 | This article has multiple issues. Please helpimprove it or discuss these issues on thetalk page.(Learn how and when to remove these messages) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
|
%2c_filosoof%2c_Bestanddeelnr_935-0855.jpg)
François Hemsterhuis (27 December 1721 – 7 July 1790) was a Dutch writer onaesthetics and moralphilosophy.[1]
The son ofTiberius Hemsterhuis, he was born atFraneker in the Netherlands. He was educated at theUniversity of Leiden, where he studiedPlato. 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 theHague on 7 July 1790. Through his philosophical writings he became acquainted with many distinguished persons—Goethe,Herder, PrincessAdelheid Amalie Gallitzin, and especiallyJacobi, 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 asSocratic 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.[1]
His most important works, all of which were written in French, are:
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;[3] 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 byMichael John Petry in 2001, titledWijsgerige werken / Frans Hemsterhuis.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Hemsterhuis, François".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 13 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 264–265.
