The Tachtigers’ ideology in D.G. Jelgersma’s portraits of Francis Bacon and Thomas Hobbes in “De Nieuwe Gids”

This article examines D.G. Jelgersma’s presentation of Francis Bacon and Thomas Hobbes to late 19th-century Dutch readers and investigates the presence of these ideas in the 19th-century Dutch socio-political discourse. In his contributions “Francis Bacon” and “Thomas Hobbes”, which were printed in De Nieuwe Gids – a periodical meant to express the views of the Dutch literary avant-garde of the 1880s – Jelgersma attempts to define the origins and development of ervaringswijsbegeerte (empirical philosophy). Published in a review whose main objective was to renew not only Dutch literature and culture but also the nation’s social and political spheres, Jelgersma’s articles are not free from ideology. Both texts show that Bacon’s and Hobbes’ ideas were current in the contemporary discussions of scientific, social, political, and theological issues in the 19th-century Netherlands. All the same, Jelgersma’s presentation of the material was not entirely unbiased since the author, who made contributions to the Tachtigers’ literary review designed for the ‘literary revival’ public, could not but share at least some of their revolutionary beliefs.