Ernst Barthel

Ernst Barthel, photographed by E. Gropp in Cologne in 1931, scan from the book "Introduction to Polar Geometry" (1932)

Ernst Philipp Barthel (born October 17, 1890 in Schiltigheim ; † February 16, 1953 in Oberkirch (Baden) ) was an Alsatian philosopher , mathematician and inventor . In the 1920s and 1930s he taught as a private lecturer in philosophy at the University of Cologne . From 1924 Barthel was editor of the magazine Antäus . Sheets for new reality thinking , which functioned as an organ of the Society for Philosophy of Life he founded in Cologne . Barthel cultivated philosophical friendships with his compatriots Albert Schweitzer and Friedrich Lienhard .

Life

Ernst Barthel was born in 1890 as the son of Philipp Barthel and his wife Salomea Barthel nee Schaeffer. After an excellent high school diploma in 1909, Barthel began, contrary to the expectations of his teachers, to study philosophy at the University of Strasbourg, which he completed in 1913 with a doctorate. After the First World War he went to the University of Cologne, where he completed his habilitation in 1921 . Because of university intrigues, his career was initially stuck in the precarious position of a private lecturer. The National Socialists suspected him of Francophilia , which further prevented them from gaining permanent employment. Despite tentative attempts to come to terms with the regime, he was dismissed from the university in November 1940 by the Reich Minister of Education, Bernhard Rust, for no apparent reason. Presumably, religious-metaphysical utterances in his book Man and the Eternal Backgrounds , but above all the alleged proximity of the author of the Alsatian intellectual fate (1928) to France played a role. Ernst Barthel was a member of the NSLB .

After the Second World War, he was not allowed to return to Alsace because he was chalked up in France to move to Germany after the First World War. He settled on the other side of the Rhine in Germany and died in 1953 in Oberkirch, Baden.

Barthel's estate is in the city and university library in Frankfurt am Main.

philosophy

The basic principle of Barthel's philosophy is polarity, which he understood as a fundamentally shaping law in everything that exists. Even with his dissertation, his philosophical program aims to create an epistemologically impeccable metaphysics that is close to Christian Platonism . As a spiritual starting point, he himself mentions Arthur Schopenhauer and, above all, Immanuel Kant : " Because besides Schopenhauer there is no one to whom we owe such a lasting influence and lasting teaching as Kant ." In addition, Barthel repeatedly refers to the scientific work of JW v. Goethe's .

As a central component of his philosophical work, he developed an independent geometry ( polar geometry ), a spherical geometry based on Riemann's or elliptical axiomatics .

Basic considerations

Philosophy, geometry and cosmology are directly related to one another in Barthel's thinking. As a result, he criticized the reductionist orientation and the lack of ethical and human-related dimension of the scientific worldview, which he called "pseudo-Kantianism". Especially with reference to the Copernican view of the world, he emphasized several times: " I cannot come to terms with seeing the world and all of humanity reduced to a tiny speck of dust lost in infinite space."

So he also designed his polar geometry as an alternative to scientific cosmology. In his polar geometric cosmology, he moved the earth into the center of the universe, which also largely filled it and thus no longer offered space for infinite distances: " Geometry only becomes a fully exact science when the endless nebulae that have hitherto been seen on its horizon remarked to be evicted to the very last. "

Principle of Barthel's transformation circle with r1 = r2 = 1 and a rotational speed ratio of 1: 2 in the four possible complements (two each for the directional and circular function complements).

With this Barthel stepped up against the primacy of the natural sciences over philosophy. In an early writing he formulated his claim in a combative way: " Philosophy has danced to the tune of natural science long enough."

Similarly, he distrusted the theory of evolution and sought a middle ground between evolutionism and creationism. Fernand Criqui considers the consideration of human ethics to be the fulcrum in Barthel's philosophy, which in Barthel's work had priority over “scientific truth”. Accordingly, Barthel saw the resistance of established science to his polar geometry and cosmological theses, which deviate from contemporary astronomy, to be justified " because world domination is in danger of premature error and egoistic violence, losing its power through the just laws of God of polarity (organic duality) go."

In his work, Barthel systematically refers to two principles, the basis of which he derives from the structure of human consciousness. The first principle is the polar opposition of finite consciousness between concrete existence and absolute categories (e.g. will / imagination, practical / scientific, quantitative / qualitative, relational / immediate, etc.), which he saw as a prerequisite for all knowledge of the world and which is therefore must also be realized in the imagination of the cosmos. Barthel understands the coupling of circular movements as an organic manifestation of the principle, which he proposes as a fundamental construction principle of nature. To clarify this, Barthel developed his so-called transformation circle . The transformation circle creates curves that form exactly the middle between epi- and hypotrochoid . The drawing apparatus thus represents a scientific forerunner of the spirograph invented in the 1960s .

The polar coupling of circular movements is used by Barthel z. B. specifically as the formal basis of his color theory and for describing natural shapes such. B. those of the diatoms.

The essence of polar geometry

Barthel explains in detail why, in his opinion, of all geometries that can be formulated axiomatically, only geometry according to Riemann's axiomatics has an objective right. Since he categorically rejects “infinity”, “miracles” would have to occur in the remaining geometries due to the necessity of infinitely distant or vanishing points, which, from an epistemological point of view, are to be overcome as “dream components”. In his opinion, this overcoming is achieved by the polar geometry .

The geometrical space of polar geometry is characterized by two essential properties:

• The total space has a maximum, finite diameter, the space constant,
• Every complete section through the entire space can be illustrated topologically as a sphere, i. H. as a level that macroscopically runs back into itself.

This turns straight lines into objects with the properties of great circles , and the mathematical formulas for calculating macroscopic distances and areas that of spherical geometry .

At the end of the 1930s, Barthel also published a few writings in which he claims that there were concrete inaccuracies in some theorems of Euclidean geometry. Among other things, he believed that the value of the number pi for the circumference and the area of ​​the circle differed by about 1/270.

Cosmogony according to polar geometry

Based on the conviction that the spherical geometry of Riemann's axiomatics describes the real spatial relationships of the cosmos, Barthel developed a spherical cosmology . He emphasizes that he left the Copernican "planetary mathematics" unchanged and only revised the underlying geometry.

Sketch of Barthel's view of the world, which is imaginatively a compromise between the Copernican view of the world and the inner world view . According to Barthel, the curvature of the earth's surface is a logical requirement with only indirect reference to measured quantities.

His most revolutionary idea is to see the earth as cosmically large, i.e. H. as a total plane , maximum sphere or equatorial plane of a spherical and thus cyclic space . The topology of such a (total) plane can be mapped onto a spherical surface, so that the plane itself and all straight lines on it run back into themselves. The same is true in terms of polar geometry for any straight line or plane in the cosmos .

From a metrological point of view, however , the earth's surface is absolutely flat and without any curvature upwards or downwards. The obvious difficulty of thinking of something that regresses in itself at the same time as uncurved is a " point that one must not judge without having fully understood it" , because in it lies an essential synthesis " between Euclidean solidity of thought and Riemann's holistic axiom " .

In order to classify this view it is crucial to note that this supposed contradiction has a correspondence with the difficulty in describing an unlimited but not infinite universe that has existed to this day.

To describe the planetary orbits, Barthel replaced the Copernican translational motion of the earth with a spherical-geometric rotary motion, which was superimposed on the daily as an annual rotation. Furthermore, according to Barthel, fixed stars are not a result of luminous matter, but individuation points of sunlight, which is bent at the cosmic " space crystal".

Conclusions of Barthel's cosmogony include that light does not propagate in a straight line, but is gravitationally influenced and that the acceleration due to gravity g is not constant, but the weight increases from the upper celestial pole (zero) to the lower earth pole (maximum).

Assuming his maximum sphere circumference as the circumference of the earth, Barthel concludes that the dimensions and distances of the celestial bodies must be much smaller than the Euclidean geometry calculated them. On the basis of his spherical axioms of parallels, Barthel considered lunar craters 200 km in diameter and lunar mountains 8000 m high to be "grotesque things". Instead, he calculated maximum elevations of 40 m and gorges from 1.5 to 2.5 km in length as well as a distance of the moon from the earth of only 2000 km - instead of the Euclidean-Copernican distance of almost 400,000 km astronomy runs out to this day.

Barthel, on the other hand, assumed until his death in 1953 that his theory would be confirmed by the progress of aerospace: " For my system, every stratospheric flight becomes a pioneer of the idea, because the more one specifically explores the space above the earth's surface All the more it must be discovered that the inflation figures do not apply. "

reception

While Barthel's conventional philosophical works are cited to this day, his geometrical-cosmological works are largely forgotten and, if at all, treated as a curious marginal note.

Even though some of his colleagues are said to have considered his theory to be geometrically possible and logically consistent, the vast majority of his contemporaries vehemently rejected it. During Barthel's lifetime, some also resorted to the “plague of personal slander” by mocking that he “taught that the earth was flat ” or that he was frankly insane, which ruined his career.

Barthel himself considered his theory to be fully confirmed and even described it as the "most significant thought of the century" , as he wrote in his autobiography. According to Barthel, the astronomer Leonid Andrenko , who works in Constance, should have considered Barthel's main idea to be “one of the most ingenious that has ever been proposed” and advocated “taking note of it and thinking about it”.

However, through space travel after the Second World War with its distance measurements, satellite photos that depict the earth as a sphere and finally direct landings on the moon and Mars, more and more evidence was provided that proved Barthel's concrete conclusions to be false, even if they were objective in the physical universe the present geometry is still an open question.

Works (selection)

• Elements of transcendental logic , dissertation, Strasbourg, 1913
• The earth as a total plane. Hyperbolic space theory with a preliminary study of the conic sections , 1914
• Vertical dimension and space. New evidence against the spherical shape of the earth , 1914
• The error «g». A treatise on free fall , 1914
• Harmonic Astronomy , 1916
• Polar geometry , 1919
• Goethe's science theory in its modern scope , 1922 ( PDF )
• Goethe's theory of relativity of color. Along with a musical aesthetic parallel , 1923
• Philosophy of Life , 1923
• Philosophy of Eros , 1926
• Germany's and Europe's question of fate , in: Journal for Geopolitics , 3, 1926, pp. 303–309.
• Shape and soul. Seals , 1927
• The world as tension and rhythm , 1928
• Albert Schweitzer as Theologian , in: The Hibbert Journal , XXVI, 4 (1928)
• Alsatian mental fortunes. A contribution to European understanding. Carl Winter, Heidelberg 1928, Alsatia Verlag, Guebwiller 1928
• Expansion of spatial theoretical thinking possibilities through Riemannian geometry , in: Astronomische Nachrichten, Vol. 236 (1929), pp. 139-148 .
• Goethe , the symbol of German culture , 1930
• The monadology of the two worlds. Abriß der Metaphysik , Yearbook of the Alsace-Lorraine Scientific Society of Strasbourg, 3. 1930, pp. 147-185
• Cosmological letters. A New Doctrine of Space , 1931
• Imagination and thinking. A critique of the pragmatic mind. 1931
• Introduction to polar geometry , 2. essentially verb., Erg. And umgearb. Edition of "Polar Geometry", 1932
• Contributions to transcendental logic on a polaristic basis. 1932
• Geometry and Cosmos , 1939
• The cosmology of the great earth in total space. Hillmann, Leipzig 1939
• Man and the eternal background. 1939. This book "was banned by National Socialism for every future edition", Barthel, Mein Opfergang p. 230.
• The earth as the basic body of the world. Ebertin, Erfurt 1940. According to Barthel's autobiography, p. 231, this writing was crushed by the Gestapo in 1941.
• Friedrich Lienhard , the artist soul from the German Alsace. Alsatia, Kolmar 1941
• Nietzsche as a seducer. 1947
• My sacrifice through this time. A life struggling for truth and an Alsatian spiritual fate. Edited by Georg Duve. Monsenstein and Vannerdat , Münster 2005

literature

• Jean-Paul Wurtz: Ernst Barthel: philosophe alsacien (1890-1953). Recueil d'études publié à l'occasion du centenaire de sa naissance. Presses Univ. de Strasbourg, 1991
  • Jean-Paul Sorg: Ernst Barthel ou la tentation gnostique de la philosophie . Pp. 19-36
  • Fernand Criqui: La vie et l'œuvre de Barthel. Pp. 47-76
• Fernand Criqui: A tragic Alsatian fate: Ernest Barthel , in: The great Straßburger Hinkende Bote, 1954, pp. 110-112

Web links

• Works by or about Ernst Barthel in the WorldCat catalog
• Interactive simulation of Barthel's transformation circle (in Unity3D and alternatively in html5)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ cf. VDI-Nachrichten, April 19, 1933, description of the patent on Ernst Barthel's transformation circle
2. ↑ Ernst Barthel: My course of sacrifice through this time , Ed .: Georg Duve, Verlag MV Wissenschaft, 2005 (posthumous), p. 55
3. ↑ Fernand Criqui: La vie et l'œuvre de Barthel. In: Jean-Paul Wurtz: Ernst Barthel: philosophe alsacien (1890-1953). Recueil d'études publié à l'occasion du centenaire de sa naissance. Presses Univ. de Strasbourg, 1991, pp. 19-36
4. ↑ Fernand Criqui: La vie et l'œuvre de Barthel. P.56
5. ↑ Fernand Criqui: La vie et l'œuvre de Barthel. P. 60 f.
6. ↑ Fernand Criqui: La vie et l'œuvre de Barthel. P. 61
7. ↑ Ideological Powers in German Fascism Volume 5: Heidegger in Context: Complete Overview of the Nazi Engagement of University Philosophers , George Leaman, Rainer Alisch, Thomas Laugstien, Verlag: Argument Hamburg, 1993, ISBN 3886192059
8. ↑ Ernst Barthel: Elements of the transcendental logic . Dissertation, Strasbourg, 1913.
9. ↑ Ernst Barthel: Contributions to the transcendental logic on a polarist basis , Universitätsverlag R. Noske, Leipzig, p. 7
10. ↑ Ernst Barthel: Imagination and thinking. A Critique of the Pragmatic Mind , Verlag Ernst Reinhard, 1931, passim
11. ↑ Fernand Criqui: La vie et l'œuvre de Barthel. P. 52, quoted there in French: Je ne puis me résigner à voir notre monde et toute l'humanité réduits à une infime particule de poussière perdue dans l'espace infini. - See also Ernst Barthel: Polargeometrie, p. 47 f.
12. ↑ Jean-Paul Sorg: Ernst Barthel ou la tentation gnostique de la philosophie . In: Jean-Paul Wurtz: Ernst Barthel: philosophe alsacien (1890-1953). Recueil d'études publié à l'occasion du centenaire de sa naissance. Presses Univ. de Strasbourg, 1991, p. 26
13. ↑ Ernst Barthel: Polar Geometry . 1918.
14. ↑ Ernst Barthel: The error "g". A treatise on free fall . Leipzig, Hillmann 1914, p. 6.
15. ↑ Fernand Criqui: La vie et l'œuvre de Barthel. Pp. 56-58
16. ↑ Fernand Criqui: La vie et l'œuvre de Barthel. P. 58
17. ↑ Ernst Barthel, The cosmology of the great earth in total space. Hillmann, Leipzig 1939, p. 5
18. ^ Ernst Barthel: Elements of the transcendental logic , Universitätsverlag R. Noske, Leipzig, 1932, p. 26f
19. ↑ ibid, p. 61
20. ↑ Barthel, Kosmologie der Großerde, p. 28
21. ↑ cf. VDI-Nachrichten, April 19, 1933
22. ↑ Complementaristic Wave Mechanics. A justification of Goethe's theory of colors. , Yearbook of the Alsace-Lorraine Scientific Society in Strasbourg, 1938, pp. 240-251
23. ↑ Mensch und Erde im Kosmos , Verlag für Volkskunst und Volksbildung, 1939, pp. 58–82
24. ^ Ernst Barthel: Introduction to Polar Geometry , Verlag Robert Noske, Leipzig, 1932, p. 5 f. and p. 90
25. ^ Ernst Barthel: Geometry and the cosmos without excess and without suppressing small differences , Verlag Otto Hillmann, 1939, p. 10f
26. ^ E. Barthel, Imagination and Thinking , Verlag Ernst Reinhard, 1931, p. 181
27. ↑ Ernst Barthel: The error "g". A treatise on free fall . Leipzig, Hillmann 1914, v. a. P. 35. - Ernst Barthel: Cosmology of the Great Earth in Total Space P. 12 f.
28. ↑ E. Barthel, The cosmology of the great earth in total space. Leipzig 1939, p. 11
29. ↑ E. Barthel, The cosmology of the great earth in total space. , P. 11
30. ↑ z. B. Hans Otto Seitschek: Philosophy of Religion as Perspective - A New Interpretation of Reality and Truth , 2017, p. 154
31. ↑ Fernand Criqui: A tragic Elsaess fate: Ernst Barthel , 1954
32. ↑ Ernst Barthel: My sacrifice through this time , passim
33. ↑ Ernst Barthel: My course of sacrifice through this time , p. 119.
34. ↑ Ernst Barthel: My course of sacrifice through this time , p. 184.
35. ↑ Fernand Criqui: La vie et l'œuvre de Barthel. P. 54
36. ↑ A. Filler: Euclidean and Non-Euclidean Geometry , p. 231