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, grounded 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. 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. 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.

Influence on Dutch philosophy

See also: Desiderius Erasmus and Baruch Spinoza

Thought of Desiderius Erasmus

Quinten Massys, Desiderius Erasmus,c.1517.

Desiderius Erasmus’s influence on Dutch philosophy is marked by his contributions to the discourse of Christian Humanism, which highlights a philosophy that synthesises the humanistic perspective of self-determination with classical Christian traditions of virtue. At the core of his philosophical teachings, Erasmus promulgated the religious doctrine of docta pietas (English: learned piety) which Erasmus believed was the 'Philosophy of Christ'. Erasmus, further expanded upon this notion in Julius Excluded from Heaven (Latin: Julius exclusus e coelis), as cited in The Erasmus Reader where:

“Our great master did not come down from heaven to earth to give men some easy or common philosophy. It is not a carefree or tranquil profession to be a Christian.”

Erasmus also had a large collection of ten critical essays titled Opera Omnia, which explore critical views on topics that range from education on the philosophy of Christian Humanism in the Dutch Republic to his personal translation of the New Testament that consisted of his humanistic-influenced annotations.

Thought of Baruch Spinoza

Portrait of Baruch de Spinoza, c.1665.

The development of Dutch philosophy was one that expounded the fallacy behind God’s metaphysical nature and in general, God’s existence. These fallacies are attributed to the writings of Baruch Spinoza With a lacking affiliation to any religious institution and university, a direct consequence of being excommunicated by his local Sephardic community in Amsterdam for the aforementioned views, Spinoza pursued his philosophical studies with a degree of independence. Spinoza’s philosophical works, the Tractatus Theologico-Politicus (also referred to as the Theologico-Political Treatise) being the only work of Spinoza published during his lifetime and the Ethics contributed to his influence on the development of Dutch philosophy. The former work discusses the relevance of Calvinist theology in the Dutch Republic by commenting on how the Bible should be interpreted exclusively on its own terms by extracting information about the Bible from only what is directly evident in the text. Spinoza also raised the need to avoid the formulation of hypotheticals about what the Bible may assume, referred to as his hermeneutic principle. Additionally, in this work, Spinoza advocated for the practice of libertas philosophandi ( Latin: freedom to philosophise) which emphasises the importance of philosophy that is void of any external religious or political constraint.

Ethics, published after his death, garnered Spinoza scholarly attention as he was one of the first Dutch philosophers during the Renaissance period that gave criticism to the long-standing perspectives on God, the universe, nature and the ethical principles that grounded them. Spinoza incorporated metaphysical and anthropological conceptions to support his conclusions. This work, together with others, contributed to Spinoza being ostracised from the Jewish community in Amsterdam because he devalued the commonly held belief that God should not be "feign a God, like man, consisting of a body and mind, and subject to passions."

Dualism and Monism in Dutch philosophy

See also: Mind-body dualism, Monism, and René Descartes

Descartes's diagram on the complexities underlying the function of mind-body dualism.

The dualism and monism philosophical frameworks are a dimension of the philosophy of mind with their roots traced to Dutch philosophy. René Descartes described the dualism framework as one that makes a distinction between the two primary substances constituting human beings: the mind (soul) and body. Similarly, D.H.Th. Vollenhoven further expanded upon this notion through his explanation of anthropological dualism, which focuses on gauging from what exact sources do the mind and body originate from. On the contrary, the monism framework argues that all substances originate from one source where Descartes extended this through Cartesian dualism. He stated that a core attribute is that they are created by God or rather require some "immediate concurrence in all things."

Spinoza’s philosophy on the dualism was antithetical to Descartes, as he argued that instead of the mind and body being classed as substances that are distinct from one another, they are meant to be classified as one whole entity and are thus, interdependent on each other’s functioning. Portuguese-American neuroscientist Antonio Damasio elucidates Spinoza’s idea by making a connection between the mind and body that one does not exist without the other and therefore, require to co-exist. He further comments how these philosophical commentaries contributed to Spinoza's influence on the development of Dutch philosophy. Spinoza also posited in Ethics that the only one extended substance in existence is the entire world, which consists of every form of matter in existence.

Rationalism in Dutch philosophy

See also: Renaissance Philosophy, Rationalism, and Dutch Republic

The front cover of René Descartes's Principia Philosophiae, c.1644.

Rationalism, which also stems from Renaissance Dutch philosophy, is credited to the studies of Descartes. He did not set formal rationalist principles but instead wrote them through six mediations. Descartes’s publication of the Principia Philosophiae in 1644 was synonymous with providing the first linkage between rationalism and natural philosophy, both of which characterised Dutch philosophy. His rational worldview contrasted Calvinist principles on the laws of nature taught by theologians at universities in the Dutch Republic. Distinct to Descartes’s philosophy and by extension, Dutch philosophy, was the recognition of rational intuition. This was grounded by, according to Descartes, a "well-directed intelligence…and distinct that absolutely no doubt is left about that which we understand."

Additionally, in the Low Countries, which consists of the Netherlands, the philosophy became driven by discussions of vernacular rationalism in the 17th and 18th centuries. This type of rationalism revolved around a cultural avant-garde overview of the country’s widely-accepted ethics, the implications of unfamiliarity with rationalism and that reason should dictate all modes of human behaviour. Vernacular nationalism, studied in the Netherlands, was a by-product of the humanist studies that were led by Renaissance intellectual figures like Spinoza. Dutch historian Ruben Buys, in his thesis Sparks of Reason, explains that this type of rationalism is closely related and has its roots in Renaissance humanism which prioritises human dignity and self-determination over Christian classicism.

Science and Dutch philosophy

See also: Synthese, Gerrit Mannoury, and Evert Willem Beth

Despite the scientific and rational contributions of Spinoza and Descartes to Renaissance Dutch philosophy, interest in the parallel between science and Dutch philosophy has also resurfaced in the 20th century. James W. McAllister, a former Philosophy professor at Leiden University, has contributed to discussing the influences of scientific thinking on Dutch philosophy with literary links to the Dutch Significs Group. They brought to the fore the study of analytic philosophy, which used criticism to suggest that methodology, with the support of intuitionistic logic, should be incorporated to discuss the relationship between science and Dutch philosophy. A number of works detailing this relationship were published in journal publications like Synthese (1936), Studies in Logic and the Foundations of Mathematics (1958) as well as studies by intellectual figures like Gerrit Mannoury and Evert Willem Beth, whose works are still archived in Amsterdam and Haarlem and are yet to be analysed.