Cornelis Willem Opzoomer

Cornelis Willem Opzoomer (born September 20, 1821 in Rotterdam , † August 22, 1892 in Oosterbeek ) was a Dutch lawyer, philosopher, literary scholar and logician.

Life

Cornelis Willem was the son of the cashier Cornelis Opzoomer and his wife Geertrui Vogel. He spent his childhood years happily in a strictly Calvinist home. He attended the Erasmusgymnasium in Rotterdam and began studying law at the University of Leiden in 1839 . In addition, he was interested in philosophical questions, literature, theology and natural sciences. He attended lectures by Johan Rudolf Thorbecke , Petrus Hofman Peerlkamp , John Bake , Frederik Kaiser , Jan van der Hoeven and Johannes Henricus Scholten, among others . This is how he came into contact with the ideas of Karl Christian Friedrich Krause , who inspired Opzoomer for a philosophy of faith and reason. During his studies, friendships developed with Joël Emanuel Goudsmit , Reinhart Dozy and Matthias de Vries .

Even as a student, Opzoomer was awarded several prizes. He was highly regarded by his teachers and received his doctorate on October 31, 1845 in Leiden with the treatise De naturali obligatione to the doctorate of rights. On January 21, 1846, Opzoomer was appointed associate professor of philosophy and literature at the University of Utrecht , which task he took over on June 9, 1846 with the speech De wijsbegeerte, den Mensch met zich zelven verzoenende . In doing so, he had broken a taboo, because all inaugural speeches were written in Latin at the time. In the same year he received an honorary doctorate in philosophy from the Leiden University, and on February 3, 1854, he was appointed full professor of history, philosophy, logic, metaphysics and psychology, which he took up on June 23, 1854.

How much he was recognized is shown, among other things, in the fact that he was elected Rector of the Alma Mater in 1851/52 as an associate professor . In 1856 he became a member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences , which he chaired from 1862. He was also a member of several learned societies of his time. His honorary membership in the Natura Artis Magistra society and his 1870 chairmanship of the society for the benefit of the general public should be mentioned here. In September 1886 Opzoomer retired to country life. His last place of life was in the Weverstraat in Oosterbeek. After he was honorably discharged from his professorship for health reasons on September 16, 1890, he died there.

As a representative of Dutch modernism, Opzoomer represented a kind of empiricism in philosophy, but differentiated the field of belief from that of knowledge in that he also assumed moral and religious feeling as sources for knowledge. As a legal scholar, his work on the Dutch Civil Code (Het burgerlijke wetboek), which he himself accompanied up to the twelfth volume and was then continued by other lawyers up to the 16th volume, deserves special mention.

family

Opzoomer married on October 19, 1848 in Utrecht with Adelaide (Adèle) Catharine Josepha Ackersdijck (born December 19, 1826 in Liège; † January 27, 1900 in 's-Gravenhage?), The daughter of Jan Ackersdijck and Maria Anna Wallerthum (also: Walterthum * 1804 in Stolberg (Rhineland); † October 24, 1883 in Utrecht). The marriage has two sons and two daughters. We know of these:

Emile Opzoomer (born February 11, 1850 in Utrecht, † March 20, 1905 in Veldwijk) became a lawyer. Johanna Lijntje Wijndelts (born June 18, 1869 in Groningen, † July 18, 1892 in Zwolle)
Adelaide Mathilde Albertine Opzoomer (born January 18, 1855 in Utrecht; † June 5, 1855 ibid)
Adèle Sophie Cordilia Opzoomer (born July 21, 1856 in Utrecht, † December 27, 1925 in Rotterdam) married. July 5, 1888 in Utrecht with the Hungarian pastor Geiza Antal de Felso Geller (* around 1870 in Tata (Hungary))
Walter Robert Edmund Henri Opzoomer (born June 2, 1865 Utrecht † March 5, 1896 in Hellevoetsluis) became mayor of Hellevoetsluis

Works (selection)

Andwoord aan Mr. I. da Costa, the neither legging van het stukjen. Rekenschap van gevoelens bij lies van den strijd over het Adres aan de Hervormde Gemeente in Nederland. Leiden 1843
Dissertatio juridica inauguralis de naturali obligatione. Leiden 1845 ( online )
De wijsbegeerte: man with zich zelven verzoenende. Leiden 1846 ( online )
De gevoelsleer van Dr. JJ van Oosterzee, beoordeeld. Amsterdam 1846
De Leer des Vaders, the Zoons en des Heiligen Geestes: eene negotiating van dr. JH Scholten, hoogleraar te Leiden, wijsgeerig beoordeeld. Leiden 1846
The accusations of Dr. JH Scholten uit de bronnen neither legd. Utrecht 1846
Eenheid in het noodige, vrijheid in het twijfelachtige, in alles deIEde. Leiden 1847 ( online )
Het Wezen der Deugd. Voorlezingen, in the winter of 1847-1848 te Utrecht uitgesproken. Leiden & Amsterdam 1848 ( online )
De belangen van het hooger onderwijs: memorie, aan zijne Majesteit den Koning, naar aanleiding van het ministeriëele rapport van 13 November 1848. Leiden 1848
Aanteekening op de wet, houdende algemeene bepalingen der wetgeving van het Koningrijk. Leiden & Amsterdam 1848 ( online ), Amsterdam 1857 ( online ), Amsterdam 1873
Het burgerlijke wetboek. Leiden & Amsterdam 1849-1852 ( 3rd volume online ), 2nd edition Amsterdam 1857 ( 2nd volume online ), 1865-1892 further editions
Volkswil en vrije verkiezingen. Leiden & Amsterdam 1848 ( online )
De sovereignty of the people. Leiden & Amsterdam 1849 ( online )
De herrorming onzer hoogescholen. Leiden & Amsterdam 1849 ( online )
De twijfel des tijds, de wegwijzer der toekomst. Leiden & Amsterdam 1850 ( online )
De away the wetenschap. A handbook of the logika. Leiden & Amsterdam 1851; German translated: The method of science. A manual of logic. Utrecht 1852 ( online )
De statkunde van Edmund Burke. Amsterdam 1852; German under the title: Conservatism and Reform. A Treatise on Edmund Burke's Politics. Utrecht & Leipzig 1852 ( online )
Oratio de philosophiae natura. Amsterdam 1852 ( online )
The character of the wetenschap. Amsterdam 1853 ( online )
Staatsregtelijk onderzoek. Amsterdam 1854 ( online )
De restauratie. Amsterdam 1854 ( online )
Toespraak, gehouden aan het graf van onzen waardigen vriend, the Wel Edelen Heer Nicolaas Wouter van Doesburgh, op den 25 Januarij 1854. Wijk, 1854 ( online )
Aanteekeningen op Shakespeare's treurspel: Macbeth. Amsterdam 1854 ( online )
Wetenschap en Wijsbegeerte. Amsterdam 1857 ( online )
De away dead struck out onzer. Amsterdam 1857 ( online )
Twee stiffen uit de cellulaire gevangenis. 1857 ( online )
Natuurkennis en Natuurpoëzie. Amsterdam 1858 ( online )
Lessing, de vriend der waarheid. Amsterdam 1858 ( online )
De waarheid en hare kenbronnen. Amsterdam 1859, 2nd edition Amsterdam 1862 ( online )
Het teeken des tijds. Amsterdam 1859 ( online )
Julius Caesar. Amsterdam 1860 ( online )
Geschiedenis en Wijsbegeerte. Amsterdam 1860 ( online )
Cartesius. Amsterdam 1861 ( online )
De geest der nieuwe rigting. Amsterdam 1862 ( online )
Het wezen der kennis. Een leesboek of Logika. Amsterdam 1863 ( online )
De orthodoxy aan het staatsroer. Amsterdam 1863 ( online )
Wat dunkt U van den Christus? Amsterdam 1863 ( online )
Naar aanleiding van een testament: open letter to Dr. M. de Vries. Amsterdam 1863 ( online )
De godsdienst. Amsterdam 1864
De waarborgen van onzen vooruitgang. Amsterdam 1864 ( online )
Oud of nieuw? Amsterdam 1865 ( online )
De Vertegenwoordiging volgens de Nederlandsche grondwet. Amsterdam 1866 ( online )
Nog eens: Oud of nieuw? Reply to Dr. JI Doedes. Amsterdam 1866
De Wetenschap, hair Vrucht, hair gang en hair Regt. Amsterdam 1867 ( Online )
Göthe's god service. Amsterdam 1868 ( online )
Antigone. Utrecht 1868 ( online )
De vrucht der godsdienst. Amsterdam 1868 ( online )
De vrije volksschool. Amsterdam 1868 ( online )
De vrije Wetenschap. Amsterdam 1869 ( online )
Een woord tot mijne kathieke landgenooten. Amsterdam 1869 ( online )
The religion. Elberfeld 1868 ( online )
Frankrijk's onrecht in den oorlog van 1870. Amsterdam 1870 ( online ); German under the title: The injustice of France in the war of 1870. The Bonapartes and the law of Germany also after Sedan. Berlin 1871 ( online )
Aanspraak at the opening of the 85th Algemeene Vergadering der Maatschappij. 1870 ( online )
1846-1871: redevoering op den dag zijner 25-year ambtsopering. Amsterdam 1871 ( online )
A nieuwe kritiek of the enthusiasts. Amsterdam 1871 ( online )
Thorbecke: een woord van hulde, in the Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen. Amsterdam 1872 ( online )
Vrijheid en onfeilbaarheid. Amsterdam 1872 ( online )
The limits of state power. Amsterdam 1873 ( online )
Onze achterlijkheid in the art of wetgeving: aangetoond vooral in the articles of the grondwet, the aan het onderwijs gewijd zijn. Amsterdam 1873
Onze godsdienst. Amsterdam 1874
Het wezen en de limits of art. Leiden 1875
Scheiding van kerk en state. Amsterdam 1875
In wilt geest is our Grondwet te understood? The Hague, 1883
Hugo de Groot cooks in the Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen. 1883
Loose blades. The Hague 1886-1887, 3rd vol.

literature

J. Molenaar: OPZOOMER, Cornelis Willem . In: Realencyklopadie for Protestant Theology and Church (RE). 3. Edition. Volume 14, Hinrichs, Leipzig 1904, pp. 419-423.
FS Knipscheer: OPZOOMER (Cornelis Willem) . In: Petrus Johannes Blok , Philipp Christiaan Molhuysen (Ed.): Nieuw Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordenboek . Part 6. N. Israel, Amsterdam 1974, Sp. 1080-1082 (Dutch, knaw.nl / dbnl.org - first edition: AW Sijthoff, Leiden 1924, reprinted unchanged).
Bernard Hendrik Cornelis Karel van der Wijck: Levens report CW Opzoomer. In: Jaarboek van de Koninklijke Academie van Wetenschappen. 1892, Amsterdam, pp. 47-78, ( online ); also in German In: H. Siebeck, J. Volkelt, Richard Falckenberg: Journal for Philosophy and Philosophical Criticism (formerly Fichte-Ulricische Zeitschrift). CEM Pfeiffer, Leipzig, 1895 vol. 106 vol., 1st issue, pp. 1-20

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Opzoomer, Cornelis Willem
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Dutch lawyer, philosopher, literary scholar and logician
DATE OF BIRTH	September 20, 1821
PLACE OF BIRTH	Rotterdam
DATE OF DEATH	August 22, 1892
Place of death	Oosterbeek