Daan Roovers to deliver the 54th Huizinga Lecture
On Thursday 11 December 2025, Daan Roovers, the philosopher and former Denker des Vaderlands (Philosopher Laureate), will give the 54th Huizinga Lecture at the Stadsgehoorzaal in Leiden. Under the title What’s at stake: The boundaries of politics and fair play, she will reinterpret Johan Huizinga’s ideas for the present day.
What’s at stake: The boundaries of politics and fair play
Our democracy is under pressure. A healthy political culture needs rules, civility and fair play, but politicians are more concerned with ‘repeatedly bringing down governments on the basis of contrived conflicts,’ wrote Johan Huizinga, the Netherlands’ most renowned historian, in the 1930s. The perpetual adolescence that characterises not only politicians but also their voters has turned politics into game devoid of both humour and seriousness.
Huizinga’s diagnosis from almost a century ago reads like a report on recent years. In Homo Ludens he advocates for a political culture that cannot exist ‘without the salutary limiting conventions that, in times of conflict, defuse danger and preserve the possibility of cooperation.’
In the 54th Huizinga Lecture, Daan Roovers will reinterpret Huizinga’s ideas for the present day. How can we promote fair play in our democracy? What does a healthy political culture demand of politicians, of citizens and of the media? She argues that the disrupted relationships between these groups can be better, if we develop a new and much broader understanding of politics.
About the speaker
Daan Roovers, the philosopher and former Denker des Vaderlands (Philosopher Laureate; 2019-2021), is one of the driving forces behind public philosophy in the Netherlands. In her research on digitisation and the evolution of public debate, she draws on the work of such thinkers as Habermas to go back to the roots of democracy, politics and public discourse. As a member of The Netherlands in 2040 think tank, she argues for the importance of long-term thinking.
Roovers teaches public philosophy at Erasmus University Rotterdam and the University of Amsterdam. She has been a member of the Raad voor Openbaar Bestuur (Council for Public Administration; 2021-2023) and was editor-in-chief of Filosofie Magazine (Philosophy Magazine) for many years. Her publications include Een kleine geschiedenis van de filosofie (‘A brief history of philosophy’; 2010), Mensen maken (‘Making people’; 2017) and Wij zijn de politiek (‘We are politics’; 2019). Her dissertation Critical Publicity and its Epistemic Challenges; A Philosophical Approach to Public Opinion Formation in a Post-Digital Public Sphere (2025) will be published in December. Since June 2023 she has been a member of the joint GroenLinks-PvdA group in the Dutch Senate. As a senator, she focuses particularly on education, science and democratisation.
Practical information
The lecture will take place on Thursday, December 11, 2025, at the Stadsgehoorzaal in Leiden. Please note that the lecture is in Dutch.
The doors will open at 7:00 PM, and the lecture will begin at 8:00 PM. Attendees will receive a book with the lecture text and a drink afterward.
Ticket prices: € 24.00* (1st section) / € 18.00* (2nd section).
Students/CJP pass holders receive a discount per section (valid LU card/CJP card required at the venue).
*excl. administration fees
More information
For questions about the lecture, contact Mrs. Sanderien de Jong, secretary of the Huizinga Committee.
A full overview of all Huizinga Lectures from the past 53 years can be found here.
