The search for mystical influences on Dooyeweerd continues apace

Dr. J. Glenn Friesen, Studies relating to Frederik van Eeden

Dooyeweerd had an interest in Van Eeden and his work, as well as in the International School for Philosophy. In 1915, Dooyeweerd published an article in the Free University Student Society Almanac, entitled “Frederik van Eeden and Neo-Mysticism.” The article is dated November 27, 1914. My translation of this article is available here. http://members.shaw.ca/jgfriesen/Mainheadings/Neo-mystiek.html

This article is discussed by Henderson in his Illuminating law. It is also discussed by Verburg. Verburg says that in this article, Dooyeweerd studies the development of the idea of intuition. The second half of the article is devoted to van Eeden. Dooyeweerd is attracted to him because unlike Bergson, van Eeden did not depreciate the value of science. Science also has value, as long as it does not pretend to be able to split apart [uiteen to kunnen doen vallen] the mysterious universe into numbers and mathematical formulas.

In the article, Dooyeweerd compares intuition to the dream state. He says van Eeden is both a thinker and a poet-seer [ziener-dichter]. Science must have regard to these poet-seers, and come to the conclusion that these seers long ago concluded, that our categories bound to space are only relative. (p. 150, referred to in Verburg 20)

Dooyeweerd refers in this article to van Eeden as holding to the viewpoint of "scientific mysticism." The same term might perhaps describe Dooyeweerd's own work.

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Almost two years later, Dooyeweerd was still interested in Van Eeden. He gave a review of the first publication of the Mededelingen van de Internationale School voor Wijsbegeerte te Amersfoort. (Review Oct 15, 1916 in the student paper Fraternitas, cited Verburg 24). Dooyeweerd criticized the school's goal of making one conscious of divinity in man. They seek a unity above religion in the philosophy of the ages. We can't do this because above the absoluteness of philosophy is the absoluteness of the word of Christ. "No one comes to the Father but through me." In other words, Dooyeweerd seems to be opposing an idea of a perennial philosophy.

It is interesting that the Dutch mathematician Brouwer took part in van Eeden’s community. Vollenhoven’s thesis was about Brouwer’s intuitionism in mathematics.

Although I believe that we must look to Baader for the source of Dooyeweerd's key ideas, it seems to me that some of Dooyeweerd's ideas can also be traced to Van Eeden. This is not inconsistent, for Van Eeden had an interest in Boehme and theosophy. So it is not surprising that we can find some interesting parallels between van Eeden and Dooyeweerd..

It is also important to note that Vollenhoven was also interested in van Eeden...