François Hemsterhuis (27 December 1721 – 7 July 1790) was a Dutch writer on

aesthetics Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and taste (sociology), taste, which in a broad sense incorporates the philosophy of art.Slater, B. H.Aesthetics ''Internet Encyclopedia of Ph ...

and moral

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

Biography

The son of Tiberius Hemsterhuis, he was born at Franeker in the Netherlands. He was educated at the

University of Leiden Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange as a Protestant institution, it holds the distinction of being the oldest university in the Neth ...

, where he studied

Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...

. Failing to obtain a professorship, he entered the service of the state, and for many years acted as secretary to the state council of the United Provinces. He died at the Hague on 7 July 1790. Through his philosophical writings he became acquainted with many distinguished persons—

Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

Herder A herder is a pastoralism, pastoral worker responsible for the care and management of a herd or flock of domestic animals, usually on extensive management, open pasture. It is particularly associated with nomadic pastoralism, nomadic or transhuma ...

, Princess Adelheid Amalie Gallitzin, and especially Jacobi, with whom he had much in common. His most valuable contributions are in the department of aesthetics or the general analysis of feeling. His philosophy has been characterized as Socratic in content and Platonic in form. Its foundation was the desire for self-knowledge and truth, untrammelled by the rigid bonds of any particular system.

Works

His most important works, all of which were written in French, are: *''Lettre sur la sculpture'' (1769), in which occurs the well-known definition of the Beautiful as "that which gives us the greatest number of ideas in the shortest space of time" *its continuation, ''Lettre sur les désirs'' (1770) *''Lettre sur l'homme et ses rapports'' (1772), in which the "moral organ" and the theory of knowledge are discussed *''Sophyle'' (1778), a dialogue on the relation between the soul and the body, and also an attack on materialism *''Aristée'' (1779), the "theodicy" of Hemsterhuis, discussing the existence of God and his relation to man *''Simon'' (1787), on the four faculties of the soul, which are the will, the imagination, the moral principle (which is both passive and active) *''Alexis'' (1787), an attempt to prove that there are three golden ages, the last being the life beyond the grave *''Lettre sur l'athéisme'' (1787). A collected edition of his works was made by P. S. Meijboom (1846-1850); see also S. A. Gronemann, ''F. Hemsterhuis, de Nederlandische Wijsgeer'' (Utrecht, 1867); E. Grucker, ''François Hemsterhuis, sa vie et ses œuvres'' (Paris, 1866); E. Meyer, ''Der Philosoph Franz Hemsterhuis'' (Breslau, 1893), with bibliographical notice; Augustinus P. Dierick, "Pre-Romantic Elements in the aesthetic and moral writings of François Hemsterhuis (1721-1790)." Studies in Eighteenth Century Culture 26 (1998), 247–271. A bilingual French-Dutch edition was published, introduced and commented on by Michael John Petry in 2001, titled ''Wijsgerige werken / Frans Hemsterhuis''.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hemsterhuis, Francois 1721 births 1790 deaths 18th-century Dutch philosophers Enlightenment philosophers Leiden University alumni People from Franekeradeel Burials at Pieterskerk, Leiden