François Hemsterhuis is remembered for arguments the next generation could not ignore.
The record lists François Hemsterhuis as Dutch philosopher (1721-1790).
François Hemsterhuis was born at Franeker in 1721. His recorded nationality is Netherlands. He studied at Leiden University.
Enlightenment argument moved philosophy into public life: it was now about government, rights and religion as much as metaphysics.
A philosophical position survives not by being proved but by resisting every attempt to dispose of it.
That the work was done from Netherlands matters: philosophical traditions, institutions and the language of publication have never been evenly distributed.
François Hemsterhuis died in 1790, aged 69. The arguments remain in print, which is the form in which philosophy survives.
