Erich Frank (philosopher)

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Erich Frank (born June 6, 1883 in Prague , Austria-Hungary , † June 22, 1949 in Amsterdam ) was a German historian of philosophy .

Life

Erich Frank was the son of the assimilated Jewish couple Aloys and Regina Frank. He studied philosophy , classical philology and ancient history at the universities of Vienna , Freiburg and Berlin . In Freiburg he was particularly influenced by the Neo-Kantian Wilhelm Windelband . His Berlin teachers, the philologist Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff and the historian Eduard Meyer , encouraged him to study ancient philosophy, which became Frank's main field of work. In 1911 he was with the thesis The principle of dialectical synthesis and Kantian philosophy at the University of Heidelberg doctorate . Frank was a soldier in the First World War .

After graduating, Frank worked as a high school teacher in Heidelberg, Freiburg and Mannheim. In 1923 he completed his habilitation at the University of Heidelberg for philosophy and was appointed private lecturer, in 1927 associate professor. In 1928 he was appointed to the chair for philosophy at the University of Marburg , which had become vacant with the departure of Martin Heidegger .

After the takeover of the Nazis Frank came because of his Jewish origin coming under pressure. In 1935 he was given leave of absence from his professorship due to the law to restore the civil service, and in 1936 he was permanently excluded from research and teaching. Since then he has lived on his low retirement pension and was banned from publishing. After brief imprisonment in the concentration camp , he tried to emigrate from Germany , which he succeeded in late 1938. He went to the USA via Holland , where he received a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation in 1939 . He worked as a lecturer at the same time at Harvard University (1939-1942) and at Bryn Mawr College , where he was appointed Visiting Professor of Philosophy in 1946 . In 1949 he was offered a professorship in philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania , which he could no longer accept: he died on June 22nd in Amsterdam.

Frank was one of the leading historians of philosophy and religion of his time. He particularly dealt with the contradictions between philosophy and religiosity.

Fonts

  • The principle of dialectical synthesis and the Kantian philosophy , Reuther & Reichard, Berlin 1911 (Kant studies, supplementary booklets 21).
  • Plato and the so-called Pythagoreans. A chapter from the history of the Greek spirit , Niemeyer, Halle (Saale) 1923 [reprint Darmstadt 1962].
  • Know, want, believe. Collected essays on the history of philosophy and existential philosophy , ed. Ludwig Edelstein, Artemis-Verlag, Zurich & Stuttgart 1955 ( Erasmus library ).

literature

  • Ludwig Edelstein : Erich Frank's Work. An Appreciation , Appendix to Erich Frank: Knowing, Wanting, Believing. Collected essays on the history of philosophy and existential philosophy , Artemis-Verlag, Zurich & Stuttgart 1955, p. 407-465.
  • Mabel L. Lang : Frank, Erich . In: Ward W. Briggs (ed.), Biographical Dictionary of North American Classicists , Westport, CT / London: Greenwood Press 1994, pp. 195-196 ISBN 978-0-313245-60-2 .
  • Werner Röder; Herbert A. Strauss (Ed.): International Biographical Dictionary of Central European Emigrés 1933-1945 , Vol II, 1 Munich: Saur 1983 ISBN 3-598-10089-2 , p. 317

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Frank, Erich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German historian of philosophy
DATE OF BIRTH June 6, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH Prague
DATE OF DEATH June 22, 1949
Place of death Amsterdam