Van Hogelande was the son of a Catholic nobleman from Zeeland. Both his father (Johannes) and his uncle (Theobald) were interested in scientific questions, Theobald being known as an alchemist. Little is known about Cornelis's life, except that he remained unmarried and that he settled at Leiden as a medical practitioner, after studies at Leiden and presumably also abroad. He was a trusted friend of Descartes, who on leaving for Sweden put him in charge of a trunk with personal belongings. In a letter to Van Hogelande, Descartes gives his definitive and fairly negative judgment on Comenius (1592–1670). Van Hogelande also published two philosophical works: Cogitationes quibus Dei existentia, item animae spiritualitas … demonstrantur (1646) and De divina praedestinatione (1653). In the Conversation with Burman, Descartes suggests that, despite the fact that Van Hogelande never follows him exactly, he understands the spirit of his work, which is true. Van Hogelande argues for the existence of a providential agent behind the continually changing world of nature, who controls the mechanism of the human body and the machine of the universe, the difference between bodies and humans being that the latter have consciousness. Free will on the other hand would consist in freely consenting to what cannot be denied.

See also Conversation with Burman, Free Will, Human Being, Machine