Herman Johan "Hans" Achterhuis (born September 1, 1942,

Hengelo Hengelo (; Tweants: ) is a city in the eastern part of the Netherlands, in the province of Overijssel. The city lies along the motorways A1/E30 and A35 and it has a station for the international Amsterdam – Hannover – Berlin service. Popu ...

) is Professor Emeritus in Systematic Philosophy at the

University of Twente The University of Twente (Dutch: ''Universiteit Twente''; , abbr. ) is a public technical university located in Enschede, Netherlands. The university has been placed in the top 170 universities in the world by multiple central ranking tables. I ...

, The Netherlands. For now his research concerns particularly social and

political philosophy Political philosophy or political theory is the philosophical study of government, addressing questions about the nature, scope, and legitimacy of public agents and institutions and the relationships between them. Its topics include politics, ...

and

philosophy of technology The philosophy of technology is a sub-field of philosophy that studies the nature of technology and its social effects. Philosophical discussion of questions relating to technology (or its Greek ancestor ''techne'') dates back to the very dawn of ...

. His list of publications shows a great scope (in fields of medical care, labour, third-world-philosophy). In 1967, he took his doctoral degree on

Albert Camus Albert Camus ( , ; ; 7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a French philosopher, author, dramatist, and journalist. He was awarded the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44, the second-youngest recipient in history. His work ...

. His latest books handle the topics of utopianism (‘De erfenis van de utopie’, ‘The Legacy of Utopia’) and the tension between morality and politics in relation to the Kosovo War (“Politiek van Goede bedoelingen’, ‘Policy of good intentions’). He is co-author of the volume American Philosophy of Technology; The Empirical Turn. This work includes contributions on

Albert Borgmann Albert Borgmann (born 1937) is a German-born American philosopher This is a list of American philosophers; of philosophers who are either from, or spent many productive years of their lives in the United States. {, border="0" style="margin:aut ...

Hubert Dreyfus Hubert Lederer Dreyfus (; October 15, 1929 – April 22, 2017) was an American philosopher and professor of philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley. His main interests included phenomenology, existentialism and the philosophy of bo ...

Andrew Feenberg Andrew Feenberg (born 1943) is an American philosopher. He holds the Canada Research Chair in the Philosophy of Technology in the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. His main interests are philosophy of technology, c ...

Donna Haraway Donna J. Haraway is an American Professor Emerita in the History of Consciousness Department and Feminist Studies Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a prominent scholar in the field of science and technology studies. Sh ...

Don Ihde Don Ihde (; born 1934) is an American philosopher of science and technology.Katinka Waelbers, ''Doing Good with Technologies: Taking Responsibility for the Social Role of Emerging Technologies'', Springer, 2011, p. 77. In 1979 he wrote what is of ...

and

Langdon Winner Langdon Winner (born August 7, 1944) is Thomas Phelan Chair of Humanities and Social Sciences in the Department of Science and Technology Studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York. Langdon Winner was born in San Luis Obispo, ...

Main thoughts

His ideas add up to a philosophy of things (

objects Object may refer to: General meanings * Object (philosophy), a thing, being, or concept ** Object (abstract), an object which does not exist at any particular time or place ** Physical object, an identifiable collection of matter * Goal, an ...

) and a plea for a

morality Morality () is the differentiation of intentions, decisions and actions between those that are distinguished as proper (right) and those that are improper (wrong). Morality can be a body of standards or principles derived from a code of co ...

machines A machine is a physical system using power to apply forces and control movement to perform an action. The term is commonly applied to artificial devices, such as those employing engines or motors, but also to natural biological macromolecul ...

. Rather than being morally neutral, things guide our behaviour (barriers in the subway forcing us to buy a ticket). This is why they are capable of exerting moral pressure that is much more effective than imposing sanctions or trying to reform the way people think. Utopia has been superseded but the world can still be improved, if we take seriously our moral ties to the machines and devices that surround us.

Philosopher Laureate

In 2011 Achterhuis was chosen as the first Philosopher Laureate of the Netherlands. This honorary title was an initiative of the Magazine Filosofie, and the Philosophy Month Foundation (Stichting Maand van de Filosofie), together with the newspaper

Trouw ''Trouw'' (; ) is a Dutch daily newspaper appearing in compact size. It was founded in 1943 as an orthodox Protestant underground newspaper during World War II. Since 2009, it has been owned by DPG Media (known as De Persgroep until 2019). ''T ...

. The person is chosen by a group of journalists and academics. The aim of the initiative is to allow a philosophy heavyweight to speak in the media, to place news events in a broader context. In 2013 Achterhuis was succeeded as Philosopher Laureate by René Gude (Soerabaja, 2 March 1957 – Amsterdam, 13 March 2015).

Publications

*Achterhuis, H.J. (1995) De utopie en haar verschijningsvorm, Amsterdam; Lumiance Lecture. *Achterhuis, H.J. (1995) The History and Roots of Growth, in: van Dieren, W. (Ed.) Taking Nature into Account: a report to the Club of Rome, New York; Copernicus, Springer-Verlag New York Inc.: 15-27. (translated into Dutch, German, French, Spanish, Italian, and Japanese) *Achterhuis, H.J. (1996) La responsabilita tra il timore e l'utopia, in: Hottois, G., Pinsart, M.G. (Eds.) Hans Jonas. Natura e responsabilita, Lecce, Italie; Edizioni Milella: 99-110. *Achterhuis, H.J. e.a. (1997), Van Stoommachine tot cyborg; denken over techniek in de nieuwe wereld, Baarn; Ambo: 7-16. *Achterhuis, H.J. (1998) De erfenis van de utopie, Baarn; Ambo: 444 pp. *Achterhuis, H.J. (ed.) (2001), American Philosophy of Technology: the Empirical Turn, Bloomington/Minneapolis: Indiana University Press *Achterhuis, H.J. (2008), Met alle geweld: Een filosofische zoektocht, Rotterdam; Lemniscaat *Achterhuis, H.J. (2010), De utopie van de vrije markt, Rotterdam; Lemniscaat

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Achterhuis, Hans 1942 births Living people Political philosophers 20th-century Dutch philosophers 21st-century Dutch philosophers Social philosophers Philosophers of technology People from Hengelo Utrecht University alumni Academic staff of the University of Twente