The Legatum Stolpianum is an award, consisting of a certificate and €2,000, for the best dissertation with a strong ethical and philosophical element defended at a Dutch university in the past five years. In his thesis, De Boer challenges the dominant reading of Agamben as a political nihilist thinker, and argues that his work contains a powerful ethics in which guilt consciousness, duty and will, give way to love, exemplarity and receptivity.
Oldest scientific prize in the Netherlands
The Leiden citizen Jan Stolp (1671-1753) established the prize by will as a biennial competition on faith and science. The prize was later transformed into the current five-year dissertation prize. Based on Stolps will, the jury consists of professors of theology, philosophy, medicine, law, natural sciences and humanities. It has been awarded since 1753, making it one of the oldest scientific prizes in the Netherlands. Laureates include former prime minister Willem Drees, Nobel laureate in economics Jan Tinbergen and former Radboud theologian Palmyre Oomen.
De Boer's reaction
De Boer says winning the prize means a lot to him, 'writing this dissertation was a personal and intimate activity. I was quite a challenge to make sense of Agamben’s enchanting but unruly writings, and write intelligibly about it. That is why it means all the more to me that what I was looking for in Agamben's texts was actually found to be of ethical value'. Part of the prize money will go towards new research, in the form of buying books and a good armchair.
More informatie about the prize can be found on the website of Leiden University Fund.