Hans Meyer (philosopher)

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Hans Meyer (born December 18, 1884 in Etzenbach , part of the Neufahrn community in Lower Bavaria ; † April 30, 1966 in Frontenhausen ) was a German philosopher who focused on ancient and medieval philosophy . The Catholic neo-scholastic taught philosophy and education as a professor at the University of Würzburg from 1922 to 1955 and was an active member of the Bavarian People's Party .

Scientific career and work

Hans Meyer attended high schools in Landshut and Regensburg and graduated from high school in Regensburg in 1903. Between 1903 and 1906 he studied philosophy at the Philosophical-Theological University of Regensburg and at the Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg and in Munich. In 1906 he was with the work of Robert Boyle's natural philosophy with special reference to its dependence on Gassendi and his polemic against scholasticism at Georg von Hertling doctorate . Also supervised by Hertling , he completed his habilitation in Munich in 1909 with the work Der Entwicklungsgedanke bei Aristotle and in 1915 was appointed "non-civil servant extraordinary professor". On January 1, 1922, he was appointed full professor at the University of Würzburg to the chair for philosophy and education ( concordat chair ) of the late Remigius Stölzle .

The philosophy historian Christian Tilitzki, who examined German university philosophy in the Weimar Republic and in the Third Reich , sees the appointment as possibly due to Meyer's membership in the Bavarian People's Party (see below) and his close contacts with the Bavarian Prime Minister and party friend Heinrich Held . The first choice for the appointment (" primo loco ") were Matthias Baumgartner (1865–1933, professor of philosophy at the University of Breslau ) and Michael Wittmann - the Hertling students Matthias Meier (1880–1949, professor of philosophy, education and psychology at the Technische Hochschule Darmstadt ) and Hans Meyer should only be considered from a “far distance”. Nevertheless, Hans Meyer, although insufficiently qualified for the educational branch, held the certificate of appointment of the Bavarian State Ministry for Education and Culture in his hands just three weeks after the Würzburg proposal had been received . Meyer stayed at the University of Würzburg for thirty-three years, from 1922 to 1955, where he was chairman of the Philosophical Department with Gustav Kafka . Since 1924 he was also editor of the journal Researches on Philosophy and its History . In 1967 he was replaced by his student Walter Hoeres .

Meyer mainly dealt with the topics of ancient and medieval philosophy, but also dealt with topics of state philosophy . His monograph “ Thomas von Aquin . His system and his position in the history of ideas ” distanced himself from Neuthomism and ushered in the end of strict Thomism in Germany. Meyer distanced himself decidedly from the “ naturalistic ” ideologies of the modern age (“Democracy, Liberalism and Social-Ethical Marxism”, 1936) and from the nihilistic “racial sadism” of the National Socialists (1949). In his opinion, the Philosophia perennis should be developed through organic growth in a social and intellectual discourse .

In 1950 he presented a six-volume “History of the Occidental Weltanschauung” and in 1960 the three-volume work “Systematic Philosophy” .

One of his students was Alois Dempf , who received his doctorate from him and Clemens Baeumker in 1921 on the subject of “The Thought of Value in Aristotelian Ethics and Politics” . Vinzenz Rüfner received his doctorate in 1924 under Meyer with the thesis "The naturalistic-Darwinian ethics of England" . In addition, Meyer suggested in 1932 the Würzburg habilitation of the likewise Catholic philosopher Hans Pfeil (1903-1997).

Homo politicus

From 1917/18 onwards, Hans Meyer got involved in day-to-day political affairs and in 1918 founded the Rosenheim branch of the Bavarian People's Party (BVP). Here he established close contacts with the later Prime Minister Held. As a “hero-intimate”, he is said to have had considerable influence on the filling of the highest government offices. Since Held steered a right-wing Catholic course, Meyer presumably fit perfectly from the government's point of view into the right-wing Catholic, Prussian and imperial-friendly Würzburg milieu that had been shaped by the local rector, theologian and church historian Sebastian Merkle . In addition, he recommended himself to these circles through his service in the Munich Rescue Service during the unrest in the short-lived Munich Soviet Republic of 1919 and through his pamphlet "The Origin and Course of a Political Revolution" published in 1921 , which Christian Tilitzki rates as follows:

“A Catholic philosopher, Hans Meyer, who taught in Munich until 1921, processed his experience of the revolution in a report on the time of the councilor in Bavaria, which, as an expression of abysmal hatred, is only surpassed by the corresponding testimonies of ethnic-German national philosophers. On November 9, 1918, Meyer began to rule the “urban rabble”, organized by “Jewish tribes” and “criminals” who had immigrated from Prussia and the “East”. Even Eisner's reign saw Meyer characterized by terror against the educated bourgeoisie, by atheism, "gypsy economy" and treason. Count Arco , the ethnic assassin who killed Eisner in February 1919, received Meyer's applause. He perceived the subsequent weeks of actual council rule as an undisguised “dictatorship of the proletariat in its purest form”, which brought the bourgeoisie to the brink of physical annihilation. Here Meyer emphasized the dominant participation of Jewish communists, such as that of the "Galician Jews" Toller and that of the "Russians" Levin and Leviné , as the whole "reign of terror" was anyway "mostly carried out by Jews from the East". "

- Christian Tilitzki: The German University Philosophy ... , 2002, p. 357f.

In accordance with his political convictions, Hans Meyer welcomed the counter-terror of the government troops marching into Munich at the beginning of May.

In 1934 Meyer became a member of the SA . However, this accession came about through a transfer of the equestrian sports club into the SA, which was followed by Meyer's exit from the SA. In 1936 his appointment to a professorship in Munich was made impossible because, as the protocol of the philosophical faculty of the LMU stated on March 21, 1936, he seemed intolerable due to his unwavering closeness to the Bavarian People's Party and as a Catholic: "For the impartial judge [this is ] just one more proof of how dangerous the intelligence of this man is and how intolerable this university professor in the capital of the movement [the NSDAP, ed.] would have to be felt. ”An appreciation and criticism of his political activities during the Nazi era is still pending off, but it should be worthwhile, since his personnel file is now accessible for research. His ruling chamber file testifies that he was classified as “unencumbered”: “It must be emphasized that Prof. Meyer, despite the fact that he was fought by the party, persevered and carried out the fight against National Socialism to the end. Prof. Meyer is one of the few in Germany who put up such resistance during the Third Reich. ”The New Germany group, oppressed by the Gestapo, also confirms Meyer's involvement in the opposition; Josef Graef wrote about the secret meetings of the Würzburg group: “From 1936 we became more cautious ... I received suggestions for dealing with the Nazi ideology mainly from the Würzburg philosopher Hans Meyer ... I passed these on to my group. ”From 1941 onwards, it was Meyer's lectures that attracted the ideological opponents of the Nazi ideology.

Publications (selection)

  • The current state of evolution. Hanstein, Bonn 1908.
  • On the psychology of the present (= Görres Society for the Care of Science in Catholic Germany. Association publication . 1909, 1, ZDB -ID 517218-4 ). Bachem, Cologne 1909.
  • History of the doctrine of the germinal forces from the Stoa to the outcome of Patristic. Depicted according to the sources. Hanstein, Bonn 1914
  • Plato and the Aristotelian Ethics. Beck, Munich 1919.
  • Nature and art with Aristotle. Derivation u. Determination d. Ursächlichkeitsfaktoren (= studies on the history and culture of antiquity. Vol. 10, H. 2, ZDB -ID 510174-8 ). Schöningh, Paderborn 1919.
  • History of ancient philosophy (= Philosophical Reference Library . Vol. 10, ZDB -ID 538719-x ). Kösel & Pustet, Munich 1925.
  • The essence of philosophy and the philosophical problems, at the same time an introduction to the philosophy of the present (= philosophy, its history and its systematics. Section 5). Hanstein, Bonn 1936.
  • Thomas Aquinas. Its system and its position in the history of ideas. Hanstein, Bonn 1938.
  • History of the occidental worldview. 6 volumes. Schöningh, Würzburg et al. 1947–1950;
    • Volume 1: The ancient worldview. 1947;
    • Volume 2: From early Christianity to Augustine. 1947;
    • Volume 3: The worldview of the Middle Ages. 1948;
    • Volume 4: From the Renaissance to German Idealism. 1949;
    • Volume 5: The worldview of the present. 1950;
    • Register volume 1950.
  • Systematic philosophy. 4 volumes. Schöningh, Paderborn 1955–1969;
    • Volume 1: General theory of science and epistemology. 1955;
    • Volume 2: Basic Problems of Metaphysics. 1958;
    • Volume 3: Morality, Law and State. 1959;
    • Volume 4: Psychology. Basics and main areas. 1969.
  • Martin Heidegger and Thomas Aquinas. Schöningh, Munich et al. 1964.

Awards

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c d Tilitzki: The German university philosophy in the Weimar Republic and in the Third Reich. Volume 2. 2002, p. 143 f.
  2. ↑ Julius Maximilians University of Würzburg: Lecture directory for the summer semester of 1948. University printing house H. Stürtz, Würzburg 1948, pp. 12 and 17.
  3. ↑ Hans Meyer: The essence of philosophy and the philosophical problems. 1936.
  4. ^ Tilitzki: The German university philosophy in the Weimar Republic and in the Third Reich. Volume 2. 2002, p. 312.
  5. ^ Tilitzki: The German university philosophy in the Weimar Republic and in the Third Reich. Volume 2. 2002, p. 358.
  6. ↑ George Leaman: Heidegger in context. Complete overview of the Nazi involvement of university philosophers (= Ideological powers in German fascism. Vol. 5 = Argument. Special volume NF AS 205). From the American by Rainer Alisch and Thomas Laugstien. Argument-Verlag, Hamburg et al. 1993, ISBN 3-88619-205-9 , p. 107.
  7. ↑ Schorcht, Claudia. Philosophy at the Bavarian universities, 1933–1945. Erlangen: Fischer, 1990, 278-285.
  8. ^ Bavarian Main State Archives Munich: Personal file 44025, protocol of the phil. Fac. Section I of the LMU from March 21, 1936
  9. ↑ Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv München: Personal file 44025, denazification and reparation proceedings, 1945–47
  10. ^ Karl-Werner Goldhammer, Catholic Youth in Franconia in the Third Reich (Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 1987), 319.
  11. ↑ Goldhammer, ibid., 351
personal data
SURNAME Meyer, Hans
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German philosopher
DATE OF BIRTH December 18, 1884
PLACE OF BIRTH Etzenbach
DATE OF DEATH April 30, 1966
Place of death Frontenhausen