Thank God Ernst Schulze

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Possible portrait of Gottlob Ernst Schulze (1761–1833).

Gottlob Ernst Schulze , better known as Aenesidemus-Schulze or just Aenesidemus , (born August 23, 1761 in Heldrungen , † January 14, 1833 in Göttingen ) was a German philosopher .

biography

Gottlob Ernst Schulze was born on August 23, 1761 as the son of the administrator at Schloss Heldrungen in Thuringia . From 1774 to 1780 he attended the famous Saxon State School Pforta near Naumburg an der Saale and in 1780 began studying theology , logic and metaphysics at the University of Wittenberg . In 1783 he became a master of philosophy and lecturer in Wittenberg. The first volume of his work Grundriß der philosophischen Wissenschaften appeared in 1788 and gave him a call as a full professor of philosophy at the University of Helmstedt . He worked here for over 20 years and it is here that he wrote his essential writings. In 1810 the university was dissolved and connected to the University of Göttingen .

In Göttingen Schulze more twenty-two years had passed a professor. Among his students was u. a. Arthur Schopenhauer , who initially studied medicine in Göttingen. He heard his first philosophical college on psychology and metaphysics with him. Wilhelm von Gwinner reports on the influence of the teacher on the pupil, that it was Schulze who "first informed Schopenhauer about his profession and thus caused all of his studies to be set up for the service of the queen of the sciences" ( Schopenhauer's life , 1910 , P. 62). Schulze is considered an important skeptic of his time and one of the most astute critics of Immanuel Kant : He speaks of the unknown thing in itself , referring to the category of causality ; But since, according to Kant, causality as a mere subjective form of thought can only be applied to phenomena (or representations), but not to things in themselves, things cannot produce any representations. Schulze cites this in his Aenesidemus, published anonymously in 1792 (pp. 128–129, 263–264 and 304–306); Schopenhauer repeats this criticism. The Aenesidemus (named after Ainesidemos , a Pyrrhonic skeptic and probably contemporary of Cicero) criticizes above all (devastating) Karl Leonhard Reinhold's elementary philosophy. Confused and unsettled by this dismantling of Reinhold and the criticism of Kant, Johann Gottlieb Fichte saw himself compelled to develop his science theory in order to help philosophy to what he believed to be a lacking foundation as a science. Schulze's skepticism did not contribute insignificantly to the emergence of so-called 'German idealism'. He hardly interfered in the discussions that his Aenesidemus triggered, later weakened the importance of skepticism and - above all with his "natural realism" - approached Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi's philosophy of faith in epistemological terms .

Schulze also influenced Johann Friedrich Herbart and Jakob Friedrich Fries . He died on January 14, 1833 in Göttingen. His grandson Ernst Schulze (chemist) was born in Bovenden near Göttingen and was Professor of Agricultural Chemistry in Zurich for over 40 years.

Works (selection)

  • Outline of the philosophical sciences , Wittenberg and Zerbst 1788 (vol. 1) and 1790 (vol. 2).
  • Aenesidemus or about the foundations of the elementary philosophy delivered by Professor Reinhold in Jena. In addition to a defense of skepticism against the presumptions of the criticism of reason , without place 1792.
  • Critique of Theoretical Philosophy , 2 volumes, Hamburg 1801.
  • Principles of general logic , Helmstedt 1802.
  • Encyclopedia of Philosophical Sciences for use in his lectures , Göttingen 1814.
  • Psychical anthropology , 2 volumes, Göttingen 1816.
  • Philosophical Virtue Doctrine , Göttingen 1817.
  • About human knowledge , Göttingen 1832.

literature

  • Eugen Kühnemann:  Schulze, Ernst . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 32, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1891, pp. 776-780.
  • Heinrich Wiegershausen: Aenesidem-Schulze, the opponent of Kant, and its significance in Neo-Kantianism , (Kantstudien: Zusatzhefte 17) Berlin 1910; Reprints: Würzburg 1970; Vaduz / Liechtenstein 1980.
  • Karel Eugeen Boullart: Gottlob Ernst Schulze (1761-1833). Positivist van het Duitse Idealisme. With a German summary. Brussels 1978.
  • Luis Eduardo Hoyos Jaramillo: Skepticism and Transcendental Philosophy. German philosophy at the end of the 18th century . Alber, Freiburg i. Br. And Munich, 2008, pp. 99–224.

Web links

Wikisource: Gottlob Ernst Schulze  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Fritz Mauthner z. B. calls him the most astute and equal opponent of Kant (in: Dictionary of Philosophy, Article Apperception )
personal data
SURNAME Schulze, thank God Ernst
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Aenesidemus-Schulze
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German philosopher and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH August 23, 1761
PLACE OF BIRTH Heroics
DATE OF DEATH January 14, 1833
Place of death Goettingen