D. F. M. Strauss (born 1946,

Bloemfontein Bloemfontein ( ; ), also known as Bloem, is the capital and the largest city of the Free State (province), Free State province in South Africa. It is often, and has been traditionally, referred to as the country's "judicial capital", alongsi ...

) is a

South-African South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

and the world's leading expert on the theory of modal aspects, one of the core features of the thought of the Dutch philosopher,

Herman Dooyeweerd Herman Dooyeweerd, also spelled Herman Dooijeweerd (7 October 1894, Amsterdam – 12 February 1977, Amsterdam), was a professor of law and jurisprudence at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam from 1926 to 1965. He was also a philosopher and princ ...

, and the movement for

Reformational philosophy Reformational philosophy of society is a neo-Calvinistic movement pioneered by Herman Dooyeweerd and D. H. Th. Vollenhoven that seeks to develop philosophical thought in a Reformed Christian direction. It is related to the idea of a polit ...

. Strauss studied under an adherent of Dooyeweerd's philosophy, Henk Van Riessen and attended some lectures of Dooyeweerd's brother-in-law,

D. H. Th. Vollenhoven Dirk Hendrik Theodoor Vollenhoven (1 November 1892, in Amsterdam – 6 June 1978, Amsterdam) was a Dutch philosopher. Life history and early work Vollenhoven was born in Amsterdam, son of Dirk Hendrik Vollenhoven and Catharina Pruijs. His father ...

, professor of philosophy at the Free University in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

. Since that time Strauss has written voluminously in both

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

and English on numerous contemporary philosophical themes. In 1971 he was appointed as senior lecturer in philosophy at

University of the Free State The University of the Free State (; Sotho language, Sesotho: ''Yunivesithi ya Freistata'') is a multi-campus public university in Bloemfontein, the capital of the Free State (province), Free State and the judicial capital of South Africa. It wa ...

. From January 1976 he was promoted to associate professor and in October 1977 as professor and head of the Department of Philosophy. In 1994 he went to Canada, where as the first director of the Dooyeweerd Centre, he initiated the publication of the collected works of Herman Dooyeweerd in English. He returned to South Africa in 1997 and from 1 April 1998 to 31 December 2001 was dean of the new Faculty of Humanities at the UOFS. Apart from 15 independent publications, 35 international conference papers and 20 contributions to collected works, he has published about 240 articles in national and international journals. Strauss served for two and a half years at the Dooyeweerd Centre at

Redeemer University College Redeemer University is a private university, private Christian liberal arts and science university located in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, in the community of Ancaster, Ontario, Ancaster. Founded in 1982, Redeemer stands in the Reformed churches ...

, Ancaster, Ontario, Canada; he maintains a strong relation with the centre and serves as general editor of the ''Collected Works of Herman Dooyeweerd'', published by

Edwin Mellen Press The Edwin Mellen Press, sometimes stylised as Mellen Press, is an academic publisher. It was founded in 1972 by theology professor Herbert Richardson (publisher), Herbert W. Richardson. It has been involved in a number of notable legal and acad ...

(Lewiston, N.Y.). In 2005 his work on the philosophical foundations of the modern natural sciences was published by Peter Lang Publishers – Paradigmen in Mathematik, Physik und Biologie und ihre philosophische Wurzeln (216 pp.) (Frankfurt am main). In 2006 Peter Lang published his work Reintegrating Social Theory – Reflecting upon human society and the discipline of sociology (310 pp.) (Oxford I New York). In 2009 his work: Philosophy: Discipline of the Disciplines appeared in Grand Rapids (Paideia Press – 715 pp.).

Some articles published in English

Articles in English by D F M Strauss, ''Philosophia Reformata''

1946 births Living people People from Bloemfontein Afrikaner people South African people of German descent Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam alumni Academic staff of the University of the Free State Calvinist and Reformed philosophers {{Christian-philosopher-stub