Paul Cilliers

Friedrich Paul Cilliers, who lived from 1956 to 2011, was a South African philosopher, complexity researcher and Professor in Complexity and Philosophy at Stellenbosch University, known for his contributions to the study of complex systems. Specializing in complexity theory, he examined the ethical dimensions of complexity and questions in the philosophy of science, adopting a postmodern perspective in his influential book Complexity and Postmodernism. He began as a lecturer in philosophy at Stellenbosch in 1993, became Professor of Complexity and Philosophy in 2003, received the Harry Oppenheimer Fellowship Award in 2006 and an A-rating from South Africa's National Research Foundation in 2008, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa in 2010.