William Peter Esterhuyse (born August 19, 1936) is an emeritus professor of philosophy and business ethics at the University of Stellenbosch, a columnist and critic of the system of Apartheid.

Esterhuyse studied 1958 to 1964 at the University of Stellenbosch, gaining his doctorate degree. He was from 1965 to 1967 a senior lecturer at University College in Durban

Durban

Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...

 . Then he was until 1974 a senior lecturer in Philosophy at the Rand Afrikaans University

Rand Afrikaans University

The Rand Afrikaans University ' was a prominent South African institution of higher education and research that served the greater Johannesburg area and surrounds in from 1967 to 2004...

. In 1974 he was appointed Professor of Philosophy at the University of Stellenbosch. He has also been associated with the Graduate School of the University where he taught business ethics.

Esterhuyse was also a longtime columnist for the financial magazine, F & T Weekly , Die Burger , Beeld and Die Volksblad on ethical and socio-political issues. He has many articles written about South African politics and was a critic of apartheid.

He married Anne Marie Esterhuyse, née Barnard, a lecturer in mathematics at the University of Stellenbosch . They have two daughters and four sons.

Esterhuyse was portrayed by William Hurt

William Hurt

William McGill Hurt is an American stage and film actor. He received his acting training at the Juilliard School, and began acting on stage in the 1970s. Hurt made his film debut as a troubled scientist in the science-fiction feature Altered States , for which he received a Golden Globe nomination...

 in the 2009 film Endgame.

Awards

He was awarded the Stals Prize for Philosophy by the Academy of Arts and Science 1984. In 2003 Tte University of Stellenbosch awarded him an honorary doctorate. He was awarded The Order of Luthuli

Order of Luthuli

The Order of Luthuli is a South African honour. It was instituted on 30 November 2003, and is granted by the president of South Africa, for contributions to South Africa in the following fields: the struggle for democracy, building democracy and human rights, nation-building, justice and...

in Silver by the President of South Africa.