Cornelis Verhoeven

Early life and education

Verhoeven was born in Udenhout, the fourth child of seven from a farmer's family in the south of the Netherlands. He attended a catholic priest seminary but was asked to leave. He then studied classics, philosophy and religious studies at the University of Nijmegen and earned his Ph.D. with the thesis Symbolism of the foot on October 19, 1956.

Career

Verhoeven taught Latin and Greek at the Jeroen Bosch College for 27 years. Then he became a professor of philosophy at the University of Amsterdam. He published more than 80 books. He has written original work on wonder, reality, violence, religion, contemplation and language, and interpretations and translations of classical and modern philosophers such as Heraclitus, Plato, Geulincx, Leibniz, Nietzsche and Heidegger. His work has been translated in English, German and Italian, and has been awarded the Anne Frank prize and the P. C. Hooft prize.

One of his best known books was The Philosophy of Wonder.

Personal

Verhoeven had two children, Neeltje (1973) and Daan (1974). He died in Den Bosch, on June 11, 2001.

Selected publications

Verhoeven's full bibliography consists of more than 3700 titles.