Early Writings of Francois Hemsterhuis, 1762-1773

Jacob van Sluis is a former subject librarian at the University Library of Groningen. He has published on the history of theology and philosophy in the Dutch Republic and he is the editor of the critical edition of Hemsterhuis’ Oeuvres philosophiques (Brill, 2015). Daniel Whistler is Professor of Philosophy at Royal Holloway, University of London. He is author and editor of numerous volumes on eighteenth and nineteenth-century philosophy, including the three-volume Edinburgh Edition of the Complete Philosophical Works of François Hemsterhuis, The Schelling-Eschenmayer Controversy, 1801: Nature and Identity (EUP, 2020), The Edinburgh Critical History of Nineteenth-Century Christian Theology, The Schelling Reader (Bloomsbury, 2020) and the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Modern French Philosophy (Oxford University Press, 2022).

• Series IntroductionJacob van Sluis and Daniel WhistlerHemsterhuis’ Life, Works and ReceptionAbbreviations UsedIntroductionsHemsterhuis’ Art and Aesthetics: Theories in the MakingPeter SonderenMan in General and Fagel in ParticularJacob van SluisHemsterhuis as Provocation: The German Reception of his Early WritingsGabriel TropEarly WritingsLetter on an Antique GemstoneLetter on SculptureLetter on DesiresLetter on Man and his RelationsPhilosophical Description of the Character of the Late Mr. F. FagelNotesAppendix: Corrigenda, Oeuvres philosophies (2015)

The presentation of these volumes is expectedly excellent. The editors’experience with pulling understudied thinkers into the Anglophone context is well established at this point, and their treatment of Hemsterhuis is no exception. The essays that accompany these translations are all astute and appreciative commentaries, which help lend important context to the material itself. [...] Anyone interested in learning more about Hemsterhuis, or indeed about the history and continued importance of 18th and 19th century European philosophy, should read these volumes, introductions and all.