Hans Achterhuis

Herman Johan "Hans" Achterhuis (born September 1, 1942, Hengelo)[1] is Professor Emeritus in Systematic Philosophy at the University of Twente, The Netherlands.

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’).

This work includes contributions on Albert Borgmann, Hubert Dreyfus, Andrew Feenberg, Donna Haraway, Don Ihde and Langdon Winner.

In 2011 Achterhuis was chosen as the first Philosopher Laureate of the Netherlands (Dutch: Denker des Vaderlands (Thinker of the Fatherland), nl).

The aim of the initiative is to allow a philosophy heavyweight to speak in the media, to place news events in a broader context.