work
I do research in the field of social philosophy and political theory and write essays about social developments, trying to contribute to a better society by illuminating social and political developments. I also do graphic design of logos and publications.
The theme in what I write is that the individual is never an asset of the community. The individual has an infinite value; though intrinsically woven into a community, the community is never to trump the value of the individual. In that spirit I have developed my ideas about how people build up society, and what role identity, worldviews and religions have.
I have done my PhD at the VU University in Amsterdam (on John Rawls’s Theory of Justice, 1990) and later did research on the role of religious identities in social organisations (Identiteit als belofte / Identity as a pledge, 1998). For the Stichting Christelijk Sociaal Congres I wrote Getto’s en pleinen / Ghettos and Squares (2000). For the Foundation Socires I wrote ‘Lego 2010’, on criteria for religious education on public schools.
As teacher I worked at VU University and at Simon Fraser University and Royal Roads University (both in Canada). I also developed programs for computer aided teaching and I have extensive experience with distant learning (as a teacher, I do not like to be a distant student).
For the Foundation Socires I co-managed and co-developed the foodFIRST programme about how we can feed the world; the programme started at the Floriade 2012. Further on I worked on a project about how professionals in different sectors (government, health care, social advocacy, etc.) can vitalize society from the inside. And I managed three conferences on Latin America, Enquentro Latino Europeo.
From its inception in 1994, I have been a member of the commission of the European Social Week that organizes regular meetings for European employee’s organisations. I still participate in this group.
Next to my academic work, I worked as a graphic designer, photographer, and web designer. Philosophy and design both challenge one to find creative solutions, and I found that I could only be creative in one of these disciplines at a time.
I retired from active work in 2018 (except the ESW, thus) and now I am writing essays on this website and enjoying myself with photography.