Reinier Franciscus Beerling

Education

Philosophy, University of Amsterdam. Infla: Personal influences included Plessner and Pos. Philosophical influences included Hegel.

Nietzsche and Heidegger.

Career

Journalist; Professor of Philosophy, Batavia, 1946- 58. Professor of Social Philosophy and Philosophy of History. Leyden, 1958-1973.’.

Views

One of the main issues in Beerling’s philosophy is the problem of death, not as the end of life, but as an essential part of it. From here a sense of finiteness and of scepticism results. Belief in God is no more than an anthropological fact negating the real conditio Humana. From this imminenthuman viewpoint Beerling analyses social phenomena like alienation, labour and power. He considers them all in a Hegelian-dialectical manner and sees ideology as a necessary tool to handle man's situation, although philosophy has to be very critical of it. Wisdom remains the necessary, but always unattainable, aim of philosophical reflection.

Interests

• Philosophy of culture and society.