Philosophy, University of Johannesburg

@Catherine Botha

Full professor in Philosophy at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa, Catherine joined UJ Philosophy in 2009. She holds a PhD in Philosophy from Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands. Her research is focused mainly on issues in ethics and aesthetics, with a special focus on the philosophy of dance. Her interest is generated because of her strong background in the phenomenological tradition and its precursors in the continental tradition (most especially the work of Nietzsche and Heidegger). She also writes and teaches on themes in aesthetics and ethics in the philosophy of technology, with a focus on the ethics and aesthetics of artificial intelligence. Catherine is currently the co-secretary of the South African Centre for Phenomenology, and a registered ballet teacher of the Royal Academy of Dance. She offers free tuition in classical ballet to UJ students at the UJ Art Academy.Her interest and expertise in teaching in higher education is also significant. She was the winner of the UJ Vice Chancellor’s Award for Best Young Teacher in 2014, and winner of the UJ Vice Chancellor’s Distinguished Award for Best Teacher in 2020, a Top 5 finalist in the HERS – SA awards in 2023, an Erasmus + Teaching Mobility award winner in 2023 and winner of an Advance HE Fellowship in 2024. She is the primary investigator in UJ Philosophy’s Technology Transfer and Culture in Africa project funded by the University of Notre Dame–IBM Technology Ethics Lab

Joined on 30 May, 2025