Basil Moore

What I remember most about Daantjie, and which also has had the greatest impact on me, were the informal philosophical/political/social discussions held in his house over a cup of coffee every Sunday evening. Daantjie would get us to focus on some topic and away we would go. He would provoke, challenge, and encourage us. I can remember as if it were yesterday our arguments about the existence of God. That this was a frequent topic is not surprising given that many of us were theological students. I have particularly lucid recollections of our argument about whether the universe is finite. Against my argume
nt that the universe is infinite and that therefore there was no need for the idea of creation, Daantjie argued that every event in the past must have happened; and thus that logically - although the number of events in the past might be very, very large - there necessarily is a finite number of them so we need a point in the past when the universe came into being.
 
I know that I learned more about philosophy and life from those Sunday evenings that I learned anywhere else. Also important was that our partners were also invited to those Sunday evenings and treated as valuable contributors to the discussions.
I also remember Daantjie addressing the student body on a whole range of topics. Whenever he was the speaker there would be standing room only. He was respected for his intellect, his wisdom, his commitment, and his integrity.