Father of holism: The intellectual legacy of Jan Smuts

Abstract

Jan Smuts (1870-1950), the famous South African statesman, politician and military commander, also made intellectual contributions to society. There is disagreement as to whether these contributions were of such a nature that Smuts can be classified as an intellectual. His admirers have no doubt that he was an intellectual (Geyser, 2019:65). In contrast, his political opponents referred to him as Slim Jannie (Clever Johnny) (Armstrong, 1937:75), not to praise his intelligence, but to suggest that he was a cunning politician who could not be trusted. In scientific circles, Smuts's contributions were praised on the one hand, but criticised on the other. In the light of these opposing opinions, in this chapter I try to answer the question of whether Smuts can be classified as an intellectual and on which basis he deserves this status