Franciscus van den Enden

Franciscus van den Enden
Born(1602-02-05)5 February 1602
Antwerp, Spanish Netherlands
Died27 November 1674(1674-11-27) (aged 72)
Paris, Kingdom of France
Era17th century philosophy
RegionWestern philosophy
Main interests
Signature
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Preview warning: Page using Template:Infobox philosopher with unknown parameter "influenced"

Franciscus van den Enden, in later life also known as 'Affinius' (Latinized form of 'Van den Enden')[1][2][3] (c. 5 February 1602 – 27 November 1674) was a Flemish former Jesuit,[4] Neo-Latin poet, physician, art dealer, philosopher, and plotter against Louis XIV of France. Born in Antwerp, where he had a truncated career as a Jesuit and an art dealer, he moved later to the Dutch Republic where he became part of a group of radical thinkers sometimes referred to as the Amsterdam Circle, who challenged prevailing views on politics and religion.[5] He held strong ideas about education, and viewed theater as an important teaching tool. He was a Utopian planning to set up an ideal society in the Dutch colonies in America and a proponent of democracy in the administration of states. He is best known as the Latin teacher of Spinoza (1632–1677), with whom Spinoza boarded for a period. Scholars have examined Van den Enden's philosophical ideas and those of Spinoza to assess whether he influenced his pupil,[6] Spinoza biographer Steven Nadler suggests this is not the case.[7] Spinoza biographer Jonathan I. Israel argues that Van den Enden preceded Spinoza in writing radical philosophical texts with a combination of democratic republicanism, rejection of religious authority, and advocacy for basic equality, building on the influence of Pieter de la Court, but only after Spinoza left Amsterdam.[8] Van den Enden was implicated in a plot against Louis XIV and executed by hanging.[9]

  1. ^ Dan Kaufman (2017). The Routledge Companion to Seventeenth Century Philosophy. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781317676966.
  2. ^ His name is also written as 'Van den Ende', 'Van den Eijnde', 'Van den Eijnden', 'Van den Eynde'
  3. ^ Karen Eline Hollewand (2019). The Banishment of Beverland Sex, Sin, and Scholarship in the Seventeenth-Century Dutch Republic. Brill. p. 101. ISBN 9789004396326.
  4. ^ Nadler, Steven, Spinoza, A Life Second Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2018, 120-21
  5. ^ Sonja Lavaert and Winfried Schröder, The Dutch Legacy: Radical Thinkers of the 17th Century and the Enlightenment, BRIL, 2017
  6. ^ Frank Mertens, Ghent University (June 30, 2009). "Franciscus van den Enden/Home". Archived from the original on 2017-03-13. Retrieved 2022-07-28.
  7. ^ Nadler, Spinoza, A Life, 2nd edition, 125-26, fn. 70
  8. ^ Israel, Jonathan I. Spinoza, Life and Legacy. New York: Oxford University Press 2023, 258-59
  9. ^ Nader, Steven. Spinoza: A Life, 2nd edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2018, 123-24