray, and Alfred Hoernlé. But perhaps the best-known book bearing on philosophy written by a South African is Holism and Evolution, by Jan Christiaan Smuts (and from whom the term “holism” entered popular discourse). Yet Smuts – who was both Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa (1919–24 and 1939–48) and a military leader in both world wars – never taught as a philosopher and denied that the book was a work of philosophy at all. Moreover, Smuts eschewed philosophical labels, denying specifically that he was an idealist. In this article, I describe the idealism of the late 19th/early 20th century in the Anglo-American world, and review some elements of Smuts’ work and personal biography to determine whether one might, in fact, describe him as a philosopher and, in particular, an idealist philosopher.