Christian von Ehrenfels

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Christian Freiherr von Ehrenfels ( Maria Christian Julius Leopold Freiherr von Ehrenfels ; born June 20, 1859 in Rodaun near Vienna ; † September 8, 1932 in Lichtenau in the Waldviertel ), Austrian philosopher, is considered one of the pioneers and forerunners of Gestalt psychology and Gestalt theory , especially through his work On Gestaltqualitäten (1890).

Life

Christian von Ehrenfels, born in Rodaun near Vienna, grew up in his father's palace in Brunn am Walde in Lower Austria. He attended secondary school in Krems and initially studied at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna and then switched to the University of Vienna .

There he studied philosophy with Franz Brentano and Alexius Meinong , and after his transfer to the Karl-Franzens-Universität (Graz) Meinong received his doctorate in 1885 on the subject of size relations and numbers. A psychological study . He qualified as a professor in Vienna in 1888 for philosophy with the work About Feeling and Willing . From 1896 to 1929 he was professor of philosophy at the German Karl Ferdinand University in Prague and was heard there by Max Brod , Franz Kafka and Felix Weltsch , among others .

His daughter was the writer Imma von Bodmershof . His son Rolf (1901–1980), professor of anthropology, converted to Islam in 1927 under the name Omar. Omar's wife, Elfriede Ehrenfels , published a number of books as a writer under the pseudonym " Kurban Said " together with the convert Essad Bey .

Intellectual contributions

He coined the definition according to which a “ shape ” is a whole that has the properties of oversummativity and transposability. His example of melody and its translation into another key has become famous. Ehrenfels says here that a melody may consist of individual tones, but is much more than just the sum of these tones. The individual tones could combine to form completely different melodies, while the melody would remain the same even if it was shifted to a different key and therefore contains different individual tones (see also Aristotle : " The whole is more than the sum of its parts ") . Ehrenfels called this novelty that belongs to a perceptual whole compared to its parts, gestalt qualities .

In numerous writings on cultural studies and sexual politics, von Ehrenfels represented the view of the cultural harmfulness of monogamy and the utopia of a polygynous social order. He was of the opinion that monogamy hindered the Darwinian logic of reproduction and the selection of procreation, which has a culturally and biologically devastating effect on societies and must therefore be fought. With this, Ehrenfels (whose wife Emma was friends with Houston Stewart Chamberlain , who, like him, dealt with racial theories) exposed himself to massive criticism, as his theory opposed the norms of his time almost unimaginable.

Works

poetry

  • 1876 ​​- Hadmar von Kuering (tragedy)
  • 1876 ​​- Brutus (tragedy)
  • 1876 ​​- Richard the Lionheart (tragedy)
  • 1885 - The von Hartenstein brothers (drama), Graz 1885
  • 1890 - The Battle of Prometheus (Libretto)

Non-fiction

  • 1884 - Size relation and numbers, a psychological study . Dissertation, University of Graz, 1884 (handwritten)
  • 1886 - Metaphysical remarks in connection with Emil du Bois-Reymond .
  • 1888 - On Feeling and Willing: A Psychological Study . Carl Gerold & Sohn, Vienna 1888.
  • 1890 - About gestalt qualities . In: Quarterly journal for scientific philosophy, 14 (1890), pp. 249–292 ( digitized version ).
  • 1893 - Value theory and ethics . In: Quarterly Journal for Scientific Philosophy, 17 (1893), pp. 26–110, 200–266, 321–363, 413–425; 18 (1894), pp. 22-97
  • 1897 - system of value theory . 2 volumes. O. Reisland, Leipzig 1897, 1898
  • 1904 - sexual, upper and subconscious . In: Politisch-Anthropologische Revue, 2 (1903-4), pp. 456–476
  • 1904 - The sexual reform . In: Politisch-Anthropologische Revue, 2 (1903-4), pp. 970–994
  • 1907 - sexual ethics . Wiesbaden: JF Bergmann, 1907
  • 1911 - Key objectives for breed evaluation . In: Archive for Race and Social Biology , 8 (1911), pp. 59–71
  • 1913 - Richard Wagner and his apostates . A contribution to the centenary. H. Heller, Vienna / Leipzig 1913
  • 1916 - cosmogony . Diederichs, Jena 1916
  • 1922 - The law of prime numbers, developed and presented on the basis of the Gestalt theory . Reisland, Leipzig 1922
  • 1930 - Sexual Morals of the Future . In: Archive for Race and Social Biology , 22 (1930), pp. 292–304
  • Philosophical writings in 4 volumes, ed. by Reinhard Fabian. Philosophia-Verlag 1. Theory of Value, Munich / Vienna 1982; 2. Aesthetics. 1986; 3. Psychology, ethics, epistemology. 1988; 4. Metaphysics. 1990

Secondary literature

See also

Web links


personal data
SURNAME Ehrenfels, Christian von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ehrenfels, Christian Freiherr von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian philosopher
DATE OF BIRTH June 20, 1859
PLACE OF BIRTH Rodaun near Vienna
DATE OF DEATH September 8, 1932
Place of death Lichtenau in the Waldviertel