Blackwell Reference Online

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Dutch Reformed philosopher. Born into a family that supported the ideas of Dutch theologian and statesman Abraham Kuyper, he was a civil servant and assistant director of the Kuyper Institute, where he studied the philosophical foundations of his own professional sphere of jurisprudence, finding them to be essentially religious. From 1926 he was a professor at the Free University of Amsterdam. He was a founder of the Christian philosophical system based on the ‘Cosmonomic Idea’, modelled on a complex of interrelating philosophical spheres. He maintained that basic religious presuppositions underlie all of philosophy and science, and he sought to assert the Christ-centred character of knowledge: without recognition of this, scientific and philosophical enquiry is incomplete. Although not widely accepted, Dooyeweerd's philosophy and in particular his Christian critique of philosophical theory influenced evangelical thinkers, including Hans Rookmaaker, Cornelius van Til and Francis Schaeffer. His works include Philosophy of the Law Idea (or Cosmonomic Idea) (1935–6) and A New Critique of Theoretical Thought (1953–8). 1985: The Legacy of Herman Dooyeweerd: Reflection on Critical Philosophy in the Christian Tradition. Lanham, Md, and Toronto. ... log in or subscribe to read full text