Philosophy


Frans Hemsterhuis

hemsterhuisIntroductions of about 35-40 minutes on Frans Hemsterhuis (1721 – 1790), the Frisian Socrates, if necessary followed by a filmed documentary made by the Frisian broadcasting in two parts of 30 minutes each.

These introductions are regularly held before audiences of service clubs like Rotary, Lions etc. No fees are requested with exception of those for travelling outside Rotterdam; a gift to the Eye Care Foundation in Amsterdam will be appreciated.

Recently a critical edition on the subject of the philosophical works by Frans Hemsterhuis has been procured by dr. Jacob van Sluis; the first copies of it were handed by him to some distinguished members of the Dutch philosophical community during an animated gathering at the Royal Library at The Hague. At the same time the library has been enriched with a collection of original manuscripts of this philosopher, this being done by the former proprietor from Germany.

On the 17th of October 2015 an extended review of this event has been published in the Dutch newspaper NRC.

On the 4th of November 2016 an introduction to Frans Hemsterhuis will be given in the mainhall of nursery home Liduina for friends and acquaintances. However special attention will be given also to the documentary “Spinoza, a free thinker” by Robin Lutz, which got the prestigeous dodumentary award at the Film Festival of Cannes.

On the 21st of September 2017 a lecture on Hemsterhuis was being held at Texel for a seniorsclub, founded recently. The audience was small but attentive. See picture below.

Pierre Bayle

bayle(shortly) a shadow-play on Pierre Bayle, the philosopher of Rotterdam (1647 – 1706) – detailed information will follow in due time. This is a project in cooperation with puppeteers and film makers.
Plans are to film this shadow-play in which the notion of tolerance is being explained in a comprehensible way and then to spread same as an educational tool on the one hand among primary and secondary schools and on the other hand throughout interested groups within the society, first in the city of Rotterdam and later on perhaps also elsewhere in the country.