Jeroen M.M. van de Ven | Erasmus University Rotterdam (original) (raw)
Website/scientific repository on Spinoza by Jeroen M.M. van de Ven
The Spinoza Web is a website that seeks to make the Dutch philosopher Benedictus de Spinoza (1632... more The Spinoza Web is a website that seeks to make the Dutch philosopher Benedictus de Spinoza (1632-1677) accessible to a wide range of users from interested novices to advanced scholars, and everything in between. It is a continually developing, active project whose success depends on its users. Please contact us with feedback, suggestions, and ideas!
At present our website offers two points of entry. The ‘Timeline Experience’ tells the story of Spinoza, using rich graphic and other supporting material through which the user can navigate to enter and experience his very world. The ‘Database Search’ is a gateway to an enormous repository for the study of Spinoza, whose goal is eventually to assemble all first-hand documentation pertaining to him. Attractively designed without compromising on scholarly standards, our website promotes a source-based contextual approach to Spinoza who, revered and reviled, has had countless rumours and myths attached to his name over the course of the centuries.
'Spinoza's web'-project
The Spinoza Web is a creation of the ‘Spinoza’s Web’-project of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Utrecht University, funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). It traces back to an early initiative of its main executive, Jeroen van de Ven, and was implemented by the project’s principal investigator, Piet Steenbakkers, who had entertained a long-time wish for a website dedicated to Spinoza. In 2014 postdoctoral researcher Albert Gootjes joined their ranks in a largely advisory capacity. Later that year the team commissioned the Rotterdam-based advertising agency Nijgh, which gladly welcomed the new challenge of combining creative inspiration with scholarly rigour.
Beta release
After extensive planning and user tests, November 2016 saw the beta release of The Spinoza Web, notably featuring the ‘Timeline Experience’ and Database with entries largely based on the historical and bibliographical research by Jeroen van de Ven. Subsequent releases are scheduled to boost the ‘Database Search’ by making available in open access Spinoza’s writings both in their original editions and in an authoritative English translation. Further plans include the addition of an interactive element facilitating Spinoza studies. To help us realize our pursuits, we welcome all contributions including but not limited to financial support. Potential contributors are encouraged to get in touch using the Contact page.
Sponsors
We gratefully acknowledge the generous funding received from our Sponsors.
Sponsors
Generous subsidies were received from the following institutions and organizations:
NWO
Utrecht University, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies
Utrecht University, The Descartes Centre for the History and Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities
Utrecht University Fund
K.F.Hein Fonds
The Spinozahuis Society
Thijssen-Schoute Stichting
For all contributions in kind, ranging from IT support to copyright permissions, we thank the following individuals and institutions:
Dick Timmer, Samuel van Bruchem, Ward Huetink, ICT & Media at Utrecht University (Faculty of Humanities), Centraal Museum Utrecht, Koninklijke Bibliotheek (The Hague), Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam), Joods Historisch Museum (Amsterdam), Amsterdam Stadsarchief, Universiteit van Amsterdam (University Library), Beth Haim (Cemetery of the Portuguese Jewish community, Ouderkerk aan de Amstel), Leiden University Library, Hoogheemraadschap van Schieland en de Krimpenerwaard (Rotterdam), Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin-Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Universitäts-und Forschungsbibliothek Erfurt/Gotha, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Bibliothek–Niedersächsische Landesbibliothek (Hanover), Vereniging Het Spinozahuis, Historisches Archiv des Germanischen Nationalmuseum (Nuremberg), Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Sachsen-Anhalt (Halle), Universität Bern (University Library), Herzog August Bibliothek (Wolfenbüttel), Österreichische Nationalbibliothek (Vienna), Bibliothèque Municipale de Lyon, Bibliothèque Nationale de France (Paris), Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana (Archivio della Congregazione per la Dottrina della Fede), National Library of the Czech Republic, Royal Society (London), Oxford University Museum of Natural History, Utrecht University Library, Cornell University (Ithaca, NY), Google (Books), as well as staff of a large number of international libraries who kindly provided information about seventeenth-century printed copies of Spinoza's writings now kept in their holdings.
Directions for use
Dates
Unless otherwise indicated, dates are given according to the Gregorian calendar (‘New Style’), with the year starting on 1 January. The Dutch provinces Utrecht, Friesland, Gelderland, Overijssel, and Groningen, as well as German-speaking territories, retained the Julian calendar (‘Old Style’) until 1700/01, whereas England did so until 1752. Until that date, the civil or legal year in England also began on 25 March (Lady Day) rather than 1 January.
Letters
Of Spinoza’s correspondence 88 letters have survived: 75 published in the posthumous writings and 13 that have come down to us in other ways. An additional 45 letters have been postulated by Jeroen van de Ven so far, often on the basis of textual evidence in extant letters; in the Database these are marked with an asterisk (*). Each letter has a unique code, specifying the date according to the Gregorian calendar (in the format yyyy.mm.dd). Where the month and/or day are unknown, they are designated as 00. Conjectural dates are given between square brackets. The mathematical symbols for less-than (<) and greater-than (>) signify ‘earlier/later than’ the date given. Page number(s) in the Opera posthuma which are followed by the siglum ‘v’ refer to a Latin version (‘versio’) of a letter originally written in Dutch.
Works
NS = De nagelate schriften
OP = Opera posthuma
PPC/CM= Renati des Cartes Principiorum philosophiae pars I et II + Cogitata metaphysica
TTP = Tractatus theologico-politicus
Names
In the seventeenth century, spelling was not consistent, also for family names. In addition, academics used Latinized forms. In the Timeline experience and Database, names are given in the form now commonly preferred (Descartes, Wittich rather than Cartesius, Wittichius; but Serrarius instead of Serrurier). In Dutch, prefixes (‘de’, ‘van’, ‘van der’ and the like) are retained when referring to people with their family names: Lambert van Velthuysen and Van Velthuysen (rather than Velthuysen); Regnerus van Mansveld and Van Mansveld (rather than Mansveld). Aliases of Jewish names are given in their most common form, e.g., Abraham Jesurum de Spinoza (Michael d’Espinosa’s paternal uncle), instead of the Portuguese alias Manuel Rodrigues de Spinoza. For topographical names, established English forms have been used wherever possible (The Hague, not ’s-Gravenhage or Den Haag; Cologne, not Köln), otherwise the vernacular is preferred (’s-Hertogenbosch or Den Bosch, not Bois-le-Duc).
Quotations
All English quotations from Spinoza’s writings are from Edwin Curley (trans.), The Collected Works of Spinoza, 2 vols, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press (1986, 2016).
Books by Jeroen M.M. van de Ven
In Printing Spinoza Jeroen van de Ven systematically examines all seventeenth-century printed edi... more In Printing Spinoza Jeroen van de Ven systematically examines all seventeenth-century printed editions of Spinoza's writings, published between 1663 and 1694, as well as their variant 'issues'. In focus are Spinoza's 1663 adumbration of René Descartes's 'Principles of Philosophy' with his own 'Metaphysical Thoughts' , the 'Theological-Political Treatise' (1670), and the posthumous writings (1677), including the famously-known 'Ethics'. Van de Ven's descriptive bibliography studies, contextualizes, and records all aspects of the publication history of Spinoza's writings from manuscript to print and assesses their immediate reception. It discusses the printed books' codicology, philology, typographical and textual relationships, illustration programmes, as well as their dissemination in early Enlightenment Europe, in view of the physical aspects of 1,246 extant copies and their provenance. Readership All interested in the history of philosophy, Descartes and Spinoza, the history of the book and bibliography, intellectual history and networks, Early-Enlightenment thought, the Dutch Golden Age. For more information see brill.com
Printing Spinoza. A Descriptive Bibliography of the Works Published in the Seventeenth Century (Brill, 2022).
In Printing Spinoza Jeroen van de Ven systematically examines all seventeenth-century printed edi... more In Printing Spinoza Jeroen van de Ven systematically examines all seventeenth-century printed editions of Spinoza’s writings, published between 1663
and 1694, as well as their variant ‘issues’. In focus are Spinoza’s 1663
adumbration of René Descartes’s ‘Principles of Philosophy’ with his own
‘Metaphysical Thoughts’, the ‘Theological-Political Treatise’ (1670), and the
posthumous writings (1677), including the famously-known ‘Ethics’.
Van de Ven’s descriptive bibliography studies, contextualizes, and records all
aspects of the publication history of Spinoza’s writings from manuscript to
print and assesses their immediate reception. It discusses the printed books’
codicology, philology, typographical and textual relationships, illustration
programmes, as well as their dissemination in early Enlightenment Europe,
in view of the physical aspects of 1,246 extant copies and their provenance.
https://brill.com/view/title/60575
"Towards a New Historical Context of Spinoza" Many key questions about Spinoza’s life, family,... more "Towards a New Historical Context of Spinoza"
Many key questions about Spinoza’s life, family, intellectual networks and his occupations still remain to be answered, ranging from his early entrepreneurship, his intellectual training and his erratic expulsion from the synagogue to his work as a performer of natural experiments and his practical skills as an optician. Summarised thus, a careful, systematic reassessment of the historical Spinoza with a view to producing a truly critical reconstruction of his life, immediate family, character, intellectual development, occupations, friends and networks, writings and earliest reception is urgently needed. Serving as a backbone and an instrument for international Spinoza scholarship, the present publication seeks to break new ground in entirely focusing on the historical facts and to give a complete and critical account of Spinoza’s life and times by disclosing and rendering available the documentary sources up to 1800. The main purpose of such a survey is to offer a deeper insight into and to contribute in finding an answer to many crucial questions about the multiplicity and diversity of Spinoza’s occupations, interests, agenda and contacts, as well as in the circulation of knowledge in the United Provinces and abroad. This, in turn, will further reveal the forces and processes that influenced Spinoza’s intellectual development as an original thinker in his own time. Such an interdisciplinary reconstruction of Spinoza’s life and time, combining the history of philosophy, philology, bibliography, palaeography, historiography and cultural history, I consider a backbone and indispensable for establishing a thorough historical context of the person and philosopher Benedictus de Spinoza. This new comprehensive historical context of Spinoza is in turn vital for a greater understanding of the tumultuous effect of the Dutch Enlightenment in Europe.
The present chronology in this publication, modelled after the prominent chronologies of the lives of Leibniz, Husserl and Hobbes, aims at establishing a new comprehensive historical context of Spinoza by rendering available the documentary sources of his life, writings, intellectual networks and reception covering the time frame up to 1680.
The study is organised in the following way. The first portion comprises the chronology of Spinoza’s life and times, starting with the birth of the philosopher’s father, Michael d’Espinosa, in 1587 or 1588 and ending in early 1679 with the official condemnation by the Roman Catholic Office of the Holy Inquisition of the philosopher’s Epistolae, the Ethica, the Tractatus theologico-politicus and the Tractatus politicus (Part 1).
The documentary section of the study (Part 2) comprises the following sections: short biographies of key figures (Annex 1); a list of known business partners of the Amsterdam Espinosa trading firm, from 1627 to 1664 (Annex 2); a new critical inventory of Spinoza’s correspondence (26 August 1661–mid-October 1676), not only of the 88 surviving (published) letters, but also of 43 postulated letters that are evidently lost or dispersed (Annex 3); an annotated codicological list of surviving letters and the seventeenth and eighteenth-century manuscripts of his work (Annex 4); and a bibliography of primary and secondary sources, followed by a general index of names. Since there is no authoritative bibliography of Spinoza’s writings, Part 2 also provides a detailed bibliographical catalogue of surviving copies (749) of the earlier editions and (as the case may be) translations of his work, printed between 1663 and 1796 in libraries around the world (see Annex 4 (Sources), Surviving Copies of Editions and Translations of Spinoza’s Writings). A bibliography of primary and secondary sources completes this publication.
The book, unveiling many new exciting documents and sources on Spinoza's life and times, is scheduled for 2015/2016 and will be published in English.
Revised and augmented edition of: The Continuum Companion to Spinoza, eds Wiep van Bunge, Henri K... more Revised and augmented edition of: The Continuum Companion to Spinoza, eds Wiep van Bunge, Henri Krop, Piet Steenbakkers and Jeroen M.M. van de Ven (London/New York, Continuum, 2011).
Also published as e-book.
This book is the first to offer an accessible, encyclopedic account of Spinoza's life and ideas, ... more This book is the first to offer an accessible, encyclopedic account of Spinoza's life and ideas, his influences and commentators, and his lasting significance. Some of the best features include an annotated chronology of Spinoza's life, bibliographies of his major influences and critics, a substantive dictionary of key Spinozan concepts, and summaries of Spinoza's principal writings. The work concludes with an essay on Spinoza's place in modern academic scholarship.
This work is a valuable tool for anyone interested in Spinoza and the era of great change in which he lived and wrote.
Table of Contents
Introduction \ Acknowledgements \ Abbreviations \ List of Contributors \ 1. Life \ 2. Influences \ 3. Early Critics \ 4. Glossary \ 5.Short Synopses \ 6. Spinoza scholarship \ Index.
Also published as e-book.
See for a review (The British Journal for the History of Philosophy): http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09608788.2012.666848
Revised edition published as: The Bloomsbury Companion to Spinoza, 2014.
Critical edition of Descartes' correspondence from the year 1643, with three additional essays on... more Critical edition of Descartes' correspondence from the year 1643, with three additional essays on the Utrecht Crisis, the 'Illustrious Brotherhood of Our Blessed Lady' in 's-Hertogenbosch, and Descartes, Elizabeth and Appolonius' Problem (last essay by Henk Bos). Includes a Calendar of 1643 and a Biographical Lexicon.
PhD Diss. Tilburg University. With an abstract in English.
Papers by Jeroen M.M. van de Ven
Introduction - W. van Bunge, Henri Krop, Piet Steenbakkers and Jeroen M.M. van de Ven (Erasmus Un... more Introduction - W. van Bunge, Henri Krop, Piet Steenbakkers and Jeroen M.M. van de Ven (Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands, Utrecht University, The Netherlands and Boxtel, The Netherlands) Acknowledgements Abbreviations List of Contributors 1. Life - Jeroen van de Ven (Boxtel, The Netherlands) 2. Influences Introduction - P. Steenbakkers (Utrecht University, The Netherlands) Burgersdijk - H. Krop (Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands) Descartes - P. Steenbakkers (Utrecht University, The Netherlands) Enden - F. Mertens (University of Ghent, Belgium) Heereboord - H. Krop (Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands) Jewish Philosophical Influences: Maimonides, Crescas, Abrabanel, Menasseh Ben Israel, Kabbalah, Delmedigo - T. Rudavsky (The Ohio State University, USA) Stoa - J. Miller (Queen's University, Canada) 3. Early Critics Pierre Bayle - G. Mori (Universita degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale Amedeo Avogadro, ...
In the years 1678-1679 an Utrecht freethinker scribbled daring remarks in an unsightly jotter. Hi... more In the years 1678-1679 an Utrecht freethinker scribbled daring remarks in an unsightly jotter. His interests included sex, politics, religion and philosophy. It takes only a quick glance to see that he felt drawn towards all things radical - Spinoza figures prominently in his notebook, but even more so Adrianus Beverland, a notorious libertine known for his eroticism. Our author - as yet unidentified - was well-informed about political affairs, both local, national and international. He appears to have been connected with the well-to-do and the well-educated in Utrecht and beyond. His jottings broached any subject, as long as it was novel, exciting or juicy. Much seems to be taken down spontaneously, as gossip or alehouse bravado. The notebook, now kept in Utrecht University Library (ms. 1284) and published here for the first time, offers a rare insight into the uncensored fascinations of a member of the Dutch elite in a period in which society and ideas underwent drastic change.*
British Journal for the History of Philosophy, 2004
The municipal archives of The Hague hold a small collection with personal papers of the Leiden ph... more The municipal archives of The Hague hold a small collection with personal papers of the Leiden physician Cornelis van Hogelande (1590-1662). Among Van Hogelande's papers we found the copies of two letters by his close friend Rene´Descartes. The first letter is without question the most important discovery: the letter was completely unknown and contains Descartes's unpublished judgement on a work by the Czech reformer Jan Amos Comenius. 1 Both copies lack an address, but there can be no doubt that the original letters were sent to Van Hogelande, because the second of the two letters was-for the greater part-already known and can be found in the standard edition of the correspondence by Adam and Tannery (AT III, 721-4). Addressed to Van Hogelande on 8 February 1640, it contains Descartes's judgement on a broadsheet by the English mathematician John Pell. 2 However, compared to the text published in AT, the copy in The Hague has an additional paragraph. Moreover, in it Descartes refers to the *We wish to thank the Gemeentearchief in The Hague for the kind permission to publish the letters of Descartes. We are much obliged to John Cottingham who readily agreed to translate the Latin letters into English. We also thank Theo Verbeek for his helpful comments on earlier drafts of this article. The edition of Descartes's works by Charles Adam and Paul Tannery (Paris: Vrin, 1964-74) is abbreviated AT. The Correspondance du P. Marin Mersenne
British Journal for the History of Philosophy, 2004
Mededelingen vanwege het Spinozahuis., 2019
Paper on the seventeenth-century Dutch translations of Spinoza's Tractatus theologico-politicus (... more Paper on the seventeenth-century Dutch translations of Spinoza's Tractatus theologico-politicus (1670). On a new, hitherto unknown Dutch translation.
The Spinoza Web is a website that seeks to make the Dutch philosopher Benedictus de Spinoza (1632... more The Spinoza Web is a website that seeks to make the Dutch philosopher Benedictus de Spinoza (1632-1677) accessible to a wide range of users from interested novices to advanced scholars, and everything in between. It is a continually developing, active project whose success depends on its users. Please contact us with feedback, suggestions, and ideas!
At present our website offers two points of entry. The ‘Timeline Experience’ tells the story of Spinoza, using rich graphic and other supporting material through which the user can navigate to enter and experience his very world. The ‘Database Search’ is a gateway to an enormous repository for the study of Spinoza, whose goal is eventually to assemble all first-hand documentation pertaining to him. Attractively designed without compromising on scholarly standards, our website promotes a source-based contextual approach to Spinoza who, revered and reviled, has had countless rumours and myths attached to his name over the course of the centuries.
'Spinoza's web'-project
The Spinoza Web is a creation of the ‘Spinoza’s Web’-project of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Utrecht University, funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). It traces back to an early initiative of its main executive, Jeroen van de Ven, and was implemented by the project’s principal investigator, Piet Steenbakkers, who had entertained a long-time wish for a website dedicated to Spinoza. In 2014 postdoctoral researcher Albert Gootjes joined their ranks in a largely advisory capacity. Later that year the team commissioned the Rotterdam-based advertising agency Nijgh, which gladly welcomed the new challenge of combining creative inspiration with scholarly rigour.
Beta release
After extensive planning and user tests, November 2016 saw the beta release of The Spinoza Web, notably featuring the ‘Timeline Experience’ and Database with entries largely based on the historical and bibliographical research by Jeroen van de Ven. Subsequent releases are scheduled to boost the ‘Database Search’ by making available in open access Spinoza’s writings both in their original editions and in an authoritative English translation. Further plans include the addition of an interactive element facilitating Spinoza studies. To help us realize our pursuits, we welcome all contributions including but not limited to financial support. Potential contributors are encouraged to get in touch using the Contact page.
Sponsors
We gratefully acknowledge the generous funding received from our Sponsors.
Sponsors
Generous subsidies were received from the following institutions and organizations:
NWO
Utrecht University, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies
Utrecht University, The Descartes Centre for the History and Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities
Utrecht University Fund
K.F.Hein Fonds
The Spinozahuis Society
Thijssen-Schoute Stichting
For all contributions in kind, ranging from IT support to copyright permissions, we thank the following individuals and institutions:
Dick Timmer, Samuel van Bruchem, Ward Huetink, ICT & Media at Utrecht University (Faculty of Humanities), Centraal Museum Utrecht, Koninklijke Bibliotheek (The Hague), Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam), Joods Historisch Museum (Amsterdam), Amsterdam Stadsarchief, Universiteit van Amsterdam (University Library), Beth Haim (Cemetery of the Portuguese Jewish community, Ouderkerk aan de Amstel), Leiden University Library, Hoogheemraadschap van Schieland en de Krimpenerwaard (Rotterdam), Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin-Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Universitäts-und Forschungsbibliothek Erfurt/Gotha, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Bibliothek–Niedersächsische Landesbibliothek (Hanover), Vereniging Het Spinozahuis, Historisches Archiv des Germanischen Nationalmuseum (Nuremberg), Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Sachsen-Anhalt (Halle), Universität Bern (University Library), Herzog August Bibliothek (Wolfenbüttel), Österreichische Nationalbibliothek (Vienna), Bibliothèque Municipale de Lyon, Bibliothèque Nationale de France (Paris), Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana (Archivio della Congregazione per la Dottrina della Fede), National Library of the Czech Republic, Royal Society (London), Oxford University Museum of Natural History, Utrecht University Library, Cornell University (Ithaca, NY), Google (Books), as well as staff of a large number of international libraries who kindly provided information about seventeenth-century printed copies of Spinoza's writings now kept in their holdings.
Directions for use
Dates
Unless otherwise indicated, dates are given according to the Gregorian calendar (‘New Style’), with the year starting on 1 January. The Dutch provinces Utrecht, Friesland, Gelderland, Overijssel, and Groningen, as well as German-speaking territories, retained the Julian calendar (‘Old Style’) until 1700/01, whereas England did so until 1752. Until that date, the civil or legal year in England also began on 25 March (Lady Day) rather than 1 January.
Letters
Of Spinoza’s correspondence 88 letters have survived: 75 published in the posthumous writings and 13 that have come down to us in other ways. An additional 45 letters have been postulated by Jeroen van de Ven so far, often on the basis of textual evidence in extant letters; in the Database these are marked with an asterisk (*). Each letter has a unique code, specifying the date according to the Gregorian calendar (in the format yyyy.mm.dd). Where the month and/or day are unknown, they are designated as 00. Conjectural dates are given between square brackets. The mathematical symbols for less-than (<) and greater-than (>) signify ‘earlier/later than’ the date given. Page number(s) in the Opera posthuma which are followed by the siglum ‘v’ refer to a Latin version (‘versio’) of a letter originally written in Dutch.
Works
NS = De nagelate schriften
OP = Opera posthuma
PPC/CM= Renati des Cartes Principiorum philosophiae pars I et II + Cogitata metaphysica
TTP = Tractatus theologico-politicus
Names
In the seventeenth century, spelling was not consistent, also for family names. In addition, academics used Latinized forms. In the Timeline experience and Database, names are given in the form now commonly preferred (Descartes, Wittich rather than Cartesius, Wittichius; but Serrarius instead of Serrurier). In Dutch, prefixes (‘de’, ‘van’, ‘van der’ and the like) are retained when referring to people with their family names: Lambert van Velthuysen and Van Velthuysen (rather than Velthuysen); Regnerus van Mansveld and Van Mansveld (rather than Mansveld). Aliases of Jewish names are given in their most common form, e.g., Abraham Jesurum de Spinoza (Michael d’Espinosa’s paternal uncle), instead of the Portuguese alias Manuel Rodrigues de Spinoza. For topographical names, established English forms have been used wherever possible (The Hague, not ’s-Gravenhage or Den Haag; Cologne, not Köln), otherwise the vernacular is preferred (’s-Hertogenbosch or Den Bosch, not Bois-le-Duc).
Quotations
All English quotations from Spinoza’s writings are from Edwin Curley (trans.), The Collected Works of Spinoza, 2 vols, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press (1986, 2016).
In Printing Spinoza Jeroen van de Ven systematically examines all seventeenth-century printed edi... more In Printing Spinoza Jeroen van de Ven systematically examines all seventeenth-century printed editions of Spinoza's writings, published between 1663 and 1694, as well as their variant 'issues'. In focus are Spinoza's 1663 adumbration of René Descartes's 'Principles of Philosophy' with his own 'Metaphysical Thoughts' , the 'Theological-Political Treatise' (1670), and the posthumous writings (1677), including the famously-known 'Ethics'. Van de Ven's descriptive bibliography studies, contextualizes, and records all aspects of the publication history of Spinoza's writings from manuscript to print and assesses their immediate reception. It discusses the printed books' codicology, philology, typographical and textual relationships, illustration programmes, as well as their dissemination in early Enlightenment Europe, in view of the physical aspects of 1,246 extant copies and their provenance. Readership All interested in the history of philosophy, Descartes and Spinoza, the history of the book and bibliography, intellectual history and networks, Early-Enlightenment thought, the Dutch Golden Age. For more information see brill.com
Printing Spinoza. A Descriptive Bibliography of the Works Published in the Seventeenth Century (Brill, 2022).
In Printing Spinoza Jeroen van de Ven systematically examines all seventeenth-century printed edi... more In Printing Spinoza Jeroen van de Ven systematically examines all seventeenth-century printed editions of Spinoza’s writings, published between 1663
and 1694, as well as their variant ‘issues’. In focus are Spinoza’s 1663
adumbration of René Descartes’s ‘Principles of Philosophy’ with his own
‘Metaphysical Thoughts’, the ‘Theological-Political Treatise’ (1670), and the
posthumous writings (1677), including the famously-known ‘Ethics’.
Van de Ven’s descriptive bibliography studies, contextualizes, and records all
aspects of the publication history of Spinoza’s writings from manuscript to
print and assesses their immediate reception. It discusses the printed books’
codicology, philology, typographical and textual relationships, illustration
programmes, as well as their dissemination in early Enlightenment Europe,
in view of the physical aspects of 1,246 extant copies and their provenance.
https://brill.com/view/title/60575
"Towards a New Historical Context of Spinoza" Many key questions about Spinoza’s life, family,... more "Towards a New Historical Context of Spinoza"
Many key questions about Spinoza’s life, family, intellectual networks and his occupations still remain to be answered, ranging from his early entrepreneurship, his intellectual training and his erratic expulsion from the synagogue to his work as a performer of natural experiments and his practical skills as an optician. Summarised thus, a careful, systematic reassessment of the historical Spinoza with a view to producing a truly critical reconstruction of his life, immediate family, character, intellectual development, occupations, friends and networks, writings and earliest reception is urgently needed. Serving as a backbone and an instrument for international Spinoza scholarship, the present publication seeks to break new ground in entirely focusing on the historical facts and to give a complete and critical account of Spinoza’s life and times by disclosing and rendering available the documentary sources up to 1800. The main purpose of such a survey is to offer a deeper insight into and to contribute in finding an answer to many crucial questions about the multiplicity and diversity of Spinoza’s occupations, interests, agenda and contacts, as well as in the circulation of knowledge in the United Provinces and abroad. This, in turn, will further reveal the forces and processes that influenced Spinoza’s intellectual development as an original thinker in his own time. Such an interdisciplinary reconstruction of Spinoza’s life and time, combining the history of philosophy, philology, bibliography, palaeography, historiography and cultural history, I consider a backbone and indispensable for establishing a thorough historical context of the person and philosopher Benedictus de Spinoza. This new comprehensive historical context of Spinoza is in turn vital for a greater understanding of the tumultuous effect of the Dutch Enlightenment in Europe.
The present chronology in this publication, modelled after the prominent chronologies of the lives of Leibniz, Husserl and Hobbes, aims at establishing a new comprehensive historical context of Spinoza by rendering available the documentary sources of his life, writings, intellectual networks and reception covering the time frame up to 1680.
The study is organised in the following way. The first portion comprises the chronology of Spinoza’s life and times, starting with the birth of the philosopher’s father, Michael d’Espinosa, in 1587 or 1588 and ending in early 1679 with the official condemnation by the Roman Catholic Office of the Holy Inquisition of the philosopher’s Epistolae, the Ethica, the Tractatus theologico-politicus and the Tractatus politicus (Part 1).
The documentary section of the study (Part 2) comprises the following sections: short biographies of key figures (Annex 1); a list of known business partners of the Amsterdam Espinosa trading firm, from 1627 to 1664 (Annex 2); a new critical inventory of Spinoza’s correspondence (26 August 1661–mid-October 1676), not only of the 88 surviving (published) letters, but also of 43 postulated letters that are evidently lost or dispersed (Annex 3); an annotated codicological list of surviving letters and the seventeenth and eighteenth-century manuscripts of his work (Annex 4); and a bibliography of primary and secondary sources, followed by a general index of names. Since there is no authoritative bibliography of Spinoza’s writings, Part 2 also provides a detailed bibliographical catalogue of surviving copies (749) of the earlier editions and (as the case may be) translations of his work, printed between 1663 and 1796 in libraries around the world (see Annex 4 (Sources), Surviving Copies of Editions and Translations of Spinoza’s Writings). A bibliography of primary and secondary sources completes this publication.
The book, unveiling many new exciting documents and sources on Spinoza's life and times, is scheduled for 2015/2016 and will be published in English.
Revised and augmented edition of: The Continuum Companion to Spinoza, eds Wiep van Bunge, Henri K... more Revised and augmented edition of: The Continuum Companion to Spinoza, eds Wiep van Bunge, Henri Krop, Piet Steenbakkers and Jeroen M.M. van de Ven (London/New York, Continuum, 2011).
Also published as e-book.
This book is the first to offer an accessible, encyclopedic account of Spinoza's life and ideas, ... more This book is the first to offer an accessible, encyclopedic account of Spinoza's life and ideas, his influences and commentators, and his lasting significance. Some of the best features include an annotated chronology of Spinoza's life, bibliographies of his major influences and critics, a substantive dictionary of key Spinozan concepts, and summaries of Spinoza's principal writings. The work concludes with an essay on Spinoza's place in modern academic scholarship.
This work is a valuable tool for anyone interested in Spinoza and the era of great change in which he lived and wrote.
Table of Contents
Introduction \ Acknowledgements \ Abbreviations \ List of Contributors \ 1. Life \ 2. Influences \ 3. Early Critics \ 4. Glossary \ 5.Short Synopses \ 6. Spinoza scholarship \ Index.
Also published as e-book.
See for a review (The British Journal for the History of Philosophy): http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09608788.2012.666848
Revised edition published as: The Bloomsbury Companion to Spinoza, 2014.
Critical edition of Descartes' correspondence from the year 1643, with three additional essays on... more Critical edition of Descartes' correspondence from the year 1643, with three additional essays on the Utrecht Crisis, the 'Illustrious Brotherhood of Our Blessed Lady' in 's-Hertogenbosch, and Descartes, Elizabeth and Appolonius' Problem (last essay by Henk Bos). Includes a Calendar of 1643 and a Biographical Lexicon.
PhD Diss. Tilburg University. With an abstract in English.
Introduction - W. van Bunge, Henri Krop, Piet Steenbakkers and Jeroen M.M. van de Ven (Erasmus Un... more Introduction - W. van Bunge, Henri Krop, Piet Steenbakkers and Jeroen M.M. van de Ven (Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands, Utrecht University, The Netherlands and Boxtel, The Netherlands) Acknowledgements Abbreviations List of Contributors 1. Life - Jeroen van de Ven (Boxtel, The Netherlands) 2. Influences Introduction - P. Steenbakkers (Utrecht University, The Netherlands) Burgersdijk - H. Krop (Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands) Descartes - P. Steenbakkers (Utrecht University, The Netherlands) Enden - F. Mertens (University of Ghent, Belgium) Heereboord - H. Krop (Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands) Jewish Philosophical Influences: Maimonides, Crescas, Abrabanel, Menasseh Ben Israel, Kabbalah, Delmedigo - T. Rudavsky (The Ohio State University, USA) Stoa - J. Miller (Queen's University, Canada) 3. Early Critics Pierre Bayle - G. Mori (Universita degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale Amedeo Avogadro, ...
In the years 1678-1679 an Utrecht freethinker scribbled daring remarks in an unsightly jotter. Hi... more In the years 1678-1679 an Utrecht freethinker scribbled daring remarks in an unsightly jotter. His interests included sex, politics, religion and philosophy. It takes only a quick glance to see that he felt drawn towards all things radical - Spinoza figures prominently in his notebook, but even more so Adrianus Beverland, a notorious libertine known for his eroticism. Our author - as yet unidentified - was well-informed about political affairs, both local, national and international. He appears to have been connected with the well-to-do and the well-educated in Utrecht and beyond. His jottings broached any subject, as long as it was novel, exciting or juicy. Much seems to be taken down spontaneously, as gossip or alehouse bravado. The notebook, now kept in Utrecht University Library (ms. 1284) and published here for the first time, offers a rare insight into the uncensored fascinations of a member of the Dutch elite in a period in which society and ideas underwent drastic change.*
British Journal for the History of Philosophy, 2004
The municipal archives of The Hague hold a small collection with personal papers of the Leiden ph... more The municipal archives of The Hague hold a small collection with personal papers of the Leiden physician Cornelis van Hogelande (1590-1662). Among Van Hogelande's papers we found the copies of two letters by his close friend Rene´Descartes. The first letter is without question the most important discovery: the letter was completely unknown and contains Descartes's unpublished judgement on a work by the Czech reformer Jan Amos Comenius. 1 Both copies lack an address, but there can be no doubt that the original letters were sent to Van Hogelande, because the second of the two letters was-for the greater part-already known and can be found in the standard edition of the correspondence by Adam and Tannery (AT III, 721-4). Addressed to Van Hogelande on 8 February 1640, it contains Descartes's judgement on a broadsheet by the English mathematician John Pell. 2 However, compared to the text published in AT, the copy in The Hague has an additional paragraph. Moreover, in it Descartes refers to the *We wish to thank the Gemeentearchief in The Hague for the kind permission to publish the letters of Descartes. We are much obliged to John Cottingham who readily agreed to translate the Latin letters into English. We also thank Theo Verbeek for his helpful comments on earlier drafts of this article. The edition of Descartes's works by Charles Adam and Paul Tannery (Paris: Vrin, 1964-74) is abbreviated AT. The Correspondance du P. Marin Mersenne
British Journal for the History of Philosophy, 2004
Mededelingen vanwege het Spinozahuis., 2019
Paper on the seventeenth-century Dutch translations of Spinoza's Tractatus theologico-politicus (... more Paper on the seventeenth-century Dutch translations of Spinoza's Tractatus theologico-politicus (1670). On a new, hitherto unknown Dutch translation.
In 1672, Dutch political equilibrium collapsed when the United Provinces entered the FrancoDutch ... more In 1672, Dutch political equilibrium collapsed when the United Provinces entered the FrancoDutch War (1672–1678/9) of Louis XIV (1638–1715). That war was fully focused on the Dutch Republic and also involved orchestrated hostilities by England, Münster and Cologne. In early April, France made a quick advance on the United Provinces and two months later the French army already controlled the Provinces of Gelderland and Utrecht. An assault on the Province of Holland, though, was stopped by the inundated HollandWater Line (a line of fortresses to be linked by flooding), leaving the French only a one day’s march from Amsterdam. In early 1673, the Sun King charged an officer residing in the French headquarters in Utrecht, the Swiss lieutenant colonel Jean Baptiste Stouppe (1624–92/1700), to write a text to justify the occupation. In that broadsheet, entitled La Religion des hollandois (The Religion of the Dutch; hereafter La Religion), he declares the “True Liberty” and Calvinist Dutch state religion to be a complete delusion. In his argument, he especially points to two seditious books printed anonymously in Amsterdam that were then still sold openly without official prohibition: Philosophia S. Scripturae interpres (Philosophy as Interpreter of Holy Scripture), very probably written by Lodewijk Meyer (1629/30–81), and Tractatus theologico-politicus (Theological-Political Treatise), a passionate plea for the liberty to philosophise against the encroachments of organised religion, by Benedictus de Spinoza (1632–77). Stouppe, a well-informed libertine, is highly critical of Spinoza’s seminal treatise in La Religion, but he can also hardly conceal his admiration for the erudition of its anonymous author. Whilst preparing La Religion for printing, Stouppe became the linchpin in a secret plan to bring Spinoza to Utrecht. Wild rumours later circulating about this mysterious trip have long intrigued early authors writing on Spinoza’s life and works. They all agree that he went to Utrecht at the invitation of the celebrated Prince of Condé, General Louis II de Bourbon (1621–86), but the evidence they provide is speculative and some of their stories are illfounded or simply untrue. Yet, many modern historians, who mostly reiterate these accounts, continue that same reading but without adding new details or evidence. I recently spotted two older publications on two contemporary letters regarding the philosopher’s trip to Utrecht. These intriguing letters have hardly been noticed in Spinoza scholarship
Revised text published in: The Bloomsbury Companion to Spinoza, (eds) Wiep van Bunge, Henri Krop,... more Revised text published in: The Bloomsbury Companion to Spinoza, (eds) Wiep van Bunge, Henri Krop, Piet Steenbakkers and Jeroen van de Ven, Londen: Bloomsbury, 2014.
Also published as e-book.
Critical edition of Descartes' correspondence from the year 1643, with three additional essays on... more Critical edition of Descartes' correspondence from the year 1643, with three additional essays on the Utrecht Crisis, the 'Illustrious Brotherhood of Our Blessed Lady' in 's-Hertogenbosch, and Descartes, Elizabeth and Appolonius' Problem (last essay by Henk Bos). Includes a Calendar of 1643 and a Biographical Lexicon.
Two entries on two 16th-century antiphonaries from Boxtel, Brabant, The Netherlands
Paper delivered at the occasion of the inauguration of Prof dr Henri Krop at Erasmus University R... more Paper delivered at the occasion of the inauguration of Prof dr Henri Krop at Erasmus University Rotterdam, 21 September 2018
Master thesis, Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen, 1987