Marthinus Versfeld
South African philosopher (1909 - 1995)
Marthinus Versfeld (or Martin Versfeld; 11 August 1909 – 18 April 1995) was a South African philosopher. From 1937 to 1972 he taught at the University of Cape Town. He was celebrated as researcher, enjoyed the recognition of the South African literary community and was known as an opponent of the Apartheid system. His work ranged from scholarly books to playful essays on issues like ethics, anthropology, the meaning of life.
Life
Versfeld came from an Afrikaans family with a long history in the Western Cape region of South Africa. He attended the South African College Schools and did his undergraduate and Master's studies at the University of Cape Town. He moved on to Glasgow where he completed his doctoral dissertation on Descartes' metaphysics under the supervision of Archibald Bowman. In 1937 he was appointed as lecturer at UCT where he was to spend his entire career.
During his student years he became disaffected from the Protestant faith in which he was raised. However, in the late 1930s, he went through a time of serious religious uncertainty.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Marthinus Versfeld” as south African philosopher (1909 - 1995). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q13035416. VIAF identifies the subject as 68952684. The Library of Congress control number is n50053132. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1909, 1995, 1937 and 1972.
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This entry incorporates text from “Marthinus Versfeld” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.