Concept
Dutch philosophy
Overview
Dutch philosophy is a broad branch of philosophy that discusses the contributions of Dutch philosophers to the discourse of Western philosophy and Renaissance philosophy. The philosophy, as its own entity, arose in the 16th and 17th centuries through the philosophical studies of Desiderius Erasmus and Baruch Spinoza. The adoption of the humanistic perspective by Erasmus, despite his Christian background, and rational but theocentric perspective expounded by Spinoza, supported each of these philosopher's works. In general, the philosophy revolved around acknowledging the reality of human self-determination and rational thought rather than focusing on traditional ideals of fatalism and virtue raised in Christianity. Another influential Dutch humanist was Hugo Grotius. Also there was Rodolphus Agricola.
The roots of philosophical frameworks like the mind-body dualism and monism debate can also be traced to Dutch philosophy, which is attributed to 17th century philosopher René Descartes. Descartes was both a mathematician and philosopher during the Dutch Golden Age, despite being from the Kingdom of France. Arnold Geulincx was a Cartesian.
Isaac Newton's influence on John Locke was mediated by Dutch natural philosopher Christiaan Huygens, who assured Locke that Newton's mathematics was sound, leading to Locke's acceptance of a corpuscular-mechanical physics.
American philosopher and Christian Alvin Plantinga is of Dutch descent, and is influenced by the thought of Abraham Kuyper.
Modern Dutch philosophers like D.H. Th. Vollenhoven provided critical analyses on the dichotomy between dualism and monism.
In general, Dutch philosophy is characterised by a discussion of the importance of rational thought and humanism with literary links to religion, specifically Calvinism and biblical criticism thereof. Modern Dutch philosophers in the 20th century like Gerrit Mannoury have also, in addition to discussions on humanism, placed an emphasis on the connection between science and Dutch philosophy.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
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That the mind, in respect of its simple ideas, is wholly passive, and receives them all from the existence and operations of things, such as sensation or reflection offers them, without being able to MAKE any one idea, experience shows us. But if we attentively consider these ideas I call mixed modes, we are now speaking of, we shall find their origin quite different. The mind often exercises an ACTIVE power in…
John Locke, An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding, Volume 1
States what Dutch philosophy is; the author is tied to Dutch philosophy in the knowledge graph.
It will accordingly be necessary thereafter to endeavour so to deduce from those principles the knowledge of the things that depend on them, as that there may be nothing in the whole series of deductions which is not perfectly manifest. God is in truth the only being who is absolutely wise, that is, who possesses a perfect knowledge of all things; but we may say that men are more or less wise as their knowledge of…
René Descartes, Selections from the Principles of Philosophy
States what Dutch philosophy is; the author is tied to Dutch philosophy in the knowledge graph.
As far as one can judge, it is for the same reason that philosophers have aimed at a threefold division of science, or rather, were enabled to see that there was a threefold division (for they did not invent, but only discovered it), of which one part is called physical, another logical, the third ethical. The Latin equivalents of these names are now naturalized in the writings of many authors, so that these…
of Hippo Augustine, The City of God, Volume I
States what Dutch philosophy is.
Philosophers who discussed Dutch philosophy
Related ideas
- Erasmus
- Christian humanism
- Neo-Kantianism
- Philosophy
- Western philosophy
- Isaac Newton
- Analytic philosophy
- John Locke
- Intuitionistic logic
- L. E. J. Brouwer
- Synthese
- Mind–body dualism
- Erkenntnis
- Mathematics
- Monism
- Netherlands
- New Testament
- Linguistics
- Dutch Golden Age
- Classical antiquity
- René Descartes
- Kingdom of France
- Spinoza's Ethics
- Self-determination
Place in the tradition
Part of Outline of philosophy.
Narrower topics:
- Amsterdam
- Dutch Golden Age
- Dutch Republic
- Hugo Grotius
- Leiden University
- Low Countries
- Meditations on First Philosophy
- Principles of Philosophy
- Renaissance philosophy
- Self-determination
- University of Amsterdam
- Haarlem
- Abraham Kuyper
- Evert Willem Beth
- Rodolphus Agricola
- Arnold Geulincx
- Gisbertus Voetius
- Affect (philosophy)
- Gerrit Mannoury
- Julius Excluded from Heaven
- Winkler Prins
- D. H. Th. Vollenhoven
- Gary Hatfield