Cornelis Verhoeven (2 February 1928 – 11 June 2001) was a Dutch philosopher and writer.

Early life and education

Verhoeven was born in Udenhout, the fourth child of seven from a farmer's family in the south of the Netherlands. He attended a catholic priest seminary but was asked to leave. He then studied classics, philosophy and religious studies at the

University of 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 ...

and earned his Ph.D. with the thesis ''Symboliek van de voet'' on 19 October 1956.

Career

Verhoeven taught Latin and Greek at the Jeroen Bosch College for 27 years. Then he became a professor of philosophy at the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...

. He published more than 80 books. He has written original work on wonder, reality, violence, religion, contemplation and language, and interpretations and translations of classical and modern philosophers such as

Heraclitus Heraclitus of Ephesus (; grc-gre, Ἡράκλειτος , "Glory of Hera"; ) was an ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher from the city of Ephesus, which was then part of the Persian Empire. Little is known of Heraclitus's life. He wrote ...

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

, Geulincx,

Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm (von) Leibniz . ( – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat. He is one of the most prominent figures in both the history of philosophy and the history of mathema ...

, Nietzsche and Heidegger. His work has been translated into English, German and Italian, and has been awarded the Anne Frank prize and the P. C. Hooft prize. One of his best known books was ''The Philosophy of Wonder''.

Personal

Verhoeven had two children, Neeltje (1973) and Daan, a

freediver Freediving, free-diving, free diving, breath-hold diving, or skin diving is a form of underwater diving that relies on breath-holding until resurfacing rather than the use of breathing apparatus such as scuba gear. Besides the limits of breath- ...

and

photographer A photographer (the Greek language, Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographe ...

(1974). He died in Den Bosch, on 11 June 2001.

Selected publications

* Cornelis Verhoeven: ''The philosophy of wonder''. Transl. by Mary Foran. New York, MacMillan, 1972. No ISBN Verhoeven's full bibliography consists of more than 3700 titles in Dutch.

References

External links

Personal website (in English), by his son Daan Verhoeven

Profile at dbnl
{{DEFAULTSORT:Verhoeven, Cornelis 1928 births 2001 deaths 20th-century Dutch philosophers Dutch essayists Dutch pacifists People from Udenhout Radboud University Nijmegen alumni Academic staff of the University of Amsterdam 20th-century essayists