Dutch philosophy

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.[1][2] 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.[3] 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.[4] Modern Dutch philosophers like D.H. Th. Vollenhoven provided critical analyses on the dichotomy between dualism and monism.[5]

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.[6]

  1. ^ Caspari, Fritz (1947). "Erasmus on the Social Functions of Christian Humanism". Journal of the History of Ideas. 8 (1): 78–106. doi:10.2307/2707442. ISSN 0022-5037. JSTOR 2707442.
  2. ^ Melamed, Yitzhak Y. (2010). "Spinoza's Anti-Humanism: An Outline". The Rationalists: Between Tradition and Innovation. pp. 147–166. doi:10.1007/978-90-481-9385-1_9. ISBN 978-90-481-9384-4.
  3. ^ "Humanism- Erasmus Center for Early Modern Studies". www.erasmus.org. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
  4. ^ Mehta, Neeta (2011). "Mind-body Dualism: A critique from a Health Perspective". Mens Sana Monographs. 9 (1): 202–209. doi:10.4103/0973-1229.77436 (inactive 1 November 2024). ISSN 0973-1229. PMC 3115289. PMID 21694971.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024 (link)
  5. ^ Friesen, J. Glenn (2005). "Dooyeweerd Versus Vollenhoven: The Religious Dialectic within Reformational Philosophy". Philosophia Reformata. 70 (2): 102–132. doi:10.1163/22116117-90000355. ISSN 0031-8035. JSTOR 24709586. S2CID 143078395.
  6. ^ van Dantzig, D. (1956-01-01). "Mannoury's impact on philosophy and significs". Synthese. 10 (1): 423–431. doi:10.1007/BF00484684. ISSN 1573-0964. S2CID 46958067.