page_title: Dutch philosophy
section_title: Thought of Desiderius Erasmus
hierarchical_section_title: Dutch philosophy / Influence on Dutch philosophy / Thought of Desiderius Erasmus
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Der flämische Maler Quentin Massys malte in Antwerpen den niederländischen Humanisten in seinem Studierzimmer.
context_page_description: Dutch philosophy is a broad branch of philosophy that discusses the contributions of Dutch philosophers to the discourse of Western philosophy and Renaissance philosophy. The philosophy, as its own entity, arose in the 16th and 17th centuries through the philosophical studies of Desiderius Erasmus and Baruch Spinoza. The adoption of the humanistic perspective by Erasmus, despite his Christian background, and rational but theocentric perspective expounded by Spinoza, supported each of these philosopher's works. In general, the philosophy revolved around acknowledging the reality of human self-determination and rational thought rather than focusing on traditional ideals of fatalism and virtue raised in Christianity. The roots of philosophical frameworks like the mind-body dualism and monism debate can also be traced to Dutch philosophy, which is attributed to 17th century philosopher René Descartes. Descartes was both a mathematician and philosopher during the Dutch Golden Age, despite being from the Kingdom of France. Modern Dutch philosophers like D.H. Th. Vollenhoven provided critical analyses on the dichotomy between dualism and monism.
context_section_description: Desiderius Erasmus's influence on Dutch philosophy is marked by his contributions to the discourse of Christian humanism, which highlights a philosophy that synthesises the humanistic perspective of self-determination with classical Christian traditions of virtue. At the core of his philosophical teachings, Erasmus promulgated the religious doctrine of docta pietas (English: learned piety), which Erasmus believed was the 'Philosophy of Christ'. Erasmus, further expanded upon this notion in Julius Excluded from Heaven (Latin: Julius exclusus e coelis), as cited in The Erasmus Reader where:
  "Our great master did not come down from heaven to earth to give men some easy or common philosophy. It is not a carefree or tranquil profession to be a Christian."
  Erasmus also wrote a large collection of ten critical essays titled Opera Omnia, which explore critical views on topics that range from education on the philosophy of Christian humanism in the Dutch Republic to his personal translation of the New Testament that consisted of his humanistic-influenced annotations. He grounded these annotations through extensive readings of Church Fathers writings. Erasmus further commented in Enchiridion militis Christiani (Latin: Handbook of a Christian Knight) that the readings can equip people with a more advanced understanding of Christian humanism. The book was written in order to highlight the divergence of theological education from classical antiquity, which incorporated a philosophy on morals and ethics, practised in the Dutch Republic during the 16th century. Erasmus further argued that detailed knowledge of classical antiquity would correspond to people having greater knowledge of the 'Philosophy of Christ' and therefore, have some knowledge of Christian humanistic philosophy.
caption: Quinten Massys, Desiderius Erasmus,c.1517.
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