This article argues that transforming the humanities is about restoring the curious impulse, depth and purpose of 'the intellectual cause', the uncompromising quest for 'the truth'. In a country like South Africa it is also about the development of a discourse which articulates the 'African condition'; a discourse which African scholars can proudly own as theirs. This has not happened as yet, therefore the debate in the last section of this article is about 'the humanities to come - philosophical fragments'. The article examines the sources of the rather constricted transformation of humanities in South Africa and infers the direction transformed humanities at the university should be taking. However, the article emphasises that national issues of post-apartheid state formation, the superficiality of transformation at this level, and the fact that it filters down to the higher education system which th