{"id":157104,"date":"2023-07-06T10:19:20","date_gmt":"2023-07-06T08:19:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=157104"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:26:52","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:26:52","slug":"why-gijs-van-oenen-is-searching-for-the-origin-of-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2023\/07\/06\/why-gijs-van-oenen-is-searching-for-the-origin-of-things\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Gijs van Oenen is searching for the origin of things"},"content":{"rendered":"

In his book, Culturele veldslagen <\/em>(cultural battles), <\/em>Gijs van Oenen investigates the origin of the cultural battle raging between right-wing populists and woke activists in their quest to be right. \u201cIf you understand the origin, you can understand the underlying justification.\u201d This led him to read M\u00e4nnerphantasien<\/em>, a book in which author Klaus Theweleit analyses why demobilised soldiers killed women en masse after the First World War.<\/p>

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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\tRonald van den Heerik<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Gijs van Oenen had a vague idea for a book about the battle between left and right, about how both populists and woke activists are convinced that they are right. Van Oenen was finally prompted to go ahead and write the book when he found himself being \u2018cancelled\u2019. During a lecture at the Nieuwe Instituut, he put a question to the woman giving the lecture, an American political scientist he knows well. The moderator then stepped in and said that he could not ask the question as it constituted a misunderstanding of a feminist doctrine. \u201cMy voice was taken away from me, and I was forced into a metaphorical corner. I was disqualified, and the speaker I had addressed my question to was apparently deemed unable or unwilling to answer my question. This caused so much resentment in me that I started to write a book.\u201d<\/p>\n\t

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Gijs van Oenen (1959) is an associate professor in Philosophy at Erasmus University. He studied Political Science at the University of Amsterdam, where he obtained a doctorate in Philosophy of Law in 1994. His book Culturele veldslagen<\/em><\/a> was <\/em>published recently and was preceded by a book entitled Overspannen democratie<\/em> (\u2018overstrained democracy\u2019) in 2018. He is also one of the authors of the\u00a0Durf te denken!<\/em> (\u2018dare to think!\u2019) method of philosophy.<\/p>\n\n\t<\/div>\n

\u201cEvery book you write is a form of self-actualisation\u201d, Van Oenen says. Explaining himself, he quotes Johann Gottlieb Fichte, who said that philosophy is an expression of the self, but he then quickly adds: \u201cThe idea of self-actualisation actually comes from Hegel.\u201d Readers may notice that the book stems from a personal interest, but it is definitely not his intention to use it as a tool to voice his own indignation.<\/p>\n

In Culturele veldslagen<\/em>, Van Oenen highlights the emergence of both left and right-wing beliefs. He wants to be \u2018value-free\u2019, as an author, publicist and academic. This idea comes from Max Weber. \u201cAlthough you can\u2019t \u2018disconnect\u2019 your beliefs and values, you do have a duty to present every source and every author you discuss \u2013 when teaching and publishing \u2013 to the best of your ability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Political leanings not apparent <\/h2>

Van Oenen joined forces with a colleague at the university \u2013 Spinoza expert Henri Krop \u2013 to design a programme about the history of the humanities and social sciences, in which various philosophers and movements were discussed in lectures.<\/p>\n

After the programme, a student approached them to say how \u2018fascinating\u2019 it had been and that she had wondered about the political leanings of Van Oenen and his colleague throughout the programme; she had found it impossible to determine this. \u201cThat was the biggest compliment she could have given me. We had made no effort to hide our leanings but did want to discuss every movement as best we could. \u201cIf you understand the origin of something, there\u2019s nothing that can\u2019t be justified.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inhuman understanding <\/h2>

With the above in mind, Van Oenen read M\u00e4nnerphantasien<\/em>, a book by author and cultural philosopher Klaus Theweleit. In it, Theweleit draws on letters, diaries and soldiers\u2019 novels in his unorthodox analysis of why soldiers who had lost their minds in the First World War turned on women and murdered them.<\/p>\n

Van Oenen read Theweleit\u2019s book in the early 1980s, on the recommendation of a friend. In his circle, you had to have read this book to be \u2018with it\u2019. \u201cIt gives you an insight into the less attractive aspects of human behaviour. Ultimately, a lot can be learned from this. The human behaviours we disapprove of most are the most insightful. What I\u2019ve said before applies to this book as well: if you understand the reason for something, you can understand why it happened. Inhuman understanding, you might say.\u201d<\/p>\n

Freedom is happiness <\/h2>

Van Oenen recently celebrated 25 years at the university. He received a statuette, \u2018a token of institutional appreciation\u2019, and took the opportunity to express his appreciation of the university. \u201cIn all these years, no one has ever told me what to do and what not to do. That\u2019s special and worth a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another thing that has helped Van Oenen during his time at the university is Weber\u2019s idea that \u2018if you want to work at the university, you shouldn\u2019t mind all the different kinds of people springing up around you whose value you don\u2019t recognise\u2019. This has not always been easy for Van Oenen. \u201cBut that\u2019s no reason to be against the university. it\u2019s just part and parcel of life at this institute.\u201d Van Oenen took some time to figure out which position at the university would enable him to give free reign to his most important value: \u2018freedom\u2019. He decided that the role of professor was not for him and that he is happy to be an associate professor. \u201cI think this role gives me the most freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n\t

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Reading habits:<\/p>\n

Number of books per year: \u201cA lot, but not all the way through. It\u2019s like Star Trek, where lots of stars appear and shoot past the ship; the same goes for books and literature. You try to grab a few books, but another 30 very quickly pass you by as you do this. It\u2019s impossible to keep up. I once heard a fantastic metaphor: knowledge is a balloon that you are blowing up. The bigger the balloon, the more knowledge you have. However, the external surface area of the balloon, which represents everything you don’t know, is getting bigger and bigger too. This metaphor has allowed me to accept all the books that pass me by.\u201d<\/p>\n

Primary motivation: the need to know<\/p>\n

Favourite genre: philosophy, social sciences, architecture, art and classical music<\/p>\n

Last book read: Jerry Muller\u2019s biography of Jacob Taubes, Professor of apocalypse.<\/em><\/a> The many lives of Jacob Taubes<\/em><\/a>. \u201cTaubes was an unconventional Jewish philosopher and theologian. Everyone who was anyone in academia knew him, but no one could really say whether he was a genius or a charlatan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t

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