Bruno belly

Bruno belly

Bruno Bauch (born January 19, 1877 in Groß-Nossen , Münsterberg district ( Silesia ); † February 27, 1942 in Jena ) was a German philosopher.

He was a representative of the Southwest German School of Neo-Kantianism . Bauch was shaped by his teachers Heinrich Rickert , Kuno Fischer and Wilhelm Windelband in the spirit of Rudolf Hermann Lotze , but after the First World War he became more and more involved in a nationalist anti-Jewish "German philosophy".

Life and work

Bruno Bauch was born as the only son of the Silesian landowner Bruno Oskar Joseph Bauch and his wife Pauline Karoline (née Schön) in Groß-Nossen ( Silesia ). He grew up with no siblings. One sister had died before he was born. His experiences in the village school and with the working class children at his father's estate shaped his first years. The life in the country, the proximity to the animals justified his later inclination to zoology , which was one of his subjects. His interest in mathematics was strengthened by his father, who himself felt a particular inclination for taking measurements of forest and arable land as part of the maintenance of the estate.

From 1884, Bauch attended elementary school, from 1887 the grammar school. A decisive turning point in Bruno Bauch's life was the death of his mother when he was twelve years old. In upper school he showed an interest in David Hume , Immanuel Kant and Platon , some of whose works he studied in his spare time. During this time he realized that his desire to study was greater than his desire to take over his father's agriculture.

He went to study at the University of Freiburg im Breisgau , where in the first semester he asked Heinrich Rickert to be included in the seminar on Kant's Critique of Judgment . Rickert also accepted him into the family.

In addition to the philosophical, he attended mathematical and scientific lectures. After three semesters in Freiburg im Breisgau , he moved, on Rickert's advice, to the University of Strasbourg , where he continued his philosophical and mathematical-scientific studies with Wilhelm Windelband . After four semesters in Strasbourg, Bruno Bauch switched to Heidelberg University . In 1901 he finally returned to Freiburg to do a doctorate. His work was published in 1902 under the title Happiness and Personality in Critical Ethics .

In 1902 Bruno Bauch went to Berlin , where he let art and culture work on him. During this time he was concerned with the proximity of the basic ideas of Kant, related to ethics and religious philosophy, to Luther . He sent this work as a manuscript with the title Luther and Kant to Hans Vaihinger in order to publish it in the Kant studies .

Vaihinger then offered Bauch to work on the "Kant Studies" and to do his habilitation with this work at the University of Halle . In the winter semester of 1903/04 he became a private lecturer in Halle . During this time, the need grew to deal with the presentation of Kant's teaching. This resulted in the Immanuel Kant font for the Göschen Collection , which was first published in 1911.

In the meantime, Bauch had been given the title of Professor (1910). In 1911 he was appointed full professor at the University of Jena , where he succeeded Otto Liebmann . He continued editing the “Kant Studies” in Jena until 1916.

In 1917/18 he founded the German Philosophical Society in Weimar in opposition to the Kant studies with Max Wundt , Hermann Schwarz and others . In 1921 Rudolf Carnap did his doctorate with him, later one of the most important foremen of the Vienna Circle . In 1922 Bruno Bauch was appointed rector of the University of Jena. As a right-wing extremist, he tried to justify the völkisch ideas and in 1926 became a member of the Deutschbund .

After the transfer of power to Adolf Hitler, Bauch was a signatory to an appeal published in the Völkischer Beobachter on March 3, 1933 for the election of the NSDAP in the Reichstag election on March 5, 1933 - a declaration by 300 university teachers for Adolf Hitler . In 1934 he became a member of the National Socialist People's Welfare , a mass organization of the NSDAP, and in 1935 a member of the Reich Air Protection Association .

Bruno Bauch died in Jena in 1942 .

philosophy

Bruno Bauch is generally assigned to the Neo-Kantians of the Southwest German School (Badische Schule), whose main representatives Wilhelm Windelband and Heinrich Rickert, as teachers, exerted a strong influence on Bruno Bauch. Even Otto Liebmann , the predecessor of Bruno Bauch in Jena, was among those who belly pose with affected. The editors of the Kant studies, Alois Riehl and Hans Vaihinger, rated Bruno Bauch in a report on the occasion of his habilitation thesis, which dealt with the relationship between Luther and Kant , as a follower of Kant and thus gladly accepted Bauch into the circle of the University of Halle.

In contrast to his teacher Rickert, Bauch, certainly influenced by the time he taught Gottlob Frege in Jena, adopted his logical argumentation.

Criticism as a current of neo-Kantianism

Bruno Bauch portrays himself as a Neo-Kantian who, as he describes in his Kant book, “places the Kantian spirit above the Kantian letters”, that is, does not interpret Kant's statements literally, but tries where he does not see Kant has proceeded consistently, criticizing and looking for new ideas.

This is exemplified in the discussion of the categorical imperative . Bauch points out that the categorical imperative, so that it can be seen as a principle of truly moral action, needs the justification of this concrete moral action, and sees this in the solution to this problem most important task of ethics of its time.

Philosophy of values

The philosophy of values ​​represented by the Badische Schule assumes that everything that is conditioned by nature (i.e. can be explained with natural laws) is value-free and that values ​​are only created with the historical culture, which is to be understood as value.

He documents Bruno Bauch's understanding of this subject in his work Truth, Value and Reality . From his point of view, these three terms can be combined into a problem whole. They form a problem unit.

The truth determines the relationship between reality and value. All knowledge is both knowledge of truth and knowledge of objects; thus the knowledge of real objects is always connected with the knowledge of truth: truth and reality cannot exist independently of one another.

“[…] The fact that there is science, that there is art, morality, religion, law, etc. shows that not only life, especially spiritual life, but also reality in general on the one hand and the realm of values on the other hand not how absolutely separate worlds can fall apart and diverge. "

He differentiates between the spiritual and the purely biological life:

"And the fact remains that mere life is not a value, not even a good."

Bruno Bauch explains the value of truth in connection with biological life as an instrument and tool for getting to know the "orientation in existence", i.e. as a prerequisite for being able to participate in cultural life at all.

Bauch interprets the central question of criticalism (Kant's questions about the conditions of the possibilities of knowledge) not in relation to nature or spirit , but to culture. For him, final knowledge is only possible with the critique of judgment. From this point of view, the knowledge of the sciences can be explained as “pure” knowledge and as the central content of culture.

With this, Bruno Bauch continues the program of a cultural philosophy given by his teachers , but also takes a position with fundamental statements against the standpoint of Neo-Kantianism of Windelband, Rickert and Lask . According to Bauch's view, reality cannot be understood as a task: reality as a task is meaningless, since it is already real as reality. But if reality cannot be understood as a task, it cannot be of any value, like truth, beauty, etc.

The value of reality therefore lies exclusively in real knowledge, in real moral action, in real art. With this foundation of his value theory, Bauch deals with cultural areas such as economy, law, education, upbringing, art and religion.

This results in his commitment to political, in particular educational and educational issues (conscious communication of value points of view).

In his essay on the philosophical position of pedagogy in the system of sciences in the quarterly journal for philosophical pedagogy (1917), Bauch takes a stand against the "machine-like drill ". He sees the task of education in strengthening and forming subjective individuality under the aspect that individuality is thus enabled to be educated according to objective “supra-individual” values ​​and to relate to these values. From this it follows that the individuality of the individual can only be thought of in relation to the community and thus an indissoluble connection between individuality and common duty (fulfillment) in the sense of the categorical imperative of Kant is to be seen.

Political position

At the latest with the lecture On the Concept of the Nation: A Chapter on Philosophy of History from 1916, Bruno Bauch aroused vehement criticism from the Neo-Kantians and especially the Kant Society . In the lecture, Bauch represented a concept of nation linked to ancestry:

“The nation as a community of 'co-born' is a natural community of descent as the basis of ethnic unity. I am born into this community. I do not only belong to it through a certain act of will and decision on my part, I also do not need a special, again established acceptance [...] The community of blood is the unifying bond in the natural existence of the nation, and this is itself a first natural community association, a natural given. In the color of the skin, the cut of the face, the body structure of each individual, it is expressed as a visible type. "

Since Bauch neither gave up his positions nor agreed to a settlement initiated by Hans Vaihinger with the members of the Kant Society , he finally left the society. With the establishment of the German Philosophical Society in Weimar, Bauch pursued the goal of developing and emphasizing the “German” character of philosophy.

Bauch advocated the war (speech on the founding day Geist von Potsdam und der Geist von Weimar , 1926) and acted as one of the confidants of the NSDAP at the University of Jena, although he was not a member of the party but only in National Socialist mass organizations.

Reception in the sense of a “German” nationalist philosophy

According to Erich Keller (1928), Bauch sees the capture of personal spiritual values ​​and their representation in reality as the highest purpose of human existence. This happens within the framework of the community (nation). In order to be able to carry out these tasks, the single individual needs freedom. From this arises the right to the right to freedom to perform the tasks of the individual.

Individuals are free to use this right to fulfill their duties towards the community (nation) (Erich Keller: Bruno Bauch as a philosopher of patriotic thought , Hermann Beyer & Sons, Langensalza, 1928) - it is necessary to secure this right of the state, endowed with the power to serve higher values.

Erich Keller later wrote in the time of National Socialism , "... that in the philosophy of Bauch the Germanic spirit created a self-portrayal of particular urgency." Whereby Erich Keller immediately points out in the following that this comes from the words of Bruno Bauchs only had it constructed because he himself did not express this so clearly.

Books and writings

Selection of works

• Happiness and Personality in Critical Ethics , Stuttgart: Frommann 1902
• Luther and Kant , Berlin: Reuther & Reichard 1904
• History of modern philosophy up to Kant , Berlin and Leipzig: JG Göschen 1908
• Immanuel Kant (Göschen Collection), Berlin and Leipzig: Göschen 1911
• Studies on the philosophy of the exact sciences , Heidelberg: Carl Winter 1911
• On the concept of the nation , Berlin: Reuther & Reichard 1916
• Fichte and the German Thought , Hamburg: Dt.-Nat. Publishing establishment 1917
• Jena and the philosophy of German idealism , Jena: G. Fischer 1922
• Truth, Value and Reality , Leipzig: F. Meiner 1923
• Fichte and the German state thought , Langensalza: Beyer & Sons 1925
• The idea , Leipzig: E. Reinicke 1926
• The spirit of Potsdam and the spirit of Weimar , Jena: G. Fischer 1926
• Philosophy of Life and Philosophy of Values , Langensalza: Beyer & Sons 1927
• Goethe and philosophy , Tübingen: JCB Mohr 1928
• Culture and Nation , Langensalza: Beyer & Sons 1929
• The educational importance of cultural assets , Leipzig: Quelle & Meyer 1929
• Basics of Ethics , Stuttgart: Kohlhammer 1935

Appeared in magazines and compilations

• The essence of genius according to Kant and Schiller , (Nord und Süd 1902)
• About Goethe's philosophical worldview , (Prussian yearbooks 1904)
• Morality and Culture , (magazine for philosophy and philosophical criticism 1904)
• Ethics , (Festschrift for Kuno Fischer 1904)
• Kant and our poet princes , (supplement to the general newspaper 1904)
• The personality of Kant , (Kant studies 1904)
• Schiller and the idea of ​​freedom , (Kant studies 1905)
• Fichte's concept of academic freedom , (Grenzbote 1905)
• The discussion of a modern problem in ancient philosophy (Logos 1914)
• Idealism and Realism in the Sphere of Philosophical Criticism , (Kant Studies 1914)
• The war and the struggle for existence , (Prussian yearbooks 1915)
• Practical Philosophy and Practical Life , (Kant Studies 1916)
• Our philosophical interest in Luther , (magazine for philosophy and philosophical criticism 1917)
• Luther's act in German intellectual life , (Deutsches Volkstum 1917)
• Friedrich Nietzsche and German Idealism (Panther 1917)
• On the position of pedagogy in the system of sciences , (quarterly journal for philosophical pedagogy 1917)
• Lotze's logic and its meaning in German idealism , (Contributions to the philosophy of German idealism 1918)
• Truth and correctness. A contribution to epistemology , (Festschrift for Johannes Volkelt 1918)
• The legal problem in the Kantian philosophy (Zeitschrift für Rechtssphilosophie 1920)
• Ethics , (culture of the present. Systematic philosophy 3rd edition 1921)
• From the mission of the German spirit , (Germany's renewal 1922)
• The transcendental subject , (Logos 1923)
• On the problem of philosophy of the history of philosophy , (Festschrift for Paul Hensel 1924)
• The Development of Ethical Problems in German Thought since the War , (international Journal of Ethics 1926)
• The dialectic in the relationship between war and peace in Kant (Archive for Legal and Economic Philosophy 1926)
• Logos and Psyche (Logos 1926)

literature

• Alexander von Varga:  Belly, Bruno. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1953, ISBN 3-428-00182-6 , p. 630 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Raymund Schmidt (ed.): The German philosophy of the present in self-portrayals , F. Meiner, Leipzig 1929
• Erich Keller: Bruno Bauch as a philosopher of patriotic thought , Hermann Beyer & Sons, Langensalza 1928
• Erich Keller: The philosophy of Bruno Bauch as an expression of Germanic mentality , Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1935
• Wolfgang Ritzel: Studies on the change in the Kantian view , Westkulturverlag Anton Hain, Meisenheim / Glan 1952
• Johano Strasser : The hypothetical imperative in the ethics of Bruno Bauch , dissertation Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz 1967
• Cristina Savi: Bruno Bauch ed Ernst Cassirer , Bibliopolis, Napoli 1992, ISBN 88-7088-254-3
• Helmut Holzhey / Ernst Wolfgang Orth (ed.): Neo-Kantianism. Perspectives and Problems , Königshausen & Neumann Publishing House, Würzburg 1994
• Regina Meyer and Günter Schenk (eds.): Neo-Kantian orientated philosophers , on behalf of the "Hallische philosophischen Bibliothek", Crok media Verlag 2001, ISBN 3-936228-01-9
• Sven Schlotter: The totality of culture. Philosophical thinking and political action with Bruno Bauch , studies and materials on Neo-Kantianism, Volume 22, Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2004

Web links

Wikisource: Bruno Bauch  - Sources and full texts

• Literature by and about Bruno Bauch in the catalog of the German National Library
• http://phaidon.philo.at/asp/bbauch.htm
• http://phaidon.philo.at/asp/bf1.html
• philosophical portrait in information philosophy

swell

• Belly, Bruno. 1917. Immanuel Kant , Berlin and Leipzig: Göschen
• Belly, Bruno. 1923. Truth, Value and Reality , Leipzig: F. Meiner
• Belly, Bruno. 1927. Philosophy of life and philosophy of values , writings from the Euckenkreis Euckenbund issue 29 Langensalza
• Schmidt, Raymund, ed. 1929. The German philosophy of the present in self-portrayals , Verlag F. Meiner, Leipzig 1929
• Keller, Erich. 1935. The philosophy of Bruno Bauch as an expression of Germanic mentality , Verlag W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart
• Keller, Erich. 1928. Bruno Bauch as philosopher of patriotic thought , Hermann Beyer & Sons, Langensalza
• Meyer, Regina and Schenk, Günter Hrsg. 2001. New Kantian orientated philosophers , commissioned by the “Hallische philosophische Bibliothek”, Crok media Verlag, ISBN 3-936228-01-9

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Immanuel Kant. Berlin and Leipzig 1917, foreword, page X.
2. ^ The Development of Ethical Problems in German Thought since the War. In: International Journal of Ethics , 1926.
3. ↑ Philosophy of Life and Philosophy of Values. In: Writings from the Euckenkreis, Euckenbund Heft 29, Langensalza 1927, pp. 23–24.
4. ↑ Philosophy of Life and Philosophy of Values. In: Writings from the Euckenkreis, Euckenbund Heft 29, Langensalza 1927, p. 24.
5. ↑ Truth, Value and Reality. Felix Meiner Verlag, Leipzig 1923, p. 530.
6. ↑ Bruno Bauch: On the concept of the nation. A chapter on the philosophy of history, in: Kant studies 21 (1916), pp. 139–162, pp. 140f
7. ↑ Erich Keller: The philosophy of Bruno Bauch as an expression of Germanic mentality , Verlag W Kohlhammer Stuttgart 1935, p. 4.