![Andreas Kinneging -](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/Andreas_Kinneging_-.jpg)
Andreas Antonius Maria Kinneging (born 26 February 1962 in
Eindhoven
Eindhoven () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of North Brabant of which it is its largest. With a population of 238,326 on 1 January 2022,[University of Leiden
Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, as a reward to the city of Le ...]
, and a conservative
philosopher
A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...
in the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
.
Background
Kinneging was raised in a Catholic family in the Dutch province of
Zeeland
, nl, Ik worstel en kom boven("I struggle and emerge")
, anthem = "Zeeuws volkslied"("Zeelandic Anthem")
, image_map = Zeeland in the Netherlands.svg
, map_alt =
, m ...
. He studied
political science
Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...
at the Catholic University of Nijmegen (currently named
Radboud University Nijmegen
Radboud University (abbreviated as RU, nl, Radboud Universiteit , formerly ''Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen'') is a public research university located in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. The university bears the name of Saint Radboud, a 9th century D ...
), graduating with the highest honours.
Classical-liberal period
Upon graduation he accepted a position with the
Prof.mr. B.M. Teldersstichting, a think-tank affiliated with the liberal party
VVD
The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( nl, Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie ; VVD) is a conservative-liberal Andeweg, R. and G. Irwin ''Politics and Governance in the Netherlands'', Basingstoke (Palgrave) p.49 political party in ...
. In his years with the Teldersstichting, Kinneging developed into a prolific and influential author on the philosophy of classic liberalism.
In the early 1990s, Kinneging became increasingly dissatisfied with
classical liberalism
Classical liberalism is a political tradition
Political culture describes how culture impacts politics. Every political system is embedded in a particular political culture.
Definition
Gabriel Almond defines it as "the particular patt ...
. He believed that the VVD was intellectually becoming increasingly pedestrian. He also strongly disagreed with the drift toward
social-liberalism
Social liberalism (german: Sozialliberalismus, es, socioliberalismo, nl, Sociaalliberalisme), also known as new liberalism in the United Kingdom, modern liberalism, or simply liberalism in the contemporary United States, left-liberalism ...
within the party. Kinneging finally cancelled his membership of the VVD party in 1999.
University career
Kinneging returned to the university after briefly working for the Dutch
Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a part of the government in most countries that is responsible for matters related to the finance.
Lists of current ministries of finance
Named "Ministry"
* Ministry of Finance (Afghanistan)
* Ministry of Finance and Eco ...
. In the late 1980s, he joined the Department of Public Administration of the Leiden University as an assistant professor, where he taught such students as the later member of parliament
Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Ayaan Hirsi Ali (; ; Somali: ''Ayaan Xirsi Cali'':'' Ayān Ḥirsī 'Alī;'' born Ayaan Hirsi Magan, ar, أيان حرسي علي / ALA-LC: ''Ayān Ḥirsī 'Alī'' 13 November 1969) is a Somali-born Dutch-American activist and former politicia ...
, and conservative activist
Joshua Livestro
Joshua Livestro (born 16 December 1970, in Amersfoort) is a Dutch columnist and political writer. He was a former assistant to EU commissioner Frits Bolkestein.
Livestro studied political science at Leiden University and philosophy at the Univer ...
.
Kinneging earned his PhD with the highest honors on 1 October 1994, with an English dissertation entitled ''Aristocracy, Antiquity and History - Classicism in Political Thought'', later published by Transaction Publishers. The book criticizes the standard literature on Modernity, by pointing out that remnants of classical wisdom - e.g. the ethics of honor - stayed with us for much longer than commonly thought. The book emphasizes Romans over Greeks. Following the trail of
Herbert Butterfield
Sir Herbert Butterfield (7 October 1900 – 20 July 1979) was an English historian and philosopher of history, who was Regius Professor of Modern History and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. He is remembered chiefly for a shor ...
(''The Whig Interpretation of History''), Kinneging rejects the
teleological study of the past.
Confirmed by a wave of recent historical studies (e.g. Jonathan Dewald's ''European Nobility'') Kinneging holds that the nobles, and thus Roman political and social models, were dominant much longer than suspected. The book is especially esteemed for its central cluster of chapters, which analyze the political and social thought of the Romans,
Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...
in particular, in great detail.
In 1996 Kinneging moved to the law school of the Leiden University, the oldest and among the most prestigious of Dutch law faculties. Kinneging was quickly promoted to tenured associate professor and accepted a chair in legal philosophy as full professor on 1 August 2004. His fields of expertise are
jurisprudence
Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning a ...
, political philosophy, ethics,
axiology
Axiology (from Ancient Greek, Greek , ''axia'': "value, worth"; and , ''wiktionary:-logia, -logia'': "study of") is the Philosophy, philosophical study of value (ethics), value. It includes questions about the nature and classification of values ...
,
deontology
In moral philosophy, deontological ethics or deontology (from Greek: + ) is the normative ethical theory that the morality of an action should be based on whether that action itself is right or wrong under a series of rules and principles, ra ...
and constitutional theory.
Writing his dissertation strengthened the process of intellectual 'conversion' that gradually developed Kinneging from a right-wing liberal into a classical conservative, who reaches back for the intellectual traditions of Greco-Roman antiquity and Judeo-Christian ethics. In 1999 Kinneging started a public debate in the Netherlands devoted to the resuscitation of conservatism, which culminated in the founding of the highly successful think-tank and educational group the
Edmund Burke Foundation
The Edmund Burke Foundation (''Edmund Burke Stichting'') is a conservative group based in The Hague, the Netherlands.
History
The Edmund Burke Foundation was founded in 2000 by a group of young conservatives, including professor Andreas Kinneging ...
, of which Kinneging became President.
The post-dissertation by Kinneging focused especially on virtue ethics. He also discovered the school of realist phenomenology characterized by such philosophers as
Edmund Husserl
, thesis1_title = Beiträge zur Variationsrechnung (Contributions to the Calculus of Variations)
, thesis1_url = https://fedora.phaidra.univie.ac.at/fedora/get/o:58535/bdef:Book/view
, thesis1_year = 1883
, thesis2_title ...
,
Max Scheler
Max Ferdinand Scheler (; 22 August 1874 – 19 May 1928) was a German philosopher known for his work in phenomenology, ethics, and philosophical anthropology. Considered in his lifetime one of the most prominent German philosophers,Davis, Zachar ...
,
Nicolai Hartmann
Paul Nicolai Hartmann (; 20 February 1882 – 9 October 1950) was a Baltic German philosopher. He is regarded as a key representative of critical realism and as one of the most important twentieth-century metaphysicians.
Biography
Hartmann was ...
,
Adolf Reinach
Adolf Bernhard Philipp Reinach (23 December 1883 – 16 November 1917) was a German philosopher, phenomenologist (from the Munich phenomenology school) and law theorist.
Life and work
Adolf Reinach was born into a prominent Jewish family in M ...
,
Dietrich von Hildebrand
Dietrich Richard Alfred von Hildebrand (12 October 1889 – 26 January 1977) was a German Roman Catholic philosopher and religious writer.
Hildebrand was called "the twentieth-century Doctor of the Church" by Pope Pius XII. He was a leading ...
,
Aurel Kolnai
Aurel Thomas Kolnai (December 5, 1900 – June 28, 1973) was a 20th-century philosopher and political theorist.
Life
Kolnai was born Aurel Stein in Budapest, Hungary to Jewish parents but moved to Vienna before his twentieth birthday to enter ...
,
Edith Stein
Edith Stein (religious name Saint Teresia Benedicta a Cruce ; also known as Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross or Saint Edith Stein; 12 October 1891 – 9 August 1942) was a German Jewish philosopher who converted to Christianity and became a ...
and others. Kinneging edited a new edition of
Nicolai Hartmann
Paul Nicolai Hartmann (; 20 February 1882 – 9 October 1950) was a Baltic German philosopher. He is regarded as a key representative of critical realism and as one of the most important twentieth-century metaphysicians.
Biography
Hartmann was ...
's ''Ethics'' (in three volumes, 2001-2004).
In 2005 he published, in Dutch ''Geography of Good and Evil'', a collection of essays written in the preceding decade.
In 2021, the Complaints Committee at Leiden University found that students' complaints of "intimidating behaviour" and harassment by Kinneging in online lectures were well-founded.
Positions
Kinneging was president of the Advisory Board of the
Edmund Burke Foundation
The Edmund Burke Foundation (''Edmund Burke Stichting'') is a conservative group based in The Hague, the Netherlands.
History
The Edmund Burke Foundation was founded in 2000 by a group of young conservatives, including professor Andreas Kinneging ...
and chairman of the board of trustees of the
Center for European Renewal
The Center for European Renewal (CER) is a pan-European conservative organization based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The CER was founded as the Vanenburg Society in the summer of 2007 by a group of mainly European conservatives. They included Dut ...
. He no longer serves on the boards of either organization. In the early 1990s Kinneging was chairman of the board of the Stimezo abortion clinic in The Hague.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kinneging, Andreas
1962 births
Living people
Conservatism in the Netherlands
20th-century Dutch philosophers
21st-century Dutch philosophers
Dutch republicans
Academic staff of Leiden University
People from Eindhoven
Dutch ethicists