Johannes van Vloten

He is known as a rediscoverer of Spinoza's work and a freethinker in his tradition, with a great deal of involvement in all kinds of social issues.

In his work "Over de leer der hervormde kerk" (1849), he opposed the doctrines of the Reformed Church, spoke out in support of the labor movement and helping the poor.

In 1854 he became professor of Dutch language and literature at the atheneum in Deventer, in 1865 he began teaching in parallel in Groningen, but in 1867 he was dismissed from the ateneum because of his anti-religious position, after which he settled in Bloemendal in the vicinity of Haarlem and until the end of his life was engaged in writing scientific papers, having no permanent income.

This is followed by the biographies Paschier de Fyne naar zijn leven en geschriften (Herzogbusch 1853) and Baruch d'Espinoza (Amsterdam 1852), which are important for Dutch cultural history.

van Vloten made a valuable contribution to Dutch literature through text editions and literary-historical works.