Herman Dooyeweerd

Herman Dooyeweerd (1894-1977), born in Amsterdam, was a Dutch juridical scholar, philosopher, and the founder of a new approach called, the philosophy of the cosmonomic idea. Dooyeweerd (pronounced DOE-yuh-vaird) received early support for his work from his brother-in-law D. H. Th. Vollenhoven and later from H.G. Stoker in South Africa and Cornelius Van Til in the United States.

The majority of Dooyeweerd's works originally appeared only in Dutch, although during his lifetime efforts began to make his work available to English-speakers. Translation of Dooyeweerd's writing has continued since 1994 under the oversight of the Dooyeweerd Centre (see link below). Of the books that have been published in English, the most significant is his magnum opus, De Wijsbegeerte der Wetsidee (1935-6), which was revised and expanded in English as, A New Critique of Theoretical Thought (1953-8).

Dooyeweerd's influence has continued through the Association for Reformational Philosophy and its journal Philosophia Reformata which he and Vollenhoven set up. There are also a number of institutions around the world that draw their inspiration from his philosophy.

Works

Multi-volume publications

  • A New Critique of Theoretical Thought (Edwin Mellen Press, 1997)

    • Volume I: The Necessary Presuppositions of Philosophy
    • Volume II: The General Theory of the Modal Spheres
    • Volume III: The Structure of Individuality of Temporal Reality
    • Volume IV: Index of Subject and Authors (compiled by H. de Jongste)

  • Reformation and Scholasticism in Philosophy

    • Volume I: The Greek Prelude

  • Encyclopedia of the Science of Law

    • Volume 1: Introduction

Collected essays and compilations

  • Christian Philosophy and the Meaning of History
  • Essays in Legal, Social, and Political Philosophy
  • Roots of Western Culture
  • In The Twilight of Western Thought
  • Political Philosophy

External links