{"id":134131,"date":"2021-12-09T16:12:37","date_gmt":"2021-12-09T15:12:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=134131"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:26:03","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:26:03","slug":"erasmus-cant-be-appropriated-so-easily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2021\/12\/09\/erasmus-cant-be-appropriated-so-easily\/","title":{"rendered":"Erasmus can\u2019t be appropriated so easily"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Alternatieve f\u00fcr Deutschland (AfD) has adorned itself with the crown of Erasmus; the extreme-right party has named its scientific agency the Erasmus Stiftung. This has led to a lot of criticism in Germany, also because such institutes receive substantial funding: the Erasmus Stiftung can count on some 70 million euros in subsidy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>

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\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLevien Willemse<\/a>, \t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPauline Wiersema<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

According to AfD, the party chose this person because Erasmus saw the \u2018errors of his time\u2019 and \u2018tried to correct these\u2019, but using this argument you could choose almost any name. The humanist Erasmus is not in keeping with the xenophobic AfD and the party knows that. Choosing his name mainly appears to be a provocation which has certainly been successful considering the controversy this has created in Germany.<\/p>\n

The AfD\u2019s extraordinary choice raises the question of who actually owns the name \u2018Erasmus\u2019. Not Rotterdam, the city that identifies with this philosopher, nor Erasmus University, which is named after him. Erasmus does not even belong to the Professor of \u2018Erasmian Values\u2019, the chair I hold. I\u2019ve had to disappoint journalists who called me to ask whether I could \u2018ban\u2019 the AfD\u2019s choice. At ESPhil, we can, however, look at how such processes of appropriation take place. We can do this in the new Erasmus of Rotterdam Research Centre, where we investigate how the name of Erasmus is used and which values are attributed to this versatile thinker.<\/p>\n

Our country\u2019s three biggest cities identify with our three greatest philosophers. Amsterdam likes to present itself as the city of freedom and Spinoza is often mentioned in this context; a choice you could question when you realise that this philosopher didn\u2019t believe in freedom of choice at all and was also banned from the city early on. The Hague sees itself as the city of international law and is home to institutions including the International Court of Justice, of which Hugo de Groot is said to be a symbol. That\u2019s also a debatable choice as in his philosophy of law he mainly defended Dutch trade interests. He was also captured by the House of Orange and had to flee the country in a book chest.<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\u2018Gouda or Deventer, where he went to school, or Leuven or Paris, where he taught, and especially Basel where he spent the latter years of his life, could rightly lay claim to Erasmus\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

I don\u2019t want to step on any toes unnecessarily, but is Rotterdam doing any better with Erasmus? Erasmus said he was \u2018from Rotterdam\u2019 but he only lived here briefly, as he left the city as a boy and never returned. Gouda or Deventer, where he went to school, or Leuven or Paris, where he taught, and especially Basel where he spent the latter years of his life, could rightly lay claim to Erasmus. And the Germans can do that too as nowhere was Erasmus more praised than in German territories, where many saw him as a \u2018German\u2019 thinker. But Erasmus can\u2019t be appropriated so easily, certainly not by a political party. Perhaps the AfD will also realise this when they immerse themselves in the thinking of Erasmus.<\/p>\n\n\t

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