Introduction

Many philosophical books that shaped the intellectual debates of the Dutch Early Enlightenment (1640–1720) were quickly translated in Dutch, opening up those debates to audiences who could not read Latin, French or English. However, publishing translations of controversial books by representatives of the so-called ‘New Philosophy’ – such as Benedict de Spinoza, René Descartes and Thomas Hobbes – often involved serious risks for translators and publishers. Their willingness to accept those risks sparks many questions about their motives, intended readers and translation strategies. This chapter contextualises those questions by describing the intellectual conditions, social circumstances and linguistic practices of the translators foregrounded in this study. It also introduces the computational methodology and central thesis of this book.