- First name
- Theodorus
- Last name
- Craanen
- Date of Birth
- 1620
- Date of Death
- 1690
- Born in
- Cologne
- Died in
- Potsdam
Theodorus Craanen studied medicine in Utrecht (1651), philosophy and theology in Leiden (1655) and, finally, medicine in Duisburg (1656). He held the chair of philosophy (1671–3) in Leiden. He established a ‘mechanical-philosophical’ school based entirely on Cartesian concepts which he exchanged with the chair of medicine. With regard to anatomy, Craanen explained human physiology in mechanistic terms defined by Gassendi and Descartes. A prolific writer, he published: Oeconomia animalis ad circulationem sanguinis breviter delineate, Gouda, 1685; rev. edn., Amsterdam, 1703; Tractatus physico-medicus de homine, …, Leiden, 1689. See: Luyendijk-Elshout, 1975; Noack and Splett, 1997, pp. 95–8.
In 1671, Spinoza wrote to Jelles:
When Professor … visited me recently, he said, among other things, that he had heard that my Theological-Political Treatise has been translated into Dutch, and that someone (he didn’t know who) intended to have it printed.
Source: 1671.02.17, Ep. 44.
It has been proposed that the individual calling on Spinoza was the Leiden professor of philosophy Theodorus Craanen.